How a Small Wisconsin School District Gained a BIG Social Media Presence with #SocialSchool4EDU
When Laura Stunkel, Superintendent at the School District of Ladysmith, accepted the leadership role in 2019, she had her work cut out for her. Ladysmith is a small district in Northwestern Wisconsin, with 3,000 people in the community and 740 students enrolled. At the top of her list of priorities was a spring 2022 referendum, which the district desperately needed to pass in order to address pressing facility needs.
Also on her list? Finding a reliable system for managing the district’s social media presence!
Various staff members had bounced the responsibility around, over the years, finally landing on the over-extended high school and middle school counselor. This counselor had very little time to dedicate to managing the district’s social media presence and had no system to receive content from staff. It was truly an uphill battle – but still, a problem that Laura was committed to solving. She knew that the School District of Ladysmith needed more consistent branding and a solid social media strategy, especially if it was going to pass the upcoming referendum.
In her previous role as an elementary school principal in another district, Laura was familiar with #SocialSchool4EDU. Founder Andrea Gribble presented to the Ladysmith board and before long, the School District of Ladysmith was welcomed into the fold of #SS4EDU management clients!
Thanks to its dedicated account manager and proven system for submitting content, the School District of Ladysmith quickly began seeing results. The entire staff has been empowered to capture stories and submit them to the account manager. Now, a wide diversity of students and activities are represented on the school’s Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts.
“It was a game-changer,” said Laura. “The negativity is down and the positivity is definitely overwhelming the community!”
Community engagement is one of the best positive results of the partnership. Ladysmith used the Facebook page to communicate consistent, accurate referendum information, such as surveys and fact sheets. Laura stated that social media posts got much more traction than other forms of communication, such as town hall meetings. And in April 2022, the Ladysmith community passed the referendum!
The Ladysmith board also loves receiving the quarterly report cards, said Laura. “It’s just affirmation that what we’re doing is working.”
When it comes to the system that works so well at Ladysmith, the key is to keep things simple. Instead of having “too many cooks in the kitchen,” all staff members are given one email address to send pictures, videos, and updates. That email address is monitored by the #SocialSchool4EDU account manager – in this case, Angie Johnson – who adds voice and personality to the caption, asks follow-up questions as necessary, chooses the photos/videos to use, and schedules the posts at strategic times.
But for the staff, it’s simple! They just need to send a few sentences and attachments via email, and they’re done. Angie always responds so the staff member knows that the content has been received.
In addition, Angie and the team at #SocialSchool4EDU help Ladysmith staff members determine things that should NOT be shared on social media. Information that is not celebratory should be shared via direct communication*, instead.
Why?
- Posts aren’t seen by all followers
- Not everyone is on social media
- Comments can come from outsiders
- Social media is meant to be social – if you don’t want comments, don’t post it
- You’re busy – do you have time to respond to comments?
*Take a look at this helpful PDF for more communication tools you can rely on, other than social media.
Today, thanks to the partnership with #SocialSchool4EDU, the School District of Ladysmith has a flourishing social media presence and an engaged community – with minimal internal effort required! Reach out to Andrea Gribble today if you’d like more information about our social media management services.
