Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. It’s that time of year where it’s OK, and even expected, for you to shout out your love and affection for your spouse, your kids, and others near and dear to you.

Today, I want to talk to you about a different kind of love. It’s the social media kind that doesn’t cost a dime and can take less than a second to show. The best part is, it really makes a difference!

I still love to tell the story of my daughter’s class when she was in first grade. They shared a little video of them singing a song about water on Facebook – click here to check it out. A few days later the teacher told them that the video had been seen by 500 people. It was as if they thought they were Taylor Swift! In their eyes, they were famous.

I’m betting that if you’re reading this blog, your school uses social media to celebrate their amazing students on social media. Channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube are highlighting your local school district for the world.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that sometimes these great photos, videos, and events are not seen by many people because of all of the negative garbage that floods our Facebook newsfeed. Funny cat videos (my favorite is where they are scared of cucumbers), the latest movie star break-ups, and those dang fast-forward cooking videos showing how easy it is to make a delicious desert catch our attention and often lead us down a rabbit trail of mindless screen time.

Now, where was I?

Oh yeah, let’s make sure the good news is being seen in your community and beyond. You play a HUGE role in this. Yes YOU!

How can you encourage your students in your community? It’s so easy!

• Hitting the “thumbs up” or like button on Facebook
• Making a positive comment on a post you see
• Retweeting
• Hitting the heart on Twitter or Instagram
• Sharing a Facebook post on your own newsfeed
• Using the school hashtag when sharing a school-related post

For example, here are two posts made by Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District, one of our large school district partners. They have over 2,600 fans, but check out these two posts they shared:

Post #1 – 331 reached, 7 likes, 0 comments, 0 shares

Post #2 – 2,447 people reached, 49 likes, 4 comments, 2 shares

It’s the little things that add up. Those additional likes and the comments made are what helped ensure that over 2,000 more people were able to see the second post.

The more you interact with content from your school, the more people will see it. You see, Facebook has this crazy mathematical algorithm that tries to rate how important a specific post is. When you like it, comment on it, or share it, Facebook says, “This is a relevant photo or update that people want to see.” So then they show it to more people’s newsfeeds.

The other awesome thing is that the viewership really helps encourage your students and staff at the school. The pride that goes along with displaying your work on social media is priceless.

Our students are doing amazing things and deserve a pat on the back. You can virtually do this by liking, hearting, or commenting on those posts that you see.

So come on community; show that love to your school posts! You are helping the world see your incredible students and staff.

Comment below on what school district you love to follow and shout out what you like the most about the things they share.