Since 2014, I have made a LOT of social media posts for schools.
But there is one post that I will NEVER forget. I remember it so clearly…
I was on the deck on a warm June day. It was Thursday, June 15, 2017, to be exact.
While I was sipping my coffee and enjoying some morning conversation with my husband, my phone rang.
It was Mr. Martens, the pre-K-12 principal for New Auburn in Wisconsin. (This was the first ever school I partnered with when I started this business back in 2014. And yes, he was the principal for the entire school of approximately 300 students).
Seeing it was from the school, I knew something must be up. I answered cheerfully, and then quickly ran to my office as he was talking to me…
“Who made the #ThrowbackThursday post on Facebook today? Was that you?”
“Yes – why?” (I had taken some photos off of a bulletin board of a teacher that was retiring that year. Some were pretty old, so I just took pictures of the photos to share as a #TBT post).
“Well, I just got a phone call and it sounds like one of the pictures has some additional drawings on it that isn’t appropriate. Did you take the photos?”
“I sure did.” The photos were still on my desk. I was rummaging through the photos to try to find the one he was referring to. “I have them right here, and—Oh my goodness. I am so sorry! I didn’t see that. I’ll remove it from Facebook right now.”
I’ve never worked faster to find the school’s page, open up the post, hit the edit button, and delete the photo in question.
The photo was of a couple of football players and someone had hand-drawn some human anatomy onto the photo. It was done in pencil on a black and white photo, so I must have missed it when I took the photo with my phone.
But it was very clear on the Facebook post, and I was absolutely mortified. Was this the day that I got fired from posting on social media on behalf of the district?
“Mr. Martens —I’m so sorry! It’s gone now. I should have been more careful. I see it clearly now.”
“It’s okay. It was a friend who called, and he was laughing when he told me about it. As long as it’s off of the page so I don’t get any additional calls— we’ll be good.”
“Oh, thank you for letting me know. It just posted at 6 am this morning. It hasn’t reached many people yet and it is gone now.”
Whoa – my palms are sweaty just writing about this moment . . .
So, have you ever had an experience like this where you thought a mistake was so big that you might just be done forever in regards to your social media management days?
If you haven’t yet, don’t worry, your day is coming . . . It happens to the best of us. I hope it is not quite as bad as mine, but we all make mistakes!
The big factor here was a quick response to resolve it once the issue was uncovered. That’s my advice to you: honesty and a quick reaction time to address the issue is key!
Do you have an issue that you’re still working through at your school? Reach out. I’d love to help if I can!
Email me at andrea@socialschoo4edu.com or call at 715-205-0429.
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