You’ve heard me say it a million times… school social media is for celebrations! 

(If you’re new here… this is why!)

But let’s be realistic. Back-to-school information is still needed on social media. Families appreciate seeing these reminders in their feed, and it provides another tool in your communications toolbox for relaying valuable info. 

Let’s go over some tips and tricks for organizing your back-to-school communications on platforms like Facebook and Instagram!

Step 1: Gather Information

You might work in a small K-8 building with one open house, one start date, and a handful of school supply lists. Or you could manage communications for dozens of school buildings with various start dates and very different school supply policies! Either way, your first step is to get ALL your information in one place. 

Reach out to the necessary people within your district and gather information such as…

• Building Schedules
• Bussing Routes & Information
• Classroom Technology Reminders
• Enrollment Details & Forms
• First Day of School Dates
• Open House Events
• Required School Paperwork
• School App Login Instructions
• School Dress Codes
• School Fee Reminders
• School Meals
• School SWAG Store
• School Supply Lists
• Sports & Extracurricular Kickoff Events

Step 2: Create Eye-Catching Visuals

To make sure your information stands out on social media, you’ll need clean, eye-catching visuals. Whether you choose photos or graphics, make sure any text on the visual is easy to read. Try not to put too much text onto one graphic (remember, most people view social media on their phones!) You can brush up on your graphic design best practices with this free guide.

I love this simple, well-branded graphic from Canal Winchester Schools in Ohio. Megan Anthony, the Communications Coordinator, even made her customizable Canva template available within our Membership Program! 

Step 3: Write Succinct Copy

Using clear and concise language is one of the most crucial skills you can develop as a school communicator. When it comes to writing captions for back-to-school social media posts, less is more! You don’t need to get cutesy (well, you can throw in a few emojis, such as apples for bullet points!) or offer long explanations. You can provide links to forms, website pages, or Google docs that contain more details – but your social media captions should be straight to the point. 

Check out how Megan kept her caption on this “first day of school” post very simple:

Step 4: Double-check Your Work

While you will often get comments and questions on your informational social media posts, avoid negative commentary by double-checking everything for 100% accuracy. You’ll thank me later! 

Ask a detail-oriented colleague to check your graphics and captions against the information you gathered in Step 1, and double-check any dates or links that might have shifted since you initially asked for them. Run your final graphics and captions past a colleague to copyedit, too. Typos on published graphics can be a headache to fix!

Step 5: Publish All Together

Here’s how Megan’s back-to-school informational campaign came together – she brilliantly published everything as an album on the district’s Facebook page! That album could be pinned to the top of your feed, too. Each individual photo provides a specific category of information, making the volume of details easier to digest.

After seeing how Megan did this, one of our members shared:

Megan Anthony, thank you so much for this idea and for providing the graphic template! I just posted ours after multiple days of compiling all the information, gathering links, building webpages…all the things. Now we have an amazing setup of information for families linking to all the details and downloadable forms💗💗💗

Another idea for organizing back-to-school information is to use Instagram Highlights. Melissa Hartley is the Director of Communications & Marketing for Horizon Honors Schools in Arizona, and she took all of her fun, eye-catching IG Stories and put them into a “2023 BTS” highlight on the school’s Instagram. This makes it easy for students and parents to spot the highlight and get all the important information they need.

No matter how you share your back-to-school posts, consider organizing them as Megan and/or Melissa did so that when there are questions, you can easily share the URL to the entire Facebook album or Instagram Highlight. 

 

I hope this blog inspired you to organize all your back-to-school information on social media! Help your students, staff, and families begin the school year feeling prepared and well-informed, and save yourself a bunch of headaches in the process.