Who can put a smile on someone’s face faster than an adorable group of students from your school?
A smiling group of students with authentic 1980s hairdo—that’s who!
After sharing over 5,000 social media posts for school districts across Wisconsin, I can say that the #TBT photos that we put out every Thursday morning at 6:00 a.m. are the most anticipated posts of the week.
Are you doing this at your school yet? It’s easy, engaging, and guaranteed to grow your audience! Let’s break down a strategy for you in four easy steps.
- PREPARE – Book 1-2 hours in the back closet to dig through old yearbooks. Go way back in history and continue up through last year’s annual.
- ACCUMULATE – Find a spot with great lighting to take pictures with your smartphone. Take a photo of the cover of the yearbook that will show the year. Then grab 3-5 photos that stand out to you as great photos. I know that you’ll find some guys in cheerleading skirts during the homecoming skit. You’ll also find the fun prom photos with everyone looking fancy. If it looks intriguing, snap that photo.
- LOAD – Load the photos into a shared folder labeled “TBT” in your social media file on the computer. I suggest renaming the photos with the year and then add a -1, -2, etc. at the end. You’ll know the year because you snapped the cover first. As you rename the photos, also take the time to position them right-side up. You may also need to crop them slightly.
- SCHEDULE – Schedule out one or more photos for each Thursday morning on your school social media page. We love promoting interaction such as asking fans what year it was or who is in the photo. As you use the images, create a “Used TBT” folder so you can stay organized and avoid using the same image more than once. If you schedule within Facebook, you can go out six months in advance. That means in a short amount of time, you can be set for half of the year.
As you plan your own #TBT strategy, remember PALS—prepare, accumulate, load, schedule.
When you use these old photos, try shaking up the decades from week to week. This will engage different groups of alumni from your school.
Many fans love to share, comment, and like #TBT photos, which ends up helping the visibility of all of the posts that you make. Current students really enjoy the photos as well. There is usually some rich community history and great memories recalled with these images.
So spread that #TBT love! We’ll be watching…
