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Facebook for schools

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General
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Day-to-day management

Who should manage it? 

Limit the number of staff who have access to the page. The person responsible for the page should probably be the headteacher, a member of the senior leadership team, or the school business manager.

How often should we post?

Start small, and increase if you have the time and resource. Create a posting schedule to start with (for instance, one post every Tuesday and Thursday) to build consistency. You can re-evaluate the schedule after a month or so.

Settings that will make your life easier

Use the following settings to help manage your page:

  • In the 'visitor posts' section: disable posts by other people (anyone who doesn't help you manage the page), or review posts before they're published
  • In the 'messages' section: don't allow people to message you privately. Stick to your official communication channels
  • In the 'tagging ability' section: turn off this function. You don't want other people to be able to tag your posts or photos with other people's names or profiles
  • Turn on the 'profanity filter' to strong. This blocks words and phrases commonly reported as inappropriate

You can set these in the 'general' section of the settings tab.

Adjust the notifications you receive so it doesn't get overwhelming. Do this in the 'notifications' section of the settings tab.

You can either:

  • Limit notification to 1 every 12-24 hours (that notification will summarise all of the activity on your page during that time)
  • Turn off notifications for specific types of activity (for instance, when someone 'likes' or shares one of your posts)

It may be a good idea to get notifications when someone comments on your posts, but you don't necessarily need an alert each time someone 'likes' something.

Use 'insights' to help improve your page and posts

The 'insights' tab helps you keep track of things like:

  • How many people 'like' your page
  • How many people saw a post
  • How many times people recommended your page to others
  • What people click on on your page

You can use this information to help you decide (for example):

  • What to post (certain types of posts may get more 'likes' or views)
  • When to post (comparing how many people saw something you posted at 8:00am vs 4:30pm may help you decide when its best to post to reach the most parents

Keep your log-in details secure

Don't let your internet browser keep you logged in, or store login details.

Log out after every use.

How to build an audience

  • Encourage people to 'like' your page. This means your posts will show up in their newsfeeds, and they'll get notifications on their mobiles and tablets when you've posted something new
  • Link to your page on your school website
  • Ask your audience to share certain posts to reach a wider audience - particularly posts about fundraising or events you're running
  • Like posts from other local businesses, community groups, and schools. Facebook recommends pages to its users based on things like location, category, and what other users have liked, so connecting with other organisations could lead to more people becoming aware of your page

Members of The Key for School Leaders can access further resources on making their school social media presence a success, including some valuable dos and don'ts of what to post on your Facebook page and how to handle negative comments. 

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