It’s not just about the money
As participants in the Jewish Day School Social Media Academy, we have faced many exciting challenges this year. Getting our social media presence up and running was the first hurdle – daily posts, monitoring the likes, the reach, the insights overall – it has been a whole new world of lingo.
Once we had established some social media “cred”, we then ventured to the next madrega (level) – social media fundraising. While initially we were most excited about the potential funds raised through the campaign, in hindsight we realize that we gained much more from the experience than the funds. The obvious benefit was the prospect of raising important funds that could be matched an additional $10,000 from the AVI CHAI Foundation. The side (and possible more useful?) benefit was watching as our school transformed into a community of PR ambassadors and fundraisers within a matter of hours.
Here’s how we did it:
- Strategically craft a campaign – we spent a considerable amount of time deciding specifically what the campaign would support. Once decided upon, the next step was to ensure that the administration “bought in” to the idea and would follow through on the expenditure of this money. We made sure to select programs that would benefit the entire PreK-12 student body and would have broad appeal. Hence, our campaign was dubbed the “Music and Movement Challenge” supporting enhancements to the athletic and music co-curricular programming at RMBA.
- Create a fundraising campaign on Crowdrise.com - a social media fundraising website which allows individual campaign champions to set up their own pages and tell their stories to their personal social networks of why our school (and this program in particular) is a worthy cause.
- Tell the world – send out messages to the entire school community letting them know about the exciting matching opportunity and seeing who would rise up to be a champion of our campaign.
- Train the champions – in a Powerpoint presentation, we told the campaign champs how to create their own personalized crowdrise.com pages.
- Incentivize the champions – by announcing amazon.com gift cards to the champions who raised the most money, and who secured the largest number of individual donations, we created a more energized team.
- Watch the money roll in – within hours, our champions were talking up the campaign and bringing in gifts.
The rewards:
a. $15,000 toward the enhancement of our music and athletic program.
b. A dedicated group of champions who spent their time talking up the school and encouraging others to donate to our cause.
c. Virality – champions were talking about our school to their cousins, employers, college roommates – anyone who might support them and their school.
We were overwhelmed with the positive response garnered by the campaign. The utilization of our champion’s personal social networks created a fun, yet competitive, vibe which motivated all to push themselves for success.
The Jewish Day School Social Media Academy is an intensive program designed to help Jewish Day Schools advance their strategic use of social media in areas such as communication, marketing, community building, alumni relations and development. The 2012-13 nationwide cohort of 20 schools was generously supported by The AVI CHAI Foundation. Each of the schools will be sharing insights from their experience through blog posts here this spring with the tag #jdsacademy
The 2013-14 cohort is currently in formation. If your school or community is interested in more information, please contact Lisa Colton.
Social Media Brings Alumni into the Conversation at Brandeis Hillel Day School
As a two-campus school serving 600 students and their families in the San Francisco Bay Area, we keep our community engaged and informed through a robust website, two packed weekly e-newsletters, class-specific updates and other publications. Yet, as our 50th anniversary approached last year, we wanted to quickly and effectively invite alumni and alumni families – along with the rest of our community – into the celebration (and conversation).
At the time, our Facebook page was in its infancy, with a few “likes” and content mirroring our website. Our separate alumni Facebook page had waxed and waned – and seemed disconnected from our daily life as an institution. Then came the Jewish Day School Social Media Academy– and everything changed.
Within the first few months, we developed a plan to invite alumni back into our daily conversation – as part of our extended BHDS family. We decided to focus our social media efforts on just one Facebook page, where our entire community could celebrate our 50th anniversary – as well as our daily life. We thought more creatively about making putting the “social” back in our social media by inviting more two-way conversations – and by experimenting with content and types of media.
Some posts worked well – some did not. We learned as much from our failures as we did from our successes. Most importantly, we “discovered” much of what we knew all along – that our alumni have treasured memories from their years at BHDS, and that they they like photos and video from school days. We also noticed that they like to see news from the present…and that they care about helping the school build its future.
Encouraged by our coach, we decided to take a big chance on online fundraising. Thanks to the generosity of the AVI CHAI Foundation and all our learning through the JDS academy, we designed a fundraising drive to challenge our alumni to a 2:1 match to a donation of $18 or more to the school through Razoo, a social media fundraising site. The results were thrilling. Thanks to the enthusiastic response from our alumni and their families, we raised an unprecedented amount for BHDS in two weeks. More importantly, we brought our alumni and their families into our conversation and celebration in a way we never had before.
We learned a great deal from the chances we took this year - how to set up a social media-based fundraising drive, how to think through posting challenges and how to connect with our alumni in a more authentic way. Most importantly, we ended up with perhaps more even more valuable takeaways from our failures – knowing what doesn’t work is just as important as knowing what does.
Our social media foundation is strong. Our Facebook page has become a critical tool in our daily interaction as a community, more than tripling in users and updated with frequent, fresh posts several times per week. We recently launched our YouTube page, and we’re experimenting with best practices there as well. We’re considering additional social media tools, and look forward to build on the progress we’ve made. Along the way, we plan to take chances, experiment, and continue to learning as we move forward.
Join our conversation! Visit us on Facebook or contact Sonia Daccarett, Director of Communications at Brandeis Hillel Day School at sdaccarett@bhds.org.
Joan Fishbein Feldman is the Director of Communications of Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School in Baltimore, Maryland. Beth Tfiloh Dahan is the area’s largest coed Jewish day school, with students from PreSchool through Grade 12.
The Jewish Day School Social Media Academy is an intensive program designed to help Jewish Day Schools advance their strategic use of social media in areas such as communication, marketing, community building, alumni relations and development. The 2012-13 nationwide cohort of 20 schools was generously supported by The AVI CHAI Foundation. Each of the schools will be sharing insights from their experience through blog posts here this spring with the tag #jdsacademy
The 2013-14 cohort is currently in formation. If your school or community is interested in more information, please contact Lisa Colton.
Facebook: A Transformation
Imagine this: a school without a Facebook page! How could this be?
We asked ourselves the same thing, prior to joining the Jewish Day School Social Media Academy. With approximately 400 students ranging from 18 months – 5th grade, Temple Beth Am Day School is a large Reform Jewish Day School that is part of Temple Beth Am in Pinecrest, Florida. While the Temple had an already existing and active Facebook page, the School was overdue in its use of social media. Upon joining the Academy, we realized immediately that it was imperative for the School to have its own page. Upon starting the new page, we had 5 likes, which included two community members, the Temple Communications Director, the Campus webmaster, and me. We knew we had work to do! With the help of our exceptional coach, Jenna Silverman of Big Duck NYC, we merged our various groups, pages, and places to create a clean and efficient Facebook page. Voila! It was time to launch our “Like Campaign”. In just a few months, we acquired 158 “likes”, and counting. Our active page is the place to go for the most up to date photos and information from our school.
The shift was palpable in our administration, as well as our parent body. Parents delighted at the opportunity to share our posts with their friends and family. We delighted at the opportunity to break down the walls of our regular e-mail blasts, and use social media to engage our parents. I (as the Admissions Director) continue to delight in the opportunity to access a whole new group of prospective school families in a way that is sincere and direct!
Our very supportive school administration is constantly informing me of school “moments” or events that should be posted on our page, and linked back to our website. Our Communications Director “shares” relevant posts between the Temple and School pages to make for one consistent social media “thread” from our facility. This has allowed for an opportunity for School families to have knowledge of Temple happenings, and vice versa. We truly take pride in the social media collaboration that has evolved from this experience.
As our School evaluates how we will use technology in a way that is purposeful, meaningful and effective; the leaps that we have made in our use of social media are on target. We eagerly anticipate the future use of a School blog, Twitter account, and updated website. We also hope to create an alumni page that allows Temple Beth Am Day School alumni to be aware of all that is happening today on this vibrant campus. We have truly evolved in our knowledge and use of social media, and we are grateful for this transformation.
Cari Altman is the Director of Admissions at Temple Beth Am Day School in Pinecrest, Florida. A Pinecrest native, she truly appreciates the importance of the values-based education that comes from a Jewish Day School education.
The Jewish Day School Social Media Academy is an intensive program designed to help Jewish Day Schools advance their strategic use of social media in areas such as communication, marketing, community building, alumni relations and development. The 2012-13 nationwide cohort of 20 schools was generously supported by The AVI CHAI Foundation. Each of the schools will be sharing insights from their experience through blog posts here this spring with the tag #jdsacademy
The 2013-14 cohort is currently in formation. If your school or community is interested in more information, please contact Lisa Colton.
Facebook as a Tool to Drive Admissions
The opportunity to participate in the Darim Online Social Media Academy is one of the best things to happen to our school. When we started our school Facebook page about a year ago, we used the white paper titled Best Practices for an Admissions-Driven Social Media Strategy as our guide, and had a volunteer help us get started. The postings were sporadic, and did not have much consistency. Since we started the Social Media Academy, we have created an editorial calendar to ensure our posts are consistent with our branding, so that we can tell our story in a fun and compelling way. The result has been amazing. For months, our posts were reaching maybe 100 people, and now with the implementation of the editorial calendar, each post is reaching between 200-500 people.
With the ultimate goal of driving admissions, it can be difficult to measure success through social media marketing, but I believe this process has given our marketing efforts a boost through planting a seed in the mind of audiences that are not so connected to the school. It is difficult to know if potential families are paying attention to posts, or if one’s initial encounter with the school through social media is what will get them through the door for a visit.
That being said, we had one of our greatest feelings of success in the last few months, and I believe it can be directly attributed to our participation in the JDS Academy. I received a message in my email from a family who had seriously considered sending their child to the school a year ago but decided they needed to give free, public school education a try before spending the money on private school.
“I’m checking in again about the application process… This year has been a good one for O. Overall…. I am thrilled for the children at KJDS that their experience is so good, but it honestly pains me when I see your posts about M , and compare it to what O. is doing. The differences are stark. .. Our financial situation hasn’t changed, but there are always choices to be made in life. So, I’m thinking about this again. It’s been lovely to hear about all your adventures through Facebook. I was especially intrigued by your comment about M. evaluating his strengths and weaknesses. Is that something all the students do every year? Thank you, M.”
She was responding this this post:
This experience reinforced to us the power of social media. Now that we have a strong editorial calendar in place, our next goal will be to guide and train parents to be “social media ambassadors” and create more posts that share their children’s experience.
We found another added bonus to our admissions process is keeping connected with families that have applied. It has been interesting to note that as soon as a family tours the school, and is seriously considering enrolling, they often will ‘like’ our school Facebook page.
Miriam Esther Wilhelm is the founding Head of School at the Stanford Eisenberg Knoxville Jewish Day School. She has enjoyed the journey of taking the school from a start up to a growing and thriving Jewish Day School.
The Jewish Day School Social Media Academy is an intensive program designed to help Jewish Day Schools advance their strategic use of social media in areas such as communication, marketing, community building, alumni relations and development. The 2012-13 nationwide cohort of 20 schools was generously supported by The AVI CHAI Foundation. Each of the schools will be sharing insights from their experience through blog posts here this spring with the tag #jdsacademy
The 2013-14 cohort is currently in formation. If your school or community is interested in more information, please contact Lisa Colton.
Increasing our Reach: Better Posts, More Likes
Lander Grinspoon Academy is still fairly new to social media, having just joined Facebook in June 2011. When we were accepted to the JDS Social Media Academy we were both thrilled and overwhelmed. How could we, a small school with no dedicated marketing staff and with only 100 “likes” possibly rise to the huge challenges before us?
We knew that our first priority was going to be to increase the number of likes and to train our community to look for us on Facebook. Without these steps in place, no matter how well we would articulate the needs of the school, our spring fundraiser would be a tree falling in the forest with no one to hear.
After experimenting with lots of different types of posts we found that people want to share posts that say something about themselves: their children are highlighted; their values are reflected; they have a reason to be proud of the school and community. After Hurricane Sandy we had a series of posts asking for donations to be delivered to NYC. All were viewed by 100+ and were shared widely. When we posted a picture of our team running in a 5K to support a local woman’s shelter we received 221 views (106 viral).
But we still only had 123 “likes,” which simply wasn’t enough even for a small school such as ours (89 students, 65 families). If we didn’t do something to increase the audience, our social fundraising campaign would be a total failure. People wouldn’t give if they weren’t seeing us online.
We began pushing people to FB in a couple of different ways. First, in our weekly email home to parents we kept up the drumbeat of asking parents to like us. As winter approached we let parents know that weather-related school closings and other timely information would be delivered via Facebook. More and more we made decisions about whether to transmit critical information via email or via Facebook, and often decided to put the information out first on Facebook and only later on email. We also began to tag local organizations in order to extend our reach. Tagging helped us to spread the word, and many people (including the Mayor) reposted our posts.
At our Hanukkah performance we announced that we wanted to get to 180 likes by the end of Hanukkah. We decided to connect the number of likes needed (44 more to reach 180) to the number of Hanukkah candles in a box. So, rather than the typical announcement asking everyone to silence their cell phones, we began the assembly by asking everyone to get their cell phones out and like us on Facebook, and later to share photos of the evening.
In one day we went from 136 to 190 likes, and by the end of December we were at 204. Most of our posts now were getting between 75 – 150 views (as opposed to the 30-50 before), with many shares. Again, the posts that had the most virality contained either pictures or artwork of the students, and/or showcased tikkun olam efforts such as Mission Mitzvah, our response to the Sandy Hook tragdey, etc. By January we had over 200 likes, had trained many of our community members to read and repost, and felt that we were ready to begin to plan our fundraiser.
Flash forward to spring. Our campaign, which rolled out right before Passover, raised over $28,000. We now have 235 likes. We also now have an active presence on Facebook and parents, alumni families and our larger community look for us there. They now expect to see video clips, photos and newsy updates about the school. Local synagogues and the community Jewish preschool ask us to repost some of their events, knowing that we reach a larger audience than they have. We know we have more to do, but are excited and energized to bring social media to the next level at Lander Grinspoon Academy.
The Jewish Day School Social Media Academy is an intensive program designed to help Jewish Day Schools advance their strategic use of social media in areas such as communication, marketing, community building, alumni relations and development. The 2012-13 nationwide cohort of 20 schools was generously supported by The AVI CHAI Foundation. Each of the schools will be sharing insights from their experience through blog posts here this spring with the tag #jdsacademy
The 2013-14 cohort is currently in formation. If your school or community is interested in more information, please contact Lisa Colton.
Darim Online
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