A strong online presence is vital for any organization, including those in K-12. Your website and social media platforms are integral to keeping your community informed and engaged. While these tools serve different purposes, they work best when used together. Let’s break down the differences between your district or school’s website and social media, what content belongs where, why you need both, and how they complement each other.
Websites: Your Digital Home Base
Your district or school website is the cornerstone of your online presence. It’s where your community turns for reliable, in-depth, and comprehensive information.
Static and Centralized Information
Websites are designed for long-term, consistent content like school policies, calendars, staff directories, and enrollment information. Websites centralize, organize, and store this information to make it easy for parents to find. More importantly, websites are accessible from any device with an internet connection and don’t require parents to have an account to view information.
Professional and Organized
Your website is your digital front door, and will often be the first touch point with your community. It should reflect your district’s professionalism to create a good first impression. A clean design, easy navigation, and relevant content all show newcomers that you take communication seriously. More than that, your website is the official source of truth for your district or school. With more long-form, permanent content, your website is the formal representation of your brand and the ultimate digital authority.
Living, Searchable Library
Websites act as a living library, preserving key materials that parents, staff, and community members might need months or even years down the line. Historic documents, such as newsletters and board meeting minutes, are neatly organized and easy to search through. These archives show your district is being transparent and helps to build trust with your community.
Content Best Suited for K-12 Websites:
- District or school-wide news and announcements
- Academic calendars and schedules
- School and district events (and relevant details)
- Contact information and staff directories
- Enrollment and transfer information
- Forms and resources for parents and staff
- Emergency updates and protocols
Social Media: Your Community’s Online Meeting Place
Social media platforms like Facebook, X( formerly Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok are dynamic and interactive, making them perfect for engaging with your community in real time.
Fast and Immediate
Social media is great for quick updates, reminders, and promoting events. Urgent information, such as last-minute cancellations, or timely updates like early dismissal reminders, are great to share here, because you can reach your audience quickly and effectively.
Interactive and Shareable
Social media platforms allow parents, students, and staff to comment, share, and interact with posts, fostering engagement and allowing for instant two-way communication. This instantaneous exchange creates a more personal, approachable, and casual relationship with parents. Social media is a great place to share links to your website to help those pages reach more people. Parents can share posts, putting them in front of a wider audience.
Visual Storytelling
With photos, videos, and reels, social media lets you showcase the heart and personality of your schools. Content with great visuals or engaging video can perform really well on social media. It’s a great platform to share achievements and showcase school spirit.
Content Best Suited for Social Media:
- Event reminders and live updates (e.g., “Don’t miss the school play tonight at 6 PM!”)
- Celebrating achievements (e.g., “Congrats to the varsity team for their big win!”)
- Photos and videos from classroom activities, assemblies, and sports events
- Quick tips and resources for parents (e.g., study tips, wellness reminders)
- Calls to action (e.g., “Sign up for PTA!” or “Volunteer for Field Day!”)
Why You Need Both
A website alone isn’t enough to meet the communication needs of your community, nor can social media replace the structure and depth of a website. Both are essential.
Accessibility
The main reason you need both websites and social media is to keep your information accessible to your entire community. Social Media platforms require parents to have an account to access information, whereas websites are accessible on any devices that have an internet connection. According to Pew Research Center, only 78% of American adults between the ages 30-49 use Facebook. That percentage drops to 66% for Instagram users, and down to 25% for X. If you’re only publishing on these platforms, that’s a huge percentage of parents left with no way to find information.
Websites Build Trust and Authority
Your website is the go-to resource for official information. It conveys professionalism and reliability, giving your community a trusted place to find what they need. Your website is packed with information, all neatly organized for parents to access when they need it. It’s a central location that anyone can access online, to easily find what they need
Because of your website’s structure, it’s easy for parents to find what they’re looking for. When it comes to websites, the general standard to navigate through the menu is three clicks. When parents try to find something specific on social media, they have to scroll through dozens of posts to find the one they’re looking for, which is a time consuming frustrating experience.
Social Media Drives Engagement
Social media platforms excel at fostering connections, creating a sense of community, and amplifying your message to reach more people. It’s a great way to show the day-to-day of your school or district, in a way that could clutter your website.
How They Work Together
Your school or district needs both websites and social media to effectively engage parents. They have different roles in how they support your communication goals. Imagine your website as a library and your social media platforms as a coffee shop. The library holds all the detailed information people might need, but the coffee shop is where conversations happen and relationships are built. Together, they create a complete communication strategy.
There’s nothing more frustrating for parents than trying to scroll through a social media feed to find certain information - your website should organize all of that content neatly for them. Social media is great to share reminders for upcoming events and more informal day-to-day activities. Social media posts can drive traffic to your website for more detailed information, while your website can direct visitors to follow your social media accounts for updates and day-to-day interactions.
Example of Integration:
- Website Post: Publish a detailed announcement about the upcoming Open House for your school, including date, times, and a list of scheduled activities during the event.
- Social Media Post: Share a short post like, “Our annual Open House is happening next month! Check out all the information you need to learn all about our wonderful school here: [link to website].”
You can also post about the upcoming meeting multiple times on your social media without annoying your audience. Duplicate posts on a website just cause confusion, because you’re duplicating what should be a single source of information. During Open House, take lots of photos and share updates in real-time on your social media as your community experiences the event. After the Open House, you can create a news blog post on your website sharing the highlights of the event, and share that on your social media as well. By using these tools together, your school district can ensure effective communication, build a stronger community, and create a lasting impact.