You know metrics are important, but perhaps you’re unsure how exactly to use them to paint a picture about the powerfully important impact of school PR and communications work. Where should you start? Which metrics make sense and which are less compelling? If you’re part of a school or district public relations and communications team looking for insights on how to extract and interpret key engagement metrics–especially for social media–you’re in the right place. We’re breaking down answers to important questions about school and district social media metrics below.
Why is hard data about social media engagement and reach important?
Hard data provides concrete evidence of impact. Metrics like impressions, reach, clicks, and shares help demonstrate how far your message is spreading and how your audience is responding (or not responding). For school PR and communications teams, these numbers can help validate the effectiveness of social media strategies, justify resource allocation, and support funding and staffing needs. Using hard data also helps you show key stakeholders the tangible value of your work, and in the time and resource investment your school/district is making in social media content.
What metrics should school PR and communications teams be looking at?
The metrics you focus on depend a bit on your goals but, as a general rule, focus on reach and engagement to synthesize the full school social media picture. Specifically, consider how many people see your content (e.g. views, reach, impressions) and how people are interacting with it (e.g. likes, comments, shares, saves). Looking at video-specific metrics like views and play-through rates can also be helpful. Additionally, tracking follower growth, and clicks can provide deeper insights into audience behavior. That is, do people see your content and want to see more (become followers), or want to learn more about an associated destination (clicks).
What’s the easiest way to extract school social media metrics reports?
A snapshot from a Class Intercom engagement report displaying engagement metrics of a social media post.
If you’re a Class Intercom school, reports can be pulled together across platforms and pages instantly. The platform centralizes and streamlines school social media management, allowing schools to securely manage users, roles, and access permissions across a single page on a single platform, or literally hundreds of pages across all major social media platforms. This includes streamlining the process of exporting metrics in various formats.
Which Class Intercom reports are best?
Class Intercom allows you to slice and dice metrics in a number of different ways across a single page, multiple pages, and over time. The report you choose may depend on what metrics align with your school or district’s strategic plan. If you need a quick reference, check out Class Intercom’s Reports Cheat Sheet, which breaks down each report, the information it shows, and how to consider using it.
Which metrics are important to school and district leadership?
School and district leadership value metrics that show impact and community engagement. They care about reach and impressions (message visibility) and engagement rates (interactions like comments and shares). Metrics tied to district goals, like website clicks, event participation, and crisis communication reach, help demonstrate the value of school PR efforts.
How often should I be looking at and presenting school social media metrics?
Regular monitoring helps refine strategy, while periodic reporting keeps stakeholders informed. Track metrics weekly to adjust content in real time, review trends monthly to assess performance, and present key insights quarterly to school leadership, tying data to district goals.
How can we get more engagement on school social media posts?
To boost engagement, focus on creating relatable, shareable content with eye-catching visuals. Building a team of content creators can help, allowing school PR and communications teams to actively source content from across the school community. These teams can include students and administrators! Involving students and staff in content creation brings fresh perspectives and makes the content feel more authentic. You also may be surprised at the kinds of stories and moments that get surfaced when students and staff are able to collect and submit photos, videos, and info.
Where should I go from here when it comes to analytics and reporting?
If you’re not including metrics in regular updates and meetings with key stakeholders, start simple with a quarterly look at reach (impressions), engagement (reactions and shares), and audience growth (follower increases) for each channel and page. Add a small amount of context for the report, explaining simply why each metric matters. If you’re already providing basic reporting, consider if the stats you report on are aligned with strategic priorities, and look for ways to add context that helps people who aren’t in the day-to-day of social media and communications understand their value.
How can I convey the importance of reach, engagement, and page growth?
Consider that folks who don’t live and breathe PR and communications may not know or understand the importance of social media metrics like reach, engagement, and page growth. It can be helpful to explain, specifically, how they impact short- and long-term goals. A few things to note might include:
- Reach helps schools and districts build goodwill among the broader community, showing local citizens, businesses, and families (those with active students, those with future students, and those without students) the work that’s happening inside the school on an ongoing basis. Increasing reach helps with the school’s overall visibility, which can impact enrollment, sponsor support, and donations. A school with authentic positive goodwill can also recover more quickly from a scandal, thus mitigating reputational risk.
- Engagement metrics go a step further, helping schools measure overall enthusiasm and the depth of support both among students/staff and also the community at large. Engagement can help schools gauge the popularity of certain initiatives, the support educators and administrators have in decision-making, and other elements of public perception and sentiment.
- Page growth indicates that people are interested in hearing more from you. Over time, your social media followers become an asset to your school’s brand, as they represent a captive audience of people interested in the stories, information, and updates published on your pages.
Whether you’re just getting started or looking for ways to refine the way you track and report on school social media metrics, these stats are essential for school PR teams to demonstrate their impact and refine tactics and overall strategy. Need a hand getting your school or district’s social media pages in order or refining your metrics reporting? Class Intercom can help. Get in touch below.
