According to
Hubspot,
"lead generation is the science of converting site visitors into leads. In inbound marketing, visitors become leads once they fill out a form in return for some sort of offer on a targeted landing page. These leads can then be qualified and distributed to the sales team who will work to convert them into customers."
We work a lot with school districts in various ways to assist them in their marketing and communications efforts. We're also a Certified Hubspot Partner. So, it just became a natural progression to question whether lead generation can work in school districts. Let's start answering this question by looking at the first 2 parts of Hubspot's definition and apply them to school districts.
Lead generation is the science of converting site visitors into leads.
School district websites, the good ones, typically have a high volume of traffic. Especially if the district is constantly creating compelling, search optimized content. Many districts don't capitalize on their high traffic volume for one simple reason. They're not focused on generating leads. Why? Because a school district believes it isn't selling a product or service, which isn't entirely true. School districts are in the business of educating young people and equipping them with the knowledge or skills required to graduate, maybe go to college, or in some cases, enter the workplace. So, a district is selling a service; education. Career technical centers kind of understand this idea because they have to actively recruit students into their programs to survive. However, traditional k12 schools are missing a huge opportunity because they don't see the education they're providing as a service to their students or the students' parents. Traditional k-12 schools should focus on lead generation for no other reason than to increase the reach of their e-newsletters and social media efforts.
In inbound marketing, visitors become leads once they fill out a form in return for some sort of offer on a targeted landing page.
The whole idea behind inbound marketing is to pull your best customers and prospects to your website by creating great content, promoting that content through social media, and then converting site visitors to leads. I talked about it earlier. School districts that are creating great content are already pulling their "customers" (students, parents, alumni & community members) to their website. They need to take the next step and create calls-to-action that link to landing pages. These landing pages need to offer the visitor something they don't typically get by visiting the website on a regular basis. So, if a school district is utilizing e-newsletters, they need to create a call-to-action (CTA) and place it on the web pages that are getting the highest amount of traffic. Place the CTA above the fold of the web page, and link it to a landing page where visitors can sign up to receive the district's e-newsletter. Tell the visitor exactly what they're going to get from receiving the e-newsletter, how often they'll receive it, and reiterate your privacy policy that you're not going to share their personal information with anyone, and that it will be used for the sole purpose of keeping them informed about the district and its activities.
Can school districts use inbound marketing? Absolutely! While districts aren't trying to sell a product or service like a business, they are selling themselves to a specific group of customers who have a strong emotional connection. The idea of using inbound marketing techniques to grow a district's e-newsletter database is just one example.
What other ways can school districts use inbound marketing in their marketing & communication efforts? We'd love to hear your feedback!
On the night of April 18th, 1775, the most important message of the United States was delivered on horseback under the cover of night by Paul Revere. His simple "1 if by land, 2 if by sea" system gave the American forces time to rally and eventually defeat the British Army.
Fast-forward to 103 years later...
In 1878 David Hughes noticed that sparks could be heard in a telephone receiver with a carbon microphone. Hughes developed his carbon-based detector further and eventually could detect signals over a few hundred yards. Radio later became the media outlet on which Adolf Hitler made his famous declaration of war.
Fast-forward again, this time 131 years...
On Tuesday, January 20th
2009, the world witnessed the inauguration of the first African-American President of the United States of America. Over 23 million people watched the inauguration... ON THE INTERNET!
Let's review. What have we learned from our brief history lesson that pertains to school district communication?
At first glance is doesn't look like much, but hear me out!
Imagine trying to explain to Paul Revere the concept of a computer. Or maybe you would like the task of telling Hitler that there would someday be an African-American President of the United States. In either case, both messages would have been met with tremendous uncertainty.
The message I am trying to convey is simple. If school districts are going to survive in the ever changing world of communication, THEY MUST LEARN TO ADAPT!!!
This is not a knock on any specific school district, or even any particular demographic of citizens. Instead, think of this as a request to all people in charge of school district communication. Our schools are too important to let their communication slip by the wayside. Students across the country are excelling in ways like never before, yet negative stories dominate the headlines concerning today's education system.
Today's traditional and social media outlets have spoiled audiences. People no longer rely on the Sunday paper to fill them in on what is happening in their community and around the world. Today's media audiences want their information on their terms, and they want it now.
One way cutting-edge districts are combating this problem is by infusing user generated content (UGC) into their communication efforts. (Look here for a great example www.hipointjourneys.com) With the demands of today's media audiences, user generated content allows students, staff and even alumni the chance to provide positive messages about their respective districts.
However, user generated content is not the "end all be all" for school communication, and that is exactly my point. Confused yet?
User generated content is not new to the communication world. Unfortunately, it is still relatively new to school districts across the country. This only further reinforces the significance of my previous request. Lagging behind most other organizations can't become a trend with school districts. Schools, especially public schools have an image problem. The only way to combat this problem is by becoming as transparent in communication efforts as possible.
To bring this post full-circle, nobody knows exactly what the future holds for school district communication. But then again, nobody knows what the future holds either. What we do know is that the most successful industries and companies are the ones who best communicate with their target audiences. Just imagine the fate of the United States if Paul Revere would have tried delivering his message on his own two feet. The results would have been catastrophic. A similar fate can't be shared by our schools, they are simply too important!
Start Your Journey Today
Start your journey today to become an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional with resources from IMU and Rock Solid Media LLC.
At it's very core, inbound marketing is all about pulling prospective clients to your great content, converting those prospects to leads, nurturing them, and then closing the deal. When you go bass fishing, you have to lure the fish to your hook, react to the bite, set the hook and land the fish. So bass fishing and inbound marketing are the same? Not really, but there are 3 areas that bass fishing and inbound marketing resemble one another!
Lures Are A Start
Look in any bass angler's tacklebox and you'll find a myriad of different lures for different situations. Spinnerbaits are great early spring/fall baits to use when bass are chasing shad and other bait fish. Jigs are pretty much a good all-purpose lure when your looking for the "big bite" Plastic worms are perfect for those hot summer months when the bass are a bit more lethargic. Ultimately, all these baits are great for catching bass, but you have to know when to use them.
An inbound marketers "tacklebox" isn't much different from a bass angler's tacklebox. Different tools for different situations. Blogs are great content to show a business' expertise in a particular area. Whitepapers are even better content than blogs because a business can actually go into more detail about a particular service or a client success from implementing a business' product or service. Videos are great content because viewers can instantly build a connection with a face, or a business can show its product or service in action. These are just three examples of "lures" available to an inbound marketer. However, just like a bass angler, an inbound marketer must know when to use them.
Location, Location, Location
Bass anglers may have the greatest lures in the world, but if they aren't around fish, they'll never catch a single bass. Bass anglers use lake maps to locate ledges, points, and other structure that could hold bass. Then, once their on the water, they use pretty sophisticated depth finders to find these structures and determine if they have the right elements (brush, logs, pea gravel, chunk rock) to hold bass. Once they've found a "spot", they then start fishing to see if any bass are in these locations.
Inbound marketers are no different, except their "lake maps" are the internet and social media. Once a company is on the "lake" they have to do some research to find the right elements. Inbound marketers do this through tasks like keyword research and social media research. Once they've found the right elements, inbound marketers start optimizing their website for the best keywords and start listening to social media conversations to find out what others are saying about the products or services that are similar to those of their business. Inbound marketers then start "fishing" by sharing their great content with the social mediasphere, through lead nurturing campaigns, and pay-per-click campaigns just to name a few.
Rinse & Repeat
Once a bass angler has located fish on a structure with certain elements using a certain lure, they'll start looking for other areas on the lake with the same attributes. Once they find areas with these attributes, bass anglers will start trying to build a "pattern". Once they've found a pattern, they can start catching bass by the barrel full!
Inbound marketers are similar, in that once they've started to convert visitors to leads, they start analyzing the data to find how the visitors found their content and how those visitors converted to leads. The name of the game in inbound marketing is lead conversion. Once an inbound marketer starts converting site visitors to leads, they can hand the leads to the sales team to close the deal.
So, bass fishing is a lot like inbound marketing. They both have tools, are all about location, and require a great deal of analysis to experience success. What other ways do you think bass fishing (or fishing in general) and inbound marketing are similar? We'd love to get your feedback!
Photo courtesy of my personal tacklebox
Start Your Journey Today
Start your journey today to become an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional with these great resources from Rock Solid Media LLC.
Josh Nason, one of our good friends at SendLabs (check these guys out) recently wrote a post about inbox exhaustion. Josh defined inbox exhaustion as "you send to your list way too much, wearing them out and causing them to unsubscribe or worse, file a spam complaint." If you haven't read their post, check it out!
Why is this whole concept of inbox exhaustion important to understand? One word: TRUST. Especially if you're a small business. These days, people expect to get bombarded by the big box stores with deals and offers. Most customers don't have a personal relationship with these businesses. They (customers) just want the next great discount from a place like Kohl's.
Small businesses, on the other hand, work very hard on a daily basis to build relationships with their customers to gain trust. Once you have a customer's trust, you work even harder to maintain that trust. You nurture that trust like you would nurture your own child. So avoiding inbox exhaustion in your small business email marketing strategy is all about nurturing your subscribers' trust to continue winning their business.
So, how can you tell if you're creating inbox exhaustion? And, more importantly, how can you mount a coordinated effort to stop it? Josh touched on these, but we want to drill them home. Here are 3 signs you've created inbox exhaustion and 3 strategies to combat this "disease".
3 Signs You've Created Inbox Exhaustion
- Steep decline in open rates - Many email marketers would argue that open rates are not a good KPI (key performance indicator) by which to measure email marketing success. Quite the contrary, especially when you're trying to determine if you've created inbox exhaustion. Keep a vigilant watch over your open rates for each campaign you send. If you've built your email marketing list organically (signup box at checkout, website signup, etc.), then it's reasonable, based on our experience working with clients, to expect to see open rates that exceed the "industry standard" of 15-20%. If you notice a steep decline in open rates across 2-3 email campaigns, that should be an immediate red flag that you've started to create inbox exhaustion.
- Steep increase in unsubscribe rates - This is as obvious as the nose on your face. If your subscribers are opting out faster than a cat runs away from water, you need to immediately stop sending campaigns on the "schedule" you've developed.
- Steep increase in spam complaints - Spam complaints are death in email marketing. The more spam complaints you get from subscribers, the quicker you will end up on the ISP (internet service provider) Black List. Once you've hit this list, you have a bigger fight on your hands than you can handle. You'll need to work with your ESP (email software provider) to work with the ISPs to get off the list. But, you can avoid this "near-death sentence" if you exercise good judgment from the start of your email communication efforts.
Ok, now you've identified inbox exhaustion in your email marketing strategy. Now, what can you do to start combating this disease? Here are 3 strategies you can deploy stat.
3 Email Marketing Strategies to Combat Inbox Exhaustion
- Focus on rebuilding your list - As people start to unsubscribe, you start seeing your database decrease in size. You're reaching less people with your email messages. All hands on deck. You need to develop a list building strategy to acquire new subscribers who are interested in your business/products/services. Check out our blog post for 3 easy tips to start collecting email addresses.
- Less IS more - First, stop sending email campaigns for a month. It's crazy, and some would argue it's a waste of time. Use the down time to regroup and create a schedule of when you're going to send your campaigns. We would recommend no more than 2 emails per month, one at the beginning and one at the end of the month.
- Shock & Awe - Finally, do something that will get your unengaged subscribers' attention. We recently did something like this with a client and provided the details of the effort in a blog post. Check it out. Don't be afraid to give something away. Something big. Remember, you're trying to get someone's attention that is ignoring you and immediately deleting every single email campaign you send. Start with the subject line and work from there.
What other signs have you experienced that you're creating inbox exhaustion? What other ideas do you have for combating this dreaded disease in the email channel? We'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas!
Get Rock Solid E-News to Your Inbox
Sign up today to get Rock Solid E-News & Tips to your inbox! Learn about inbound marketing, email marketing and other internet marketing strategies on your time!
Since the beginning of May, we've been working behind the scenes with a project called the Crawford: 20/20 Vision in Crawford County, Ohio. More specifically, we've been mentoring an intern that was hired by one of the major financial backers, the Bucyrus Area Community Foundation, of the Vision project. The Crawford: 20/20 Vision is "an unprecedented effort to bring together the people of our county to take charge of our challenges and turn them around. The initiative will develop and implement a Crawford Vision that will guide our county for the next decade."
Since March, the committee leading the Vision project has held a series of meetings throughout Crawford County. During each of these meetings, it became apparent that the demographics of the attendees was skewed very heavily to the age 50 & older crowd. This wasn't a huge surprise, considering that data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that the county has an aging population and that this aging population (50+) will outnumber the younger population (50 & under) by 2018. The charts below show age demographics of meetings held May 17 & May 18, respectively.
May 17 Mtg
Age Demographics
| May 18 Mtg
Age Demographics
|
 |  |
Based on this data, Janet Pry, Executive Director for the Bucyrus Area Community Foundation, hired an intern to implement social media and permission-based email marketing to reach the under-represented under 40 age demographic. Janet recently shared some insights about social media and this project.
RSM - What were the initial challenges you faced in implementing social media with Crawford: 20/20 Vision?
Janet -
Skepticism. Most of the people on the (Crawford: 20/20 Vision) committee are over 45 years of age. They know of Facebook, Twitter, blogging - but they have not really used them in any sort of business capacity. I don't think they understood the power that could be unleashed by using the various media outlets. Even e-newsletters via organized, web-based programs were not something that they used. Social media has come into the business world with such speed that many people are intimidated by the technology.
RSM - How did you overcome those challenges?
Janet - By hiring a young, intelligent student to initiate its use and "forcing" the issue. The only way to truly overcome the challenges, fear and skepticism of social media is to start using it and see the power it brings to the table.
RSM - Since implementing social media as a part of the Crawford: 20/20 Vision community engagement efforts, what's been the response you've received from individuals in the community?
Janet - Very positive, I believe. It allows so many more people to participate in the discussions. Going into this process, we knew that one of the hardest aspects of the process would be communications. One thing that is obviously lacking in Crawford County is one or two powerful media outlets. The newspapers' readership is dropping and their coverage of local issues is meager. We could not rely on the print media to get the word out. Crawford County does not have a television station. The radio station has been very helpful in airing news of the events, but it is hard to know how many people listen and take in the dates, times and places of the meetings when they hear it on the radio. We told the consultants right at the beginning that communication would be difficult. The social media outlets really provide a powerful communication tool.
RSM - What role do you envision social media having as you continue moving forward with Crawford: 20/20 Vision?
Janet - I think it will be vital in the implementation process. Again, we have known from the start that the planning part of the process is just the beginning and in many ways the easiest part to accomplish. Implementing a plan takes ongoing energy and by-in from community members. I think the social media outlets will provide the forum for ongoing discussions. And, there is nothing better to "nudge" someone to action than to be reminder of things on Facebook!
Besides the Facebook Fan Page, they've also started a blog, a Twitter profile, and a YouTube channel. Plus, they started using e-newsletters to engage subscribers from their social media outlets and attendees at the community meeting. We strongly encourage you to check out at least one of their social media tools.
Has the effort to engage the under 45 population using social media in this rural Ohio county worked? We think so, especially given the Insights from the Crawford: 20/20 Vision Facebook Fan Page and age demographics of a recent online survey conducted through the Facebook Fan Page.
Facebook Fan Page
Insights
| Recent Survey
Age Demographics
|
 |  |
What other ways can the Vision project engage the under 45 demographic through social media? We would like to hear your thoughts, ideas and suggestions!
Start Your Journey Today
Start your journey toward becoming an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional today with our IMU Resources!
Up until 3 years ago, I was an avid fisherman. So much so that I actually traveled around Kentucky and Ohio and fished tournaments on the weekend. I was even lucky enough to fish in 2 national tournaments; one in Louisiana and one in Kentucky. I even had sponsors to help me finance my passion. Some paid cash, while others provided products. Life changed after my last national tournament in Kentucky and I've since not fished a single tournament. But, I still fish. Not as often, but my 4 year old daughter likes to go fishing and so I take her to one of the local reservoirs.
Despite my absence from competitive fishing, I still keep up with what's happening on the professional tournament trail via BassFan.com. On this website, they keep a running tab of the Top 10 World Rankings in the sport. These point rankings are based on a "proprietary method" that isn't disclosed on BassFan.com. However, they do list several contributing factors that include pervious tournament performances, strength of the field, and various others for the top-level events in the BASS (Bass Anglers Sportsman Society) and FLW Outdoors tournament circuits. And yes, there are professional leagues for bass fishing.
Very few pro bass fishermen live off their tournament winnings, although one tournament win can have a profound effect on a pro's financial well-being. The majority of pros either finance their career from personal funds, or they have large sponsorship deals to finance their careers. With the current recession we're experiencing, many of these large sponsorship deals are becoming increasingly difficult to land. Companies involved in professional bass fishing sponsorships include fishing tackle companies (Lucky Craft, Berkley, G-Loomis, etc.), fishing boat manufacturers (Ranger, Triton, BassCat, etc.), boat engine manufacturers (Mercury, Evinrude, Yamaha, etc.) and main stream companies (Toyota, Wal-Mart, Land-O-Lakes, etc.). All these companies sponsor fishing pros because they want to increase brand awareness with the nearly 40 million people, according to the American Sportfishing Association, in the United States who fish. There are other reasons, but I need to get to the point.
Back to the BassFan World Rankings, and more specifically the Top 10. Given my affinity for fishing and the nature of my business, I decided to do a little non-scientific research to see how the pros in the Top 10 are using social media to help extend their brand beyond the boat launches, weigh-ins, highway mileage and traditional website presence. Below is a quick table that breaks it down by angler rank, website, Facebook Fan Page and Twitter profile.
| | Angler
| Website?
| Fan Page?
| Twitter?
|
1
| Skeet Reese
| Yes
| Yes-2
| No
|
2
| Brent Ehrler
| Yes
| No
| No
|
3
| Kevin Vandam
| Yes
| No
| No
|
4
| Tommy Biffle
| Yes
| No
| No
|
5
| Bryan Thrift
| Yes
| No
| No
|
6
| Mike Iaconelli | Yes
| Yes-multiple
| Yes
|
7
| Aaron Martens
| Yes
| No
| No
|
8
| Cliff Pace
| No
| No
| No
|
9
| Greg Hackney
| No
| No
| No
|
10
| Gary Klein | No
| No
| No
|
You Won't Catch a Thing if Your Line's not in the Water
The findings, while non-scientific, are very alarming. 7 of the top 10 have a website. I wonder why the 3 at the bottom are waiting to start with the most basic component of internet marketing. After all, it is 2010. Simply developing a static website with sponsor logos and links to sponsor websites can help build both the angler's brand and their sponsors' brands. Don't worry, initially, about developing new content. Just get with the times. Sort of sounds like some small businesses that are reluctant to develop a website. Most that I talk to cite cost as the primary reason for not having a website. Again, it's 2010 and phonebooks are on the verge of being extinct.
Find the Bait, You'll Find the Fish
As I dug deeper, I found that there are huge opportunities for these professional athletes. Only 2 of 10 are utilizing a Facebook Fan Page. Facebook is close to hitting 500 million users worldwide, with over 113 million in the US alone over the age of 18. Then, if you drill that down to the number of US users 18 and over whom either like, or have an interest in, fishing you get just over 2 million people. Not all of the 2 million people may like bass fishing, but it should give these pro fishermen (and women) some incentive to embrace social media. If 2 million isn't enough, Facebook also provides a great set of analytics tools called Insights. This is where a pro angler can start to really impress potential sponsors. They can show sponsors their fans' demographics, their fans' interactions with media, and the Page's growth over time just to name a few. The one thing sponsors want to know, at least in my experience, is what the angler's reach is. Now, at least with a Facebook Fan Page, a pro angler can provide these statistics with ease and accuracy. Plus, they can provide some really unique content that extends their sponsors' brands into the space. So, there are 2 million people in the US on Facebook that "like" fishing. How many do you think like coffee? How about cars? Flowers maybe? I think you get the point.
Don't Ignore What Others Use to Catch Fish
The other thing that raised an eyebrow was these anglers' use, or lack thereof, of Twitter. Only 1 of the top 10 is currently using Twitter. And, the one using Twitter, hasn't "Tweeted" in nearly a year. But, that's beside the point. At least he's created an account and "squatted" on his name. Twitter, while not providing the any level of reporting, still serves as a great tool to spread a message and build a following. Plus, it can help to extend an angler's reach to another group of people who share similar interests. It all comes back to one thing. Creating, building and maintaining a following on Twitter adds additional value to the angler's brand, thus providing additional value to the angler's sponsors' brand.
Lures are Great, but Understanding How They Work is Essential
A website, Facebook Fan Page and Twitter profile are all simply tools that when combined, can be powerful tools for small business marketing. These tools that can be used to ultimately strengthen an angler's brand and further strengthen the angler's sponsors' brand and the same can be applied to a small business. The only difference is that small businesses don't have sponsors. Instead, they have customers. And a small business' customers are the same as angler's sponsors. The real challenge that exists is deciding how you're going to be social, not why you're going to be social. How you engage with fans and followers can ultimately dictate the success of your social media marketing efforts. The best way to figure out how you're going to be social is experiment. But, before you engage you have to listen to understand what people are talking about and how you can engage in the conversation! It's a big pond, but don't be afraid to go fishing.
Start Your Journey Today!
Start your journey toward becoming an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional today by accessing Rock Solid Media's IMU Resources!
While many Ohio school districts are still avoiding social media, there are several that have embraced the revolution. Two districts cited by Shane Haggerty (follow Shane on Twitter), Marketing & Communications Director for Ohio Hi-Point Career Center, include Pickerington City Schools and their involvment in the "We are Pickerington" Facebook Fan Page. The other is the Cincinnati Public Schools' "I Am CPS" campaign. Shane also discusses why many Ohio school districts are not utilizing social media, plus he shares some advice for school districts considering the implementation of social media.
We hope you've enjoyed our 3 part interview series on school district social media. Visit our YouTube Channel to view all 3 videos.
If there's a topic you would like to learn more about related to social media, lead generation, email marketing or any other aspect of inbound marketing or communications, please contact us and we will work to bring that topic to our blog!
Start Your Journey Today!
Start your journey toward becoming an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional today by accessing Rock Solid Media's IMU Resources!
Before I get too far in to this post, I want to say that this is not meant to smear any company or business. I had a bad personal experience with service at a local restaurant, which prompted me to post my experience on Facebook and to talk about it in the video below.
Customer service is the key to any business' success. Period. Poor customer service, especially for a small business, can lead to poor reviews on Yelp, Facebook, Twitter. The entire social mediasphere.
Get more of my thoughts by watching the video below. I look forward to your comments & thoughts!
Start Your Journey Today
Start your journey toward becoming an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional today by accessing Rock Solid Media's IMU Resources!
As the school year draws to a close, so does our first year as the outsourced communications department for The Bucyrus City School District. As far as we have been able to research, the partnership between Rock Solid Media LLC and The Bucyrus City Schools marks the first time a school district in Ohio has outsourced typical "in house" communication efforts.
We started with the basics, a few releases regarding new building dedications and some slideshows to run during the open houses for the buildings. What ensued over the next year was anything but routine for rural school districts in Ohio.
Let's start with Facebook. Launched in September, the district's Facebook fan page currently has over 565 fans, has received over 7,938 page views, 287 video views and 1171 picture views! But better than all those stats is that 78% of all our fans are age 25 and up! What does that mean? It means we are reaching our target audience, it means that we don't have a bunch of students who are "fans" of the district, but that we are actually reaching important district stakeholders. For districts that don't have the financial assets to build out a specific communication website, Facebook provides a free place to publicize information, pictures and videos.
After Facebook was up and running we turned our attention to creating a monthly Superintendent's video series. Using the video hosting site Vimeo, instead of Youtube, we were able to create professional looking videos specifically branded to the Bucyrus City School District. The stats weren't anything to write home about, but we did manage to get over 225 different people to watch at least one of Dr. Nichols' videos. Here is an example of one of the videos we produced.
While these videos won't win an Oscar, they allow district stakeholders to feel like their Superintendent is actually a person. It allows the audience to hear directly from the administration what important things are going on within the district.
Last but certainly not least, I want to touch on the district's deployment of email marketing. Today over 2,150 emails have been sent to over 340 different people in the district's database. Members of the database can choose 8 different categories of information they wish to receive, ranging from athletics to strategic plan updates. Across the industry email marketing typically sees a 15%-20% open rate, the average open rate for the district's email marketing campaign is 51%. Email marketing can serve as a typically low cost communication tool for school districts looking for new ways to reach a very specific target audience.
There you have it! Are our results earth shattering? Probably not. The only thing we can say for sure is that the district is taking their communication efforts places they have never been. Only time will tell whether or not the partnership between Rock Solid and Bucyrus will be mutually beneficial, but after a review of year #1, I think it is headed in the right direction!
When deciding to implement social media there are always challenges you'll have to overcome, regardless of the type of organization. While many for-profit businesses don't concern themselves with legal issues, school districts have strict laws they must follow when dealing with students. This challenge alone can be extremely daunting for any school district to overcome when evaluating social media for their communications.
On top of legal issues, school districts also have a rather intricate hierarchy. School boards, superintendents, treasurers, principals, assitant principals, teachers. There are many people that get involved in the decision-making processes that take place in public education. This dynamic can also lead to many people within a district doubting social media's effectiveness for reaching a specific population.
Shane Haggerty (follow Shane on Twitter), Marketing & Communications Director for Ohio Hi-Point Career Center, discusses the challenges he faced when initially implementing social media in his district, specifically how he overcame those challenges, and the response he's received from the social media "nay-sayers".
What challenges do you feel exist for school districts and social media? Are there some that Shane didn't address? We would like to hear your comments and questions. If we get enough, we'll take these questions to Shane and have him address them specifically in another interview!
The final part in our 3 part series will explore how other Ohio school districts are implementing social media, Shane's views on why more districts aren't using social media, and his advice for districts struggling to get started!
Get the Latest from Rock Solid Media LLC
Sign Up for Rock Solid Media E-News to get the latest information on email marketing, social media, public relations and inbound marketing from Rock Solid Media LLC
Inbound Marketing utilizes techniques focused on getting found by your small business' best prospects. This form of marketing is more efficient and cost-effective than traditional "push" marketing. By combining great content with social media, landing pages, conversion forms and website analytics, companies and organizations are able to reduce their cost per lead by nearly 60% based on data from Hubspot's 2010 State of Inbound Marketing.
Inbound Marketing University is a training program focused on teaching the inbound marketing methodology to marketers around the world. IMU involves 16 online courses that provide you with in-depth information and knowledge about the methodology of inbound marketing, and how you can apply these methods in your current marketing efforts.
Becoming an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional has many advantages, least of which are the five listed below.
- It's FREE - Inbound Marketing University is a FREE training program designed to teach you the methodology behind inbound marketing. Who doesn't love FREE certification programs!
- Learn from the Best - Inbound Marketing University has built an A-list of instructors to teach you the ins & outs of inbound marketing. Blogging, SEO, email marketing and other topics are covered by seasoned industry veterans. And, you don't pay a dime to learn from them!
- Increase Your Knowledge - It is said that knowledge is power. By completing the training courses, 16 total, you will have the knowledge about inbound marketing methods to start incorporating them into your company's overall marketing strategy.
- Expand Your Opportunities - Becoming an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional can open up doors for new opportunities for yourself within your present environment. The IMU certification shows that you've achieved a great level of understanding, and are capable to lead the inbound marketing efforts of your company.
- New Career Possibilities - The IMU Certification, like it or not, looks AWESOME on a resume. Plus, when you interview for jobs with companies that just have a "brochure" website, you can knock them off their feet with your knowledge about the benefits of inbound marketing. It's definitely a leg up in a challenging job market.
At the end of the day, the value you'll get from becoming an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional is priceless. Opportunities for growth and advancement are endless because companies large and small will need to start implementing inbound marketing methods to grow in this changing economy.
Start Your Journey Today
Start your journey toward becoming an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional today by accessing Rock Solid Media's IMU Resources!
Social media has witnessed a huge increase in popularity as the preferred channel of communications for many individuals, companies and organizations. Proof of this can be seen in the unprecedented growth in the number of users of social media. Facebook is quickly approaching 500 million users, and Twitter is growing just as rapidly (although the company doesn't release similar information as Facebook) based on unique site visitors.
However, one "industry" that still struggles to embrace this new form of communication is public education. School districts across the United States are realizing that social media can be a viable channel for communication with their stakeholders. But, school district social media usage continues to lag behind other "industries" for many reasons, least of which is legal ramifications.
One Ohio school district, Ohio Hi-Point Career Center, has not only embraced social media, but they've also blazed a trail for other school districts. Their award-winning "Hi-Point Journeys" campaign is a great example of how school districts can implement social media by utilizing one of their greatest assets; students.
Shane Haggerty (follow Shane on Twitter), Ohio Hi-Point's Marketing & Communications Director, sat down with Rock Solid Media to provide a behind-the-scenes look at their campaign. This is the first in a three-part series that gives you a deeper understanding of how Ohio Hi-Point is using social media to reach its current students, prospective students, parents and community.
Part 2 will explore the challenges Shane faced in utilizing social media for Ohio Hi-Point and how he overcame those challenges.
Get the latest from Rock Solid Media LLC
Signup for Rock Solid Media E-news to get the latest information on email marketing, social media, public relations and inbound marketing from Rock Solid Media LLC