reaching today’s tech savvy on-the-go-familiesreaching today’s tech savvy on-the-go-families...

Reaching Today’s Tech Savvy

On-The-Go-Families

Sean HannamNiagara Region PTA Technology Specialist

Today’s families are different from those we were trying to reach even only five years ago. Parents and students today are much more connected to the digital world, and are more likely to respond to an electronic and mobile presence than to traditional methods of communication.

Social Media Statistics• 74% of U.S. adults have a social media account

• 72% of U.S. moms have a Facebook profile

• 46% of U.S. moms use social network sites several times

per day

• 69% of parents monitor their children on social media sites.

• 73% of teens are on a social network

85% of U.S. adults between 18 and 50 use social media.

Of the 326 million people in the U.S. today, 145 million are

between the age of 18 and 50.

That works out to over 123 million people we want to target

that are using social media.

• Over 2 BILLION people are MONTHLY ACTIVE USERS.

• Users share over 4.7 BILLION pieces of content per day.

• Every 60 seconds:

• 1,785,000 comments are posted

• 1,025,000 statuses are updated

• 476,000 photos are uploaded.

• 62% of users access Facebook ONLY from mobile devices.

• The average user spends 21 minutes a day on Facebook.

• There are now more than 1 BILLION Twitter users

• Over 500 million Tweets are sent each day.

• Twitter has over 328 million active “Tweeters”.

• 80% of users access Twitter from mobile devices.

• 59% of twitter users are between 18 and 49 years old.

Twitter is often used to spread breaking news by people at the scene, making Twitter one of the first examples of “Social Newscasting”.

• There are 700 million monthly active users.

• Was only 200 million 2 yeas ago!

• 20 million new users sign up every month.

• Over 40 billion photos shared to date.

• 95 million photos uploaded per day

• Was only 70 million last year

• 32% of U.S. teens rate Instagram as their most important social

network.

• There are over 1.3 BILLION You Tube users.

• You don’t need a You Tube account to view videos.

• 300 hours of video are uploaded every minute.

• 5 BILLION videos are watched every day.

• Mobile users spend on average 40 minutes per session

• There is currently over 6 BILLION HOURS of video

available on You Tube.

Facebook offers an interactive way to offer information like a web page, provide updates like a newsletter and send messages like an e-mail account.

Why ?

In setting up the page, give careful thought to

the amount of information you wish the public to

see, and how much freedom others will have to

post information on your site. Part of that decision

is how much time the communications team will

have to monitor the site in case of controversy.

PTA policies apply to social media use.

Have A Successful Page

• Make sure you have content! A Facebook page that isn’t

regularly updated sends the message your unit is not very

active!

• Give updates on school activities and classroom honors.

• List great plays of sports teams or recess games.

• Ask for ideas to solve parking lot traffic problems or

celebrate Earth Day.

• Provide PTA meeting reminders.

• Assign three people to administer the page and monitor posts.

• Remove inappropriate content.

• Challenge incorrect information.

• Don’t over-post items.

• Keep it to a maximum of 1-2 posts per day.

• 5-7 posts a week is a good middle ground.

• Twitter is a more personal way to get your message out.

• “Tweets” are typically sent in the first person.

• You can send up to the minute updates!

• Tweet from PTA meetings to announce important voting

results, event info, decisions made by your board.

• Let your audience know what’s going on at a school board

meeting as it happens.

• Send updates from PTA events (#NRPTATraining2017).

• Keep the message positive! Give your audience a reason to

keep reading your tweets.

Successfully Your Message

• Instagram has surpassed Twitter in users and content• It allows you to send photos instantly to followers allowing you to

have a more visual presence than Twitter and send a more succinct message than Facebook.

• Instagram allows you to save photos where Snapchat’s photos (supposedly) disappear after they are viewed by end users.

• Snapchat was the fastest-growing social media network for teens (12 – 17) but has recently been replaced by Instagram.

• Instagram is currently the best way to reach students, and the

parents who are monitoring their usage!

It’s where the kids are!

A hashtag is a type of label or “tag” used on social network

and microblogging services which makes it easier for users

to find messages with a specific theme or content. Users

create and use hashtags by placing the hash character (or

number sign) # in front of a word or un-spaced phrase,

either in the main text of a message or at the end.

Searching for that hashtag will then present each message

that has been tagged with it.

For example, searching for #NRPTATraining2017on

Twitter will return tweets that have been sent during our

2017 Leadership Training.

#whatintheworldisahashtag?

Going Mobile

In this era of iPads, iPhones and Androids, parents and students are using these devices more and more to connect with the world around them. It is important to integrate our message and our mission into this mobile, digital world.

Some Mobile Statistics

• 77% of American adults now own a smartphone of some

kind.

• Of these, it has been estimated that 80% use the

calendar and alert functionality.

• 80% of social networking consumption occurs on a

mobile device.

• Of Facebook’s over two billion strong users, approximately

1.28 billion are mobile only.

How do we connect with our mobile

members?We need to utilize the tools they are using on a daily basis to

reach out to them and make our message as easy as possible for

them to integrate into their mobile lifestyle.

• Even if you have a website, be sure to have a strong Facebook

presence.

• Use Instagram and Twitter to send out meeting reminders,

advocacy notices, calls to action.

• Set up a digital copy of your calendar and make it easy for

mobile members to access and download directly into their

devices.

• Format your newsletter into an easily read digital format that will

work on mobile devices.

Facebook is already available in both “standard” and “mobile” formats. They have done the hard work of making your message mobile-friendly for you!

? (Part II)

Instagram and Twitter are the ideal mediums for getting

your message to mobile users.

Both allow you to deliver your message directly to your

mobile members in the succinct manner that they have

become accustomed to.

You can send messages, photos, videos, and can like and

re-send information from appropriate resources (such as

@NRPTA, @NYSPTA, and @PTA !)

&

Your Calendar

You can use Google Calendar to maintain your unit’s

calendar and share it with your mobile members. Google’s

calendars will integrate directly with the calendar app in any

mobile device from iPads to Androids. With Google calendar,

you can select whom you would like to be able to make edits

to the calendar, but then make it public for all to view.

Now, if only there were a simple way to share it…

QR Codes are Your

New Best FriendA QR Code is a barcode that is designed to be read by a

camera-enabled mobile device. Typically QR Codes will “do”

something when read by a mobile device.

• Take you to a web page.

• Load a movie into your movie app.

• Load contact information into your address book.

• Add a calendar into your phone.

You can create your own QR codes for FREE at:

http://www.qr-code-generator.com/

Questions?

Contact me atsmhannam@niagararegionpta.org

Want a copy of this presentation? Scan this QR

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