Download - Master Class term 1, 2014 comms strategy
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni1
Master Class term 1, 2014
Communications Strategy: featuring newsletter research
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni2
Master Class: Getting the communications balance right without driving yourself mad
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni3
Communications for the time poor and low tech
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I’m only here because I needed to get some shopping done in the city
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The Punch line
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Communications; it’s that simple
You manage 2 content categories
Your website does 3 things
Engagement happens in 2 ways
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The Background
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The School Newsletter Research
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What prompted the newsletter research?
“I don’t know why we bother. You get tired of saying to parents - it
was in the newsletter”
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Research Methodology
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Content Mix
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Content Mix: By type
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni
COMMUNITY10%: Extra curricular activities10%: Community news10%: Advertising
INTERNAL15%: Principals message3%: Compliance2%: Admin impacts
STUDENTS25%: Student activities/showcasing5%: Student acknowledgements7%: Dates affecting students
PARENTS2%: Parents supporting learning2%: Parent education3%: P&F/C4%: Dates affecting parents
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Today’s newsletter
COMMUNITY 30%
INTERNAL 20%
STUDENTS 37%
PARENTS 11%
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The Statistics
Average number of articles 23Average number of pages 5Average number of hours to publish 5Average hourly rate $40PA cost weekly cycle $8,000Fortnightly cycle $4,000
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Observations
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The format of the school newsletter hasn’t changed since photocopiers were introduced to schools.
The Newsletter
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The newsletter format pre-dates the internet, smart phones and 2 working parents. It also pre-dates a time when
information was scarce.
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What schools told us
• No school said its newsletter readership was high
• Schools that moved from weekly to fortnightly publishing heard crickets
• No school could articulate its communication strategy
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The newsletter culture is so strong that ‘it’ drives the school instead of the school
driving ‘it’.
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The school newsletter is driven by
space and time, not by a communications
strategy
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More observations
• Almost no reference in the school newsletter to the school’s website– Calendar synch very low– Missing opportunities to build resource culture
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Managing 2 independent publishing mediums
• Word/Publisher & Website – Print vs Digital• Resource strapped environment• Merge and manage one
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Most of a school newsletter is a PR exercise
A definitionPublic relations is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organisation (or individual) and its (or their) publics.
Public Relations Institute of Australia
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Big assumption was audience is ‘like-minded’
“Our parents like ………….”
‘Squeaky wheel’ formed the research base
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Conclusion
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You manage 2 content categories
LogisticsPR
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Newsletter content
LogisticsPR
What do you want people to do?
What do you want people to feel?
20%
80%
Must know
Optional
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Culture is to publish articles rather than content outcomes
What business is Shell in?
EnergyWe’re seeking the article outcome. What do you want
people to ‘feel’ about the school?
A Communication Outcome
1: Building community confidence in our teaching staff’s capabilities.
Even our teachers never stop learningCongratulations to Margaret Masseni on completing her Masters of Education – Student Wellbeing. It was 2 years of study giving up many nights and weekends following her passion. “It’s been a life long ambition of mine to study at Melbourne Uni. I’m very fortunate to have married such a wonderful husband as Denis who’s intellect has been a beacon of inspiration to me. I aspire to his greatness.” Said Margaret choking back the tears.
Communication Outcome
Content
1: Building community confidence in our teaching staff’s capabilities.
Even our teachers never stop learningCongratulations to Margaret Masseni on recently completing her Masters of Education – Student Wellbeing. It was 2 years of study giving up many nights and weekends following her passion. “It’s been a life long ambition of mine to study at Melbourne Uni. I’m very fortunate to have married such a wonderful husband as Denis who’s intellect has been a beacon of inspiration to me. I aspire to his greatness.” Said Margaret choking back the tears.
Communication Outcome
Content + Frequency + Medium
Communications Strategy
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One reason why the newsletter is not being read; the ‘must know’ and ‘optional’ mix
not
timel
y
timel
y
not important important
How much of a newsletter effects me? Can be down to 4%
wiifm
Dates effecting meMy kids
Classroom
The rest
My InterestContent Mix
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Communications Context: How platforms, devices and
publishing frequency matters.
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Context Rule 1: Frequency is context
http://allfacebook.com/socialcode-best-practices-engagement_b107019
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Frequency is ‘context’
2 choices;
to deliver 1,000 words every 2 weeks or
deliver 100 words per day, which has the best engagement?
Imagine if Facebook was a fortnightly newsletter from your ‘friends’. Would you read it? Same
content, different context.
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Time of the day is ‘context’
Research: several thousand subscribersOpen rate 40%Highest open rates occurred on Sundays
emails sent from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. are about three times more likely to be opened than emails sent at 4 p.m
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Time of the day is ‘context’
• Most brands post during the week• Best engagement is on weekends
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-57411092/the-best-time-to-send-email-so-it-will-get-read/
Why not experiment and become the only school that delivers content to parents when they’re most likely to absorb it
…..on weekends. In fact why not send your newsletter twice?
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Often it’s not the content that’s missing the mark but the context
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Context Rule 2: Devices and platforms are context
http://allfacebook.com/socialcode-best-practices-engagement_b107019
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Receivers
Push out
Pull in
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PR/LogisticsStumble upon
Bite sizeTone/vibe
PR/LogisticsEfficient
SkimmableMultiple stories
LogisticsAlerts
Ergonomic
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Your website does 3 things
1: Community portal; latest news2: Allows community to self-serve 3: Your virtual front door
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Engagement happens in 2 ways
Relevance: hitting the mark; my child’s involved (20%<)
Content Merchandising: making content accessible; you’ve made me want to read.
device – platform – frequency - content
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Communications Eco System
Receiving
Push out
Pull in
Logistics
PR
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An uncomfortable map for you to consider
You need a communications outcome plan
Public Relations• Write on your homepage as you go – about 1 article per day• Push out the 10 articles fortnightly; experiment with
time/day• Email with notifications also via facebook and app
Logistics• Write on the homepage and populate calendar as you go • Push out as early as possible • Scoop up in fortnightly summary• Email with notifications also via facebook and app
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Future sponsor-ed upgrades
The app: we love push notificationsAllowing web content to be pushed out to a phone app
An articleA calendar event
A webpageAn email
&
Phone
Pushing out: web page
Pushing out: a calendar event
Hawthorn West Primary School EVENT: Boroondara Division Swimming Carnival, August 5, 9:30AM – 12:30PM read more
This the way every post appears; exactly the same for facebook, twitter, and phone. For email the school’s name and email from are already in the email. The subject line becomes ‘EVENT’
http://hawthornwestps.vic.edu.au/eventdetails/175/2014-02-27
Date is converted
What an email push looks like
• It’s the same whether it’s a push from an Article of Webpage
Article heading or Web page heading.In the case of an event, the subject line becomes EVENT.
What a phone push looks like
Tagged with the school’s name
Goes back to Article url or web page from where it was written
Hawthorn West Primary School: Principal’s Message, our school is a …….. read more
Article or page title
Alerts summary
The last 6 (?) items pushed-out to the phone are listed in an Alerts summary available in a section.
This is required because once a push-out has occurred there’s no way of checking what was pushed if you didn’t react to it on receipt.
New Article rule
If nothing is written in the second box, the second box is auto populated with the content from the first box
Pushing out in an email
In the email client, we need a facility to push out an alert that the newsletter’s now available. Notification to go to phone, facebook, twitter
I think if you add a second text box like in Article and allow the user to write what they want and have device tick boxes underneath to push to
Push-out text
Insert text here
Phone
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Calendar Summary
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Calendar Summary
14: Grade 5 Zoo16: Trivia night24: Parent teacher night28: 1 week to go to hols