Symposium on parent engagement:

Using real-time communications to reach parentsBernie Rhinerson,

former Chief of Staff: San Diego Unified School District

Websites Alone Are NOT Enough!

Why Should Schools Use Mobile Device Communications?

Infographics from: http://www.smartinsights.com/mobile-marketing/mobile-marketing-analytics/mobile-marketing-statistics/

School Information Needs to Go Mobile!

63% of adult cell owners now use their phones to go online, a figure that has doubled since 2009

Mobile Device Communications

91% of American adults own a cell phone and many use the devices for much more than phone calls

Mobile Devices Are Part of Our Daily Lives!

Infographics from: http://www.smartinsights.com/mobile-marketing/mobile-marketing-analytics/mobile-marketing-statistics/

App Uses: Where Is My School?

Infographics from: http://www.smartinsights.com/mobile-marketing/mobile-marketing-analytics/mobile-marketing-statistics/

Going Mobile At San Diego Unified

BOTHAre

Needed

• Website updated to adapt to smartphonescreens– Responsive Web Design

• Join the App world– The SD Unified App is in iPhone and

Android app stores for free

• Marketing the Mobile App

Responsive Web Design for Mobile

San Diego Unified - Mobile App

News to the App with Website Integration

Website news links feed directly to Mobile App

San Diego Unified –Mobile App Adoption

• Steady pace of downloads

• 2,847 – iPhone

• 836 – Android

Mobile App Steps 1, 2, 3

• STEP #1 - Find the right Mobile App– Search the App stores– Look at other schools’ apps– Consider the Schoolwires Mobile Solutions

• Step # 2 – Integrate the App with your website– At San Diego Unified School District, we integrated the mobile app with

the district website on the Centricity 2 platform– This integration brought all of the real-time information from the website

to the mobile app• district calendar• contact information for staff• school directory with map feature• constant feed of district news that is continually updated

• Step # 3 - Launch & market your Mobile App– iTunes and Google Play app stores

• With a responsively designed website, your app will be promoted on smartphones

– Make it free and market the launch!

Mobile App Marketing: Key to Adoption Success

• Marketing Challenge - User Attention Span and App Competition– On-Going Marketing Is A Must to Break Through and Increase Adoption

• Marketing Tips:– Parent meetings

• Educate your school principals to promote the app• Enlist some early parent fans to speak up at meetings about why they like the

app– Counter cards at schools

• Design a card to place on school counters and hand out at meetings• An eye catching card can provide easy-to-follow instructions for downloading

– Social media• Set up a Facebook Fan Page for your mobile app and promote it • Set up a contest to promote Likes on the page• Use your Twitter feed to promote the launch and post frequent updates

– Promo video• Make your own promo video and post it on your Web page and share it on

You Tube • Play it at parent meetings to start the conversation about the many uses for

your app– Email marketing

• Your launch email is just a start. Follow up with a series of emails that highlight different features of your app.

– Staff meetings• Don’t forget your district staff

Social Media Communications Keeping it Fresh!

Social Media Challenge: Constant Information Flow

• Social Media requires engagement

• Engagement requires constant feeding

• Constant feeding requires news

Constant News Content

District eNewsletter: Friday Notes

• Weekly eNewsletter

• 69,000 emails

– Parents

– Staff

– Community

• Advertising Supported

News Fed To All School Websites

• Content Management System (CMS)

• New stories to district news via the Headlines & Features app

• News headlines appear on school homepages

Scheduling Headlines

Each Headline is given a date and time to appear on the website

Specific Web Page Feeds

• Headline feeds to specific pages

• With Tags and separate RSS feed

San Diego Unified - Social Media

• Fed daily for best results

• Twitter

– 4,665 followers

• Facebook

– 3,106 likes

– Weekly reach 3,444

Metrics: How Is It Working?

Facebook Metrics Page

Concluding Comments

• Going Mobile is a MUST for school-to-home communications

• Mobile transforms school communications

– Increased Parent Engagement

– Increased Community Engagement

– Increased Public Support for Education

• Social Media delivers information and engages parents

This presentation has been brought to you by Schoolwires®