Did you know that according to Pew Research Center, in 2018, 71% of Americans age 18 to 24 use Instagram? If you have not yet begun to harness the power of Instagram in your school, now is the time to start!
I know the minute I say bring social media into our schools we start to get nervous. And I’ll remind you that it is like anything else we do. We need to set some ground rules and let students know our expectations on what is appropriate. We must also communicate the consequences if they don’t follow the expectations. And as always, follow your school policies.
Here are 6 awesome ways you can use Instagram in your schools.
Show Off Your School Culture. Post images of the fun and amazing things that your school is up to. It reminds students of all the cool things they get to do, and it is an excellent recruiting tool for admission. They can show potential students some of the awesome things happening in the school.
Share Students Work. Brag on the skills of your students and show your Instagram community how talented your students are by posting before and after photos. You just might build up your student salon traffic.
Spotlight Features. You can choose to spotlight a student each month. You could post contest winners or student of the month winners. When new students advance to the student salon, announce them to your community. And when students graduate, congratulate them and wish them well.
In addition to your public-school account, you can set up a private student account where only students can join. Then you can do some additional things just for them.
Reminders/Announcements. Let students know about special events or activities that are coming up. You also can post reminders about an upcoming test, guest speaker or even jeans day.
Post Questions. Post questions that will encourage student interaction. You could post a picture and ask them to comment on the style, technique used to create, color formula, makeup application and more.
Connect with Industry Icons. There is some incredible talent and educational resources to be found on Instagram. Many industry icons have a page and post their work and answer questions.
Did you know, we have our own Instagram page? Well, we think your students should follow it!
(@Miladypro), every Friday, they have an industry icon take over our page to share tips and tricks on how they created their success.
Be sure to do more with the student than just have them look and watch. Create different images that are posted and see if students can re-create them. Then you can post their work to your school page. Who knows, the next great industry icon may be sitting in your classroom right now!