Do you monitor engagement and brand activity for your school? 

You might have an informal strategy to check social media on a semi-regular basis, but what happens when you wake up in the morning and a ‘publicity situation’ has evolved overnight without your knowledge? 

There’s also not much worse than hearing news via a parent or student before you’ve heard it.

Staying on top of brand mentions in the media, and most importantly how your target audiences are engaging with your brand, is absolutely crucial to protecting your brand and making the most of any brand engagement – good or bad. After all, they say that ‘any news is good news’ – but this is really only the case if you’re watching and ready to respond.

The first step is having some form of monitoring in place – start with some simple automated alerts like Google Alerts, or try some more advanced brand monitoring systems. Software can be helpful, but you can’t do a thorough job with out some form of ‘manual monitoring’ where you or your team are actively reviewing social media and other community channels to get a sense of sentiment, and catch any news that needs special attention.

The other critical part is having proper processes in place to handle complaints or bad publicity. No doubt your school has some good policies and risk management practices in place, but it’s also important to think about how long will it take, and how much damage will be done, before these kick in. As a school marketer you have an important role in the process to have an effective brand monitoring process in place as part of your broader brand strategy.

So I encourage you to spend some time reviewing your brand monitoring strategy, and you’ll be ready to use good news for brand stories or testimonies, and effectively handle bad news in order to minimise brand erosion.

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#brandbites

At Elevate, we create brands, products and systems that facilitate meaningful experiences for school communities – learn more about how we can help your school or get in touch for more helpful tips on developing and monitoring your school brand.