KY Adult Education Professional Learning Community | OCTC: Enlarge Social Media Footprint

Picture of Owensboro Skills U professional learning community link to their Facebook page

Owensboro CTC Skills U PLC 2018-2019

The OCTC PLC chose a project focusing on their social media footprint. This project was chosen because of the desire to present an image of the four county efforts as ONE, and as additional part of this project the four existing FB sites would be merged into one. In other words, merging the parts into one whole would make the public and the students in the four counties recognize that they are part of something bigger. Beginning April 1 through May 3, 2019, increase the multi county Facebook presence through posting daily at peak times and weekly boosting of posts to promote the program and with an emphasis on the celebration of student achievements.

OCTC Facebook Page

LIVE AND LEARN, MESSY MOMENTS

1. With the exit of the lead staff person with the most social media savvy, at times the project got lost in the shuffle.
2. Follow-up on suggested posts needs to be handled by one point person. Shared pictures were easy but the proper format for video made it much harder.
3. Making the project a priority.
4. Boosting does pay off with more individuals reached and more posts shared. A boosted post also yielded by far the largest number of likes at 94.
5. Most posts were of a student success story such as earning a GED® and future plans.
6. The biggest challenges are the time and opportunity for a staff person to post and a large pool of suggested posts in the proper format to allow for a numerous posts and a variety of content.
7. Postings should follow the 80/20 social media rule (see #8 below for more information). 80% should be content of interest to followers and inform, educate, and entertain your audience, while only 20% should directly promote your business. Promotion posts included orientation and testing announcements, student success and future plans, and promotion of new efforts. Examples of interest content are grammar and math tips, useful resources such as childcare, scholarships, and Medicaid, and community and college events.

RESULTS OF THE PRODUCT

OCTC PLC Directions

OCTC Facebook Posting Results for April 2019

MASTERY MOMENTS

1. 1. The Facebook pages were merged.
  2. Learned more about the inner workings of social media and how you can boost.
  3. Smaller geographic areas may be feeling more of a part of OCTC
  4. Strengthened staff camaraderie.
  5. Enhanced student sense of belonging and connection.
  6. Learned how to make a Boomerang video which can be be easily shared on Instagram or Facebook.
  7. Learned to process of how to boost or finance a boost for a post.
  8. Successfully planned a project together and implemented it (although not to the degree we would have liked)