HAVE
A PLAN
nursery business
ALWAYS REMEMBER TO...
D
Be clear on why you’re using
social media and what you hope
to achieve.
D
Have a strong social media
policy in place so that staff are
clear on what they can and can’t do.
You have to protect your reputation
at all times.
D
Make sure all staff have
proper, professional training
on using social media that covers
safeguarding, Ofsted requirements,
school readiness and effective
communication with parents.
D
Weigh up the time it will take
to set up and manage each
network with time available, and
consider outsourcing it if you’re
unable to commit to regular activity.
D
Keep safeguarding in mind at all
times. Collect parental consent
for online publication of images
before you start, and ensure staff
and parents are aware of what you
plan to do.
D
Check the spelling, punctuation,
grammar and appropriateness
of your posts before sharing. You
are promoting an educational
environment and need to be seen to
be professional.
Good for:
D
Improving your search engine rankings.
D
Showing instead of telling.
D
Giving prospective parents an insight.
D
Showcasing outings and special events.
Safety tip:
D
Have tight regulations in place about what
video footage your staff can and can’t
record and share. The policy should be
included within your codes of conduct.
D
Canvass parental opinion about use of
video sharing beforehand and consider
having a private channel just for parents
if people have concerns.
BLOGS
A blog is basically the news section of
your website. It’s a great way of sharing
news and events from the nursery, and
showing parents and prospective parents
what you’ve been up to. Most importantly,
it gives people a reason to keep coming
back to your website. If you start a blog,
it does need to be regularly maintained,
however. Once a week is ideal – but no
less than once a month.
Good for:
D
PR.
D
Going into more detail about the
great things you do.
D
Giving prospective parents an insight.
D
Showcasing outings and special events.
D
Getting people to visit your website.
D
Improving your search engine
rankings (Google likes fresh
content).
Safety tip:
D
Avoid naming specific children in your
blog posts.
INSTAGRAM
Instagram is a picture-sharing site that can
only be used on mobile devices. The idea
is to share images and pictures of that
instant, but because of this it does pose
safeguarding risks for early years settings.
Good for:
D
Sharing images.
Safety tip:
D
Never take, store or share photos of
children on a personal mobile device.
LINKEDIN
LinkedIn is designed to connect people
and share their skills and experience for
professional purposes. It can be a useful
tool for nurseries when recruiting new
staff or if their parents are largely working
professionals. Ideally the nursery owner or
manager would be the main ambassador
on LinkedIn, possibly with a company
page as well.
Good for:
D
Networking.
D
Recruitment, especially senior staff.
D
Connecting with parents and potential
parents in a professional manner.
Safety tip:
D
Have a pre-written paragraph
that all employees post on
their LinkedIn profiles that
describes the nursery, to ensure
consistency.
earlyyears.teachwire.net
67
Kate Tyler is Managing
Director at Shake Social,
a social media agency
specialising in the early
years sector. Her team
always start with a targeted strategy and
then go on to build meaningful online
communities for clients. They offer
strategy, training and management to a
range of nurseries across the UK. For
more information, call
0115 901 7357,
email
or
visit
shakesocial.co.uk
Image: scyther5/shutterstock.com
