Recently, I was given the opportunity to contribute a unique article for EdSocialMedia, a national forum discussing the role of social media in education.
Your school’s social media strategy must have a solid foundation before getting bogged down in the tactical choices. While there is a bit of a buzz about Pinterest, a curiosity about Google+, and a (bored) familiarity with the functionality of Facebook, the tools won’t make any difference unless your social media plan is strategic. It must act as your recipe as to “what-when-where-to-post” to ensure anybody pays attention to what you’re whipping up for them to consume.
When we are talking about how to get more visibility to your school’s Facebook page, you need to understand EdgeRank. Launched 2 years ago (although most people still have no idea what it is), EdgeRank is an algorithm that ranks objects in the Facebook News Feed. Pages with high EdgeRank Scores will be more likely to show up in the news feed than Pages with low EdgeRank Scores.
EdgeRank is made up of 3 variables:
Affinity – Dependent on a user’s relationship with an object in the news feed.
Weight – Determined by the type of object, such as a photo/video/link/etc.
Time Decay – As an object gets older, the lower the value.
Understanding EdgeRank is vital, but if you are still saying, “I don’t get this!” then, you are not alone. To help us out, here are 3 more resources you may find helpful in understanding EdgeRank and the impact it is on your school’s Facebook page:
5 New Ways to Improve Your Facebook EdgeRank [Mashable is typically a good source of information – and this article simplifies this algorithm to where most people can understand it]
What is EdgeRank? [You might enjoy understanding EdgeRank from this well-done illustration/infographic]
Finally I’ll let someone take a shot at teaching you more on video [watch the 11 min video]:
You’re this far along in the school year and you haven’t put out a press release yet? Really? Is there nothing going on at your school? Let’s revisit this issue.
First of all, whether you’re reading this 2 weeks after opening day, or if it’s 2 months before school’s out, everything still applies. Press releases are not the same as they used to be. Press releases have gained alot of press (pitiful pun intended) for their amazing functionality. Rather than clunking out a hot story and running it (or faxing it) to the local press, today’s press release has a broader audience. (more…)
