A presentation by The sponsor-ed Group to its school web administrators. The session divulged the findings of the school newsletter research conducted in late 2103 where 200 newsletters were analysed.
6. Communications; it‟s that simple
You manage 2 content categories
Your website does 3 things
Engagement happens in 2 ways
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni6
9. What prompted the newsletter research?
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni9
“I don’t know why we bother. You
get tired of saying to parents - it
was in the newsletter”
14. The Statistics
Average number of articles 23
Average number of pages 5
Average number of hours to publish 5
Average hourly rate $40
PA cost weekly cycle $8,000
Fortnightly cycle $4,000
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni14
16. The format of the school
newsletter hasn’t changed
since photocopiers were
introduced to schools.
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni16
The Newsletter
17. The newsletter format pre-dates the internet, smart
phones and 2 working parents. It also pre-dates a
time when information was scarce.
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni17
18. What schools told us
• No school said its newsletter readership was
high
• Schools that moved from weekly to fortnightly
publishing heard crickets
• No school could articulate its communication
strategy
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni18
19. The newsletter culture is so strong that „it‟ drives
the school instead of the school driving „it‟.
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni19
20. The school newsletter is driven by
space and time,
not by a communications strategy
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni20
21. More observations
• Almost no reference in the school newsletter to the school‟s website
– Calendar synch very low
– Missing opportunities to build resource culture
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni21
22. Managing 2 independent publishing mediums
• Word/Publisher & Website – Print vs Digital
• Resource strapped environment
• Merge and manage one
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni22
23. Most of a school newsletter is a PR exercise
A definition
Public relations is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish
and maintain mutual understanding between an organisation (or individual)
and its (or their) publics.
Public Relations Institute of Australia
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni23
24. Big assumption was audience is „like-minded‟
“Our parents like ………….”
„Squeaky wheel‟ formed the research base
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni24
28. Culture is to publish articles rather than content
outcomes
What business is Shell in?
Energy
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni28
We’re seeking the article outcome. What do you want
people to ‘feel’ about the school?
29. A Communication Outcome
1: Building community confidence in our teaching staff‟s capabilities.
Even our teachers never stop
learning
Congratulations to Margaret Masseni on completing her
Masters of Education – Student Wellbeing. It was 2
years of study giving up many nights and weekends
following her passion. “It’s been a life long ambition of
mine to study at Melbourne Uni. I’m very fortunate to
have married such a wonderful husband as Denis who’s
intellect has been a beacon of inspiration to me. I aspire
to his greatness.” Said Margaret choking back the tears.
Communication Outcome
Content
30. 1: Building community confidence in our teaching staff‟s capabilities.
Even our teachers never stop learning
Congratulations to Margaret Masseni on recently
completing her Masters of Education – Student
Wellbeing. It was 2 years of study giving up many
nights and weekends following her passion. “It’s
been a life long ambition of mine to study at
Melbourne Uni. I’m very fortunate to have married
such a wonderful husband as Denis who’s intellect
has been a beacon of inspiration to me. I aspire to
his greatness.” Said Margaret choking back the
tears.
Communication Outcome
Content + Frequency + Medium
Communications Strategy
31. One reason why the newsletter is not being read; the
„must know‟ and „optional‟ mix
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni31
nottimelytimely
not important important
How much of a newsletter effects me? Can be down to 4%
33. School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni33
Communications Context:
How platforms, devices and publishing
frequency matters.
34. Context Rule 1: Frequency is context
http://allfacebook.com/socialcode-best-practices-
engagement_b10701934
35. Frequency is „context‟
2 choices;
to deliver
1,000 words every 2 weeks or
deliver 100 words per day, which
has the best engagement?
35
36. Imagine if Facebook was a fortnightly newsletter from
your „friends‟. Would you read it? Same content, different
context.
37. Time of the day is „context‟
Research:
several thousand subscribers
Open rate 40%
Highest open rates occurred on Sundays
emails sent from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. are about three times more likely to
be opened than emails sent at 4 p.m
37
38. Time of the day is „context‟
• Most brands post during the week
• Best engagement is on weekends
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-57411092/the-best-time-to-send-email-so-it-will-get-read/
38
Why not experiment and become the only school that delivers
content to parents when they’re most likely to absorb it
…..on weekends. In fact why not send your newsletter twice?
39. School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni39
Often it’s not the content that’s missing the mark but the context
40. Context Rule 2: Devices and platforms are
context
http://allfacebook.com/socialcode-best-practices-
engagement_b10701940
46. Your website does 3 things
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni46
1: Community portal; latest news
2: Allows community to self-serve
3: Your virtual front door
47. Engagement happens in 2 ways
Relevance: hitting the mark; my child‟s involved
(20%<)
Content Merchandising: making content
accessible; you‟ve made me want to read.
device – platform – frequency - content
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni47
50. An uncomfortable map for you to consider
You need a communications outcome plan
Public Relations
• Write on your homepage as you go – about 1 article per day
• Push out the 10 articles fortnightly; experiment with time/day
• Email with notifications also via facebook and app
Logistics
• Write on the homepage and populate calendar as you go
• Push out as early as possible
• Scoop up in fortnightly summary
• Email with notifications also via facebook and app
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni50
54. Pushing out: a calendar event
Hawthorn West Primary School EVENT: Boroondara Division Swimming Carnival, August 5,
9:30AM – 12:30PM read more
This the way every post appears; exactly the same for facebook,
twitter, and phone.
For email the school’s name and email from are already in the
email. The subject line becomes ‘EVENT’
http://hawthornwestps.vic.edu.au/eventdetails/175/2014-02-27
Date is converted
55. What an email push looks like
• It‟s the same whether it‟s a push from an Article of Webpage
Article heading or Web
page heading.
In the case of an event,
the subject line becomes
EVENT.
56. What a phone push looks like
Tagged with the school‟s
name
Goes back to Article url or web page from where it was written
Hawthorn West Primary School: Principal’s Message, our school is a …….. read more
Article or page title
57. Alerts summary
The last 6 (?) items
pushed-out to the phone
are listed in an Alerts
summary available in a
section.
This is required because
once a push-out has
occurred there‟s no way of
checking what was
pushed if you didn‟t react
to it on receipt.
58. New Article rule
If nothing is written in the second box, the second
box is auto populated with the content from the first
box
59. Pushing out in an email
In the email client, we need a facility to push out an alert that the
newsletter‟s now available. Notification to go to phone, facebook, twitter
I think if you add a second text box like in Article and allow the user to write
what they want and have device tick boxes underneath to push to
Push-out text
Insert text here
Phone
61. Calendar Summary
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni61
14: Grade 5 Zoo
16: Trivia night
24: Parent teacher night
28: 1 week to go to hols
