5 Social Media Tips for Your Yearbook

There’s no doubt that social media plays a huge role in our lives. This proves especially true for teens and young adults. According to the Pew Research Center, over 95% of teens have a smartphone and more than 45% say that they’re online almost constantly. If you’re trying to create, publish, and promote a yearbook, leveraging social media can take your yearbook team’s online efforts to the next level.

Don’t know where to start? As a yearbook company, Entourage Yearbooks is more than familiar with the best social media strategies for your team. Read on to see our five most essential steps for making social media work for your yearbook marketing plan.

1. Establish clear guidelines and policies.

Create a set of explicit rules to ensure that yearbook staff uses social media in a responsible and ethical way. You’ll want to make sure that they respect others’ privacy, encourage inclusivity, and abide by any rules set by your institution that may be applicable.

2. Build a community.

After you create your social media accounts (which will likely include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and/or Snapchat) for your yearbook, have your team follow and like these pages while making sure they share and continually engage with your posts. Don’t forget to promote your social media through other channels, as well! Raise awareness of these accounts through newsletters or other school publications as well as posters or handouts.

3. Develop a year-long plan.

Work with your team to determine your social media goals. Will you be soliciting ideas or themes from the student body? Will social media be your main marketing strategy? Setting realistic goals, as well as developing an editorial calendar, will give your social media efforts some much-needed direction and focus.

4. Foster engagement.

Encouraging engagement with your social media accounts will be essential to your online yearbook strategy. Besides responding to posts from other official school social media accounts, create posts that encourage replies from students. Solicit or get feedback on ideas for possible content or themes for the yearbook. You could even have contests through social media to generate further excitement. This step is where you can really let your yearbook team’s creativity go wild. Don’t forget to create a unique hashtag.

5. Share information and promote sales.

Although this might not be the most exciting step, it may be the most essential for your team’s success. Social media provides an excellent way to market your yearbook online and share important information. Use these accounts to announce important group photo dates, tease glimpses of stories or images from the yearbook, or let students and parents know when they can purchase or preorder.

Social media can not only transform the way your team markets your yearbook but also lead to a much more fun and engaging development process. For more assistance with marketing or services like yearbook printing, contact Entourage Yearbooks online at yearbooks@entourageyearbooks.com or call us at (888) 926-6571.