Should my school have a blog?

“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”

— Dr. Seuss

With social media and tech innovations changing trends on a regular basis, it becomes easy for "old-school" channels / platforms to go on the back-burner. The humble blog seems to be one such outlet that schools are forgetting about.

BUT: are we doing the right thing in pushing blogs away and focussing instead on the very fluid trends of the year / month / day?!! Do blogs still have a place in your school?

BLOGGING STATISTICS

Let's take a look at the blog's place in modern #ContentMarketing for some insight:

• blogging is the TOP form of content marketing: the top three content marketing tactics are blogging (65%), social media (64%), and case studies (64%) [source]
• long-form content is "in" right now: the average blog post is now 1,142 words (up 41% since 2014) showing an appetite for more long-form content [source]
• it's still popular with top businesses: 53% of marketers say blogging is their top content marketing priority, so emulating this seems a sound investment in time [source]
• Google loves blogs: companies that blog have 434% more indexed pages than businesses without blogs, meaning it helps massively with SEO [source]

Looking at these states, there are two points worth noting:

1. blogging is even more relevant today than it was 4 years ago (despite trends in tech and social media)
2. people want to read blogs (and big businesses know this), or at least longer form content

Still not convinced? Then how about considering these questions:

• does your school have current parents and pupils? 
• does your school have prospective parents and pupils?
• are they online? 
• do they read online?

If the answer to all these questions is yes, then your school would benefit from a blog.

The two faces of the school blog

So you've decided that perhaps a blog could work for you, but what should the focus of it be? After all, there needs to be a strategy that leads it (as with any form of content you are producing).

Typically, we see three types of school blog:

[1] the head's blog: for many schools, their head / principal is a leader of not only the school itself but of the education sector. We work with many amazing head teachers who are thought leaders and influencers in all sorts of topics, ranging from education technologies to leadership; women in STEM to creativity in the classroom.

The primary purpose of the head's blog is to be an authority person for their school, to promote and drive conversation around what your school does. They are #DigitalAmbassadors and should be leading your school's online presence.

Take a look at Nicholas Hammond's blog for The British School of Paris, a great example of just this.

The secondary purpose of the head's blog is to push the expertise within the education industry. We have seen some top examples of these thought leader blogs:

• Kieran Earley, The British School in the Netherlands - #edtech blog
• Mark Steed, Jumeirah English Speaking School - VR in schools blog (and other things)
• Sally-Anne Huang, James Allen's Girls' School - girls' schools and education blog

[2] the pupil's blog: who better to blog topics from (and about) your school than the very people that you have a school for? We love pupil blogs but do not see them nearly enough.

When done well, it becomes a place that can:

• show potential prospectives what your school is about #SchoolStories
• inform parents what their kids are doing #SchoolStories
• highlight the amazing subjects that are taught and what your pupils learn #SchoolStories

Wimbledon High School do this brilliantly with their entirely pupil-led school publication, Unconquered Peaks. 

[3] the teacher's blog: the final type of blog we often see are these awesome places for learning, run by teaching staff. They are often of a similar vein to the head's blog secondary function - to be channels to share expertise. 

The British School in the Netherlands run a great blend of the last two with their Voices blog - written by pupils and staff.

So, how about it? Do you now see a place for a blog in your school? With a little planning and the right implementation, you can create a space that benefits the school in terms of marketing, SEO, community and online presence. 

What are you waiting for?

Does your school already have a blog? What sort of content do you share? What about a blog that was started but has been left forgotten for some time? We'd love to hear all your thoughts on this topic. Please comment below.