As parents, it seems the older our children get, the less free time we have. In order to consolidate our time efficiently, more and more parents are looking for information on websites or through social media via their mobile device. Here is how to help parents find the information they need from your parent council.
The fundamentals
Does our parent council really need to be online?
If your school has a website, your parent council needs an online presence too. At the bare minimum, you should describe what the parent council does and provide contact information for parents to get in touch with your group.
What options does our parent council have?
First, does your parent council have and/or want the option to add a page to the school’s website? If adding a page to the current school’s website, is that enough? Making your own website is easier now than ever. Many parent councils build blogs/websites with free services like WordPress or Blogger. If building a website looks like it is too much of a daunting task, another option is to create a Facebook page or setting up a Twitter feed to keep parents in the loop.
Content is King
Not sure what to put on the site?
Always remember your a parent too! If you think the information will be helpful to parents, post it. Most parent council websites will have the council’s calendar, the school calendar, parent council contact information, meeting agendas, meeting minutes and if available newsletters.
Your website is a great place to acknowledge volunteers and businesses
The parent council’s online presence is the perfect place to thank your volunteers and businesses. This is also a great opportunity to showcase the hard work of your parent volunteers and the items needed to get an event or idea completed.
Post your photos
Ask a few volunteers if they wouldn’t mind taking photos at your next parent council event. Take those photos and post them on your site. Be sure to check your school’s policy first about publishing photos of students.
Design
Keep it simple.
Avoid the temptation to cram your site with flashing headlines and animations. Also keep the color scheme simple and make sure the font color and size is easy to read (avoid using multiple font colors to try and grab attention). Clean websites look the best and they are the simplest to use.
Parent Council Social Media
Facebook
If you find a majority of your school community parents are on Facebook, think about creating a Facebook page for your parent council. You can post schedules, share videos and photos from events, remind parents about upcoming events and post questions for discussion.
Twitter
Most parent councils use Twitter to send reminders to their school community about upcoming events or deadlines. Since Twitter has doubled their character limit from 140 to 280, parent councils are tending to send more information via this medium.
For more information on how your school/parent council can leverage the use of social media, be sure to read our many social media blogs here.
Reach many more parents, more easily
Being online opens a window for more parents to see what is going on at the school and with your parent council. This allows parents to keep in the loop easily.
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