“The expert in anything was once a beginner.”

— Helen Hayes

There are 332 million monthly active users on Twitter. It's a popular place - but with a lot of noise. It's important that your schools voice is heard on Twitter.

Like anything we learn and improve on with time. Here is our first ever tweet....

7 years, and 11,000 tweets later and we have picked up a trick or two to help your school become a Twitter expert :D

Here are our advanced Twitter tips to get your school noticed.

Twitter Advanced Search

There are 6,000 tweets sent every second! 6,000! 350,000 tweets per minute! 500 million tweets per day! Which ever way you look at it there's a lot of tweets.

Twitter Advanced Search can become your best friend on Twitter when it comes to finding content.

Here's some fantastic uses of Advanced Search for your school:

Get notifications when someone searches for your school: People may be talking about your school on Twitter but you don't even know about it. They may not mention your directly. See more
See Tweets by a date range: Search for tweets about your school during a specific date range. This could be particularly useful for events such as open days. Very useful for gathering data and feedback about your school. See more
Search for tweets in your local community: Use Google Maps to pull the Geocode of your schools location. This way you can filter Twitter results to tweets in your local area. This will give you a fantastic opportunity to tweet within your community. See more

Twitter Advanced Search will you give you an in-depth look into what's really being said on Twitter. Check out Twitter Advanced Search for yourself!

Pinned Tweets

In 2014 Twitter launched the functionality of 'Pinned Tweets'. This allows you to permanently pin a tweet of your choice to your profile (Must be your own tweet).

The average lifespan of a tweet is only 18 minutes :(

So pinned tweets are particularly useful for keeping your tweet 'alive'. Every time someone views your Twitter profile, they will see your pinned tweet.

What to pin?

Events: This is arguably the most practical use of 'Pinned Tweets' for schools. Pinned Tweets are a fantastic way to promote school events. Open days, plays, musical recitals... any school event!
Head's Message: Breaking up for Christmas? Why not pin a video message from the head wishing everyone on a merry Christmas?
Blog Post: Does your school write a weekly blog? Put your blog as a pinned tweet to boost it's views.

These are just a few ideas for 'Pinned Tweets' but get creative with your pinned Tweets. It's definitely time to start making the most of this Twitter feature!

Twitter Polls

As of the 21st October 2015 Twitter introduced "Twitter Polls". Polls are a truly unique way of interacting with your audience on Twitter.

Sure everyone knows what a poll is (hopefully) but it's important to understand how and why to use the poll functionality on Twitter.

For schools, it’s a new way to engage with Twitter’s massive audience and understand exactly what people think. For those participating, it’s a very easy way to make your voice heard.

THE NUTs AND BOLTS

Twitter Polls are limited to four answer options
Polls have a lifespan of up to a week. Tweeters are informed of how long is left to vote, and how many people have voted as well as the results in percentage.
How you voted is not shared publicly (so no one else will be able to see which option you voted for)
Once a poll is completed the results can be viewed publicly.

How do I add a Twitter Poll?

1. Click to compose a tweet. Type in your question as you would normally to type a tweet. Click on the 'Add Poll' symbol shown below.

2. From here Twitter will give you spaces to enter your answers for the poll. Simply click "Add a choice" to add more options (4 maximum) - Remember you can use emojis in your answers if you wish to do so :)

3. Once you have inserted all of your answers you can choose the poll length. The poll can be up to one week long. This may be handy for a pinned tweet.

Here are some ideas to get your school started with Twitter Polls:

Ask about the most convenient dates for open days
Ask questions about lessons, get parents involved
Ask which Christmas carol the students should perform
Ask parents what social channels they use most (research!)

The idea for Twitter Polls is to give your Twitter community a voice and to build a relationship with your followers.

Twitter Analytics

Twitter Analytics is your very own progress report.

It allows you to see your monthly progress on Twitter and which tweets are the most successful in terms of audience and engagement.

Twitter Analytics really gives you a detailed breakdown of which tweets are 'working' for your school.

See which content resonates with your audience
Understand how people interact with your tweets over time. See what time your tweets are most popular!
Get to know your followers. Breakdown the demographic of your followers
See whether your follower base is growing (or shrinking)

Twitter Analytics is key to your own personal understanding and growth on Twitter as well as understanding your Twitter community.

Twitter Cards

Twitter Cards allows you to attach rich photos, videos and media experience to tweets.

These Twitter Cards can allow you to embed call-to-actions within a tweet:

Newsletter Sign Ups
Open Day Bookings
Enquiries

This then sends the enquiry/email address to your database (e.g. MailChimp). Directly from a tweet.

Other Twitter Products

Periscope

The original periscope was first invented back in the 1400's to help pilgrims see over the crowd at a festival but unsurprisingly this is not the periscope we are referring to.

What's more real-time than live streaming? Periscope launched back in March 2015 and has propelled live streaming into the mainstream.

On the 12th January 2016 Twitter announced integration with Periscope, allowing people to broadcast live directly within Twitter.

Check out our "Streaming your stories as they happen" blog for information about live streaming.

The facts about Periscope:

110 years worth of video watched every day
200 million broadcasts to date
10 million users

Twitter is just a platform which allows you to tweet up to 140 characters. Periscope revolutionises the storytelling capabilities for schools on Twitter.

Here are just some of the many examples of events you could live stream in your school:

Sports Events - Parents (and wider families!) could watch their child play their sports fixtures from home, or their office!
Open Day - Give the world a chance to attend an open day from the comfort of their own home!
Concerts/Productions - Sometimes parents/families can't make a concert/production. Make sure they don't miss out, and get to see their child's performance.
Lessons - If you have an exciting lesson planned, why not share it with the world? Show the innovative teaching at your school!
Book a Tour - If you have international pupils, they sometimes cannot see the school in person before deciding it's the school for them. With Periscope, you can arrange a personal tour of the school with just a smartphone.

Get involved with live streaming. It's a brilliant way to share your school stories!

Vine

Vine - Twitter's best friend. Founded in 2013 Vine was created to work in unison with Twitter. Vine adds a whole new dimension to video content on social media.

SO WHAT ARE THE FEATURES OF VINE VIDEO?

6 second maximum video length
Looping videos
Camera records only while the screen is being touched, enabling users to edit on the fly or create stop motion effects
Vines can be viewed on desktop but only uploaded via mobile

Vine allows you to be super creative. This is just one fantastic example of how to utilise Vine's stop-motion features.

Vine is a really unique application that add something different and original into your news feed.

Download the Vine app and try it out for yourself. The best way to learn Vine is to try it out for yourself. Check out the beginners guide to Vine.

Posting Vines to your Twitter is a great way to mix up your content and to make it really stand out!

These are all really useful tips to really make your school stand out on Twitter and to develop a better understanding of your Twitter community.

So try out these tips for yourself and become a Twitter superstar :)

We would love to hear any thoughts/comments you have below.

Advanced Twitter Tips for Schools