Social Media 101 for PTOs and PTAs
Best practices for making the most of social media for your PTO.
First, Ask a Few Key Questions
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Learn how your community participates on social media. (Try a simple email survey.) You may discover that your school’s parents are big Facebook users but don’t use TikTok. Or it may be the other way around. Follow their lead. Having a presence on social media allows your group to regularly reach parents you might not typically connect with - those who don't typically attend school events or PTO meetings. Seeing your events and fundraisers in action will encourage them to participate, too (hey, a little FOMO here and there can be helpful!).
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How should your PTO use social media? You can post event updates and school reminders, but consider using it to engage your community by highlighting all the great stuff you do and asking parents to comment, too. For example, when Randall Elementary met their goal for the school's Color Run fundraiser, students were rewarded by giving their teachers a "Human Carwash". Naturally, this epic event was a good fit for the PTO's TikTok channel—watch it below!
@randallelementarypto For reaching (and exceeding) our Color Run fundraising goal, students were treated to a “Human Carwash”. Mr. Day, our incredible music teacher, was chosen as the “car” and if I do say so myself, he did a fabulous job 🤣. The top earning student from each classroom were able to come up and spray, lather, and dry Mr. Day using some pretty powerful leaf powers, loaned to us by D&L Garden Center of Taylor - many thanks to them and Mr. Day for making today AWESOME! #randallmustangs #pto #elementaryschool #teachers #teachertok #schooltok #schoolhumor #teacherhumor #kidtok ♬ Car Wash - Rose Royce
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Ask parents and school staff to sign a release waiver at the start of the school year - you don't want to share images online without having secured permission first. Don't tag parents, family members, or staff in posts, either.
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Take your PTO meetings live: decide with your board if you'll be streaming PTO meetings live on social - it's a great way for parents to tune in remotely.
Check out our fun list of ideas to post on social over summer break to keep parents engaged
Then, Take Care of Organizational Tasks
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Designate a person as your PTO's social media coordinator. Limit administration privileges to one or two people to keep things simple. Administrators set up the accounts, add photos and videos, post information, and monitor and delete comments as needed.
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We recommend connecting with the principal to convey what you want to do with social media. Technically, you don’t need the principal’s permission if you are an independent group. But most principals will appreciate a heads-up.
Now you’re set to begin!
Stay focused on building your community. Promote your page and ask parents to “like” and follow. Search for Facebook groups to join. Scan your news feed and reshare good content from others.
Keep your posts on the short side. Experts suggest posts of just a few words (think one brief sentence) perform best. Encourage people to like them, comment, and share. The more engagement your posts get, the more of your followers will see them.
Keep it simple and rely on images to tell your story. A 30-second reel from your color run tells the story better than several lines of text.
Encourage comments and don’t squelch negative ones unless they are inflammatory or false. Respond to negative comments with a helpful, constructive post. These are actually good opportunities to get out information or clear up a misunderstanding.
Plan regular discussions with your board to decide what content to post. It helps to plan ahead and you’ll find it saves lots of time. So sketch out a plan for posts or create a detailed calendar—whatever works best for you.
Follow PTO Today on Facebook: @ptotoday
Other Social Channels
Time permitting, you can set up additional accounts for other popular channels like Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok, X, and Bluesky. Make sure you have the manpower to monitor these accounts, and post on a schedule that works for you.
Keep in mind that photos and videos rule on the most popular channels and you will generate more engagement by including them. So make sure you have the necessary permissions from the staff and parents to use photos.
Instagram is a popular photo- and video-driven channel that would be a great way for your group to share images from events and program.
Think of Instagram as a truly mobile channel. While you can view Instagram on your desktop or laptop, it needs to be managed from your mobile device.
A rule of thumb: It’s best to share photos and video that capture a moment rather than share general information in an image format. In other words, grab a series of photos from the ice cream social and post them to Instagram. Infographics, instructions, calendars, flyers, and other visual information items tend to perform better on Facebook or Pinterest.
Follow PTO Today on Instagram: @ptotoday
TikTok
TikTok is the super popular short-form video platform where people watch, create, and share videos shot on mobile devices or webcams.
It’s known for its broad range of content, from comedy to dance to DIY projects, including educational content that makes sharing tips fun and easy. Users can like, comment, and share videos, making the app a good place to interact with creators and your audience.
Use TikTok videos to showcase your group’s personality and to tout your successes. A good rule of thumb is to keep videos between 15 and 60 seconds.
Follow PTO Today on TikTok: @ptotoday
X (formerly Twitter)
X continues to be a great way to send out short bursts of information.
For PTOs and PTAs, this channel works best for reminders, announcements, and sending out thank-yous to volunteers. Lots of folks regularly include images in their tweets now as well, and X has made it easier to attach photos and quick videos.
It’s also a great channel for sharing links to articles and other resources on parenting, education, and parent group topics, like fundraising and parent involvement.
Pinterest has evolved from an online bulletin board to a pretty powerful way to save and organize visual information.
Set up a series of boards using categories that reflect what your group does—for example, welcome-back party, fall festival, community service, etc. Then upload photos (again, check on photo usage issues) and populate your boards.
Also create boards that can be resources for parents. These could include important educational, parenting, and social topics.
Spend time in your Pinterest feed to find pins from others that you can repin to your boards. Also plug in relevant terms into the search field to find pins for repinning.
Follow PTO Today on Pinterest: @ptotoday
Bluesky
Bluesky is a micro-blogging social media service similar to X. The interface is like the original Twitter user experience, and users can publish posts with up to 300 characters and images or videos. Unlike X, Bluesky provides a personalized feed that isn’t driven by an algorithm.
Use Bluesky in much the same way as X, so survey your community to see which platform will give you more engagement.
Originally posted in 2016 and updated regularly.
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