facebook

[finleysmaid]

the trustees have decided that they would like to improve our online presence ...as I have stopped a few other things recently I feel I need to support this idea. Unfortunately I don't DO facebook or any social media really (apart from on here!!) and I am feeling very nervous about it.

Any hints tips or ideas to make this work well would be appreciated. What are the benefits and pitfalls.? I also would like to make sure that nothing links to me personally so what's the best way of setting it up?

We also have the thorny problem of taking photos in the setting. What equipment do you use to create high quality images? I don't really want a mobile phone as this would create major issues with my policies and cause some safeguarding issues (unfortunately some of my trustees are teachers and they don't seem to have the same concerns!!!!)

 

[barcombeplaygroup]

We have a private facebook page which can only be accessed by parents and I have to authorise anybody who wishes to join.    We have a clause in our permissions on the registration form which parents can tell us if they are happy for their child's photo to go onto the facebook page.  Most parents love to see insights of what their child has been up to during their time with us.   We use the settings tablet to take photos and upload to our facebook page,  the quality is perfectly adequate for facebook.  The photos are deleted from the tablet once they have been uploaded.   You can set up a group on Facebook so that you are not linked to it - any or your more techy trustees or members of staff will be able to do this for you.   We have not had any problems so far and because I have to authorise anybody who wishes to join the group we do not have anybody accessing it who should not be.   It is a lovely way for parents to see what goes on during the playgroup day and the majority of our parents use it.   Good Luck!!!!

 

[finleysmaid]

23 minutes ago, barcombeplaygroup said:

We have a private facebook page which can only be accessed by parents and I have to authorise anybody who wishes to join.    We have a clause in our permissions on the registration form which parents can tell us if they are happy for their child's photo to go onto the facebook page.  Most parents love to see insights of what their child has been up to during their time with us.   We use the settings tablet to take photos and upload to our facebook page,  the quality is perfectly adequate for facebook.  The photos are deleted from the tablet once they have been uploaded.   You can set up a group on Facebook so that you are not linked to it - any or your more techy trustees or members of staff will be able to do this for you.   We have not had any problems so far and because I have to authorise anybody who wishes to join the group we do not have anybody accessing it who should not be.   It is a lovely way for parents to see what goes on during the playgroup day and the majority of our parents use it.   Good Luck!!!!

 

Thank you ! I think what they would like however is to use this as a marketing tool so selling to a wider audience . We already have tapestry so the parents are well catered for but we really need to access a wider audience to get more customers. I'm assuming this has therefore got to be a 'public' page??

[blondie]

we have a facebook page which is accessible to anyone - it tells parents ( and prospective parents)  what we have been doing this week etc., - photographs are added but these are HAND SHOTS only so no children's faces are visible. 

[louby loo]

Same as blondie.

We have a page visible to everyone. I can post pictures and comments-  hand-shot photos or pictures of various 'creations' made during the day.  

I should post more but to be honest it's only usually once a week.  Any comments have to be approved by me before they go the page. It's very handy to put reminders on too.

[Mouseketeer]

Do you have a website FM?

We also have a ‘secret’ fb group which I only invite current parents to join and am in the process of setting up a public  page for promoting which I setup in it’s own entity so first name ******** 2nd name pre-school, the only thing on it so far is contact details and a link to the website, I intend adding photos of the environment and activities (no recognisable chn pics).

We’ve had it a few years and not had any problems with it, our expectations for parents are set out in our Social Media policy.

 

[zigzag]

I’m the same.  I have been dragged kicking and screaming into the world of social media.  We have a website which I created, which I am super proud of, but we now have a Facebook page so that members of our community can see it.  I put on a few photos of activities with children’s faces disguised, pleas for items we may want etc.  We are asking for our community to support us  to help fundraise to keep us open, so it’s nice to show them what we do.  It’s been very well received.

[HoneyPancakes]

These are my thoughts about how to make Facebook work.  I don't use it for work but I've been watching how things have changed on my Facebook feed and thinking about how it all works.  For marketing, it seems Sponsored pages are the big thing.  Somehow pay for your Advertisement to be shown, for instance, on the pages of people who have recently searched for 'Childcare' in particular postcodes.  Or, you can create an advertisement and plug it on all the local 'Buying and Selling' and 'What's On' pages.   This is usually free and therefore best bet. Also, consider posting on the pages of every stay and play site and toddler session.  If it's a clever advertisement, with local, timely interest, it'll get shared around all the new parents in the area. 

I don't know how to do these things however, especially, not how to keep oneself separate from the business.  

H

 

[finleysmaid]

Thanks ..brilliant! We have what's app groups for the current cohort.

Yes we have a website....i'm getting quite good at this!!!!! We're now getting better coverage and have had 1500 hits since September which i'm pleased with!!!

I think you've got it spot on Honey pancakes ..it's about being clever with it and using it to your advantage. The problem with a lot of these things is that once they are on the net it's very difficult to get them off again!

[AliceinWonderland]

We have a page open to the public, like others we don't use any photos where children can be identified. I found I had to set up a fake profile first and then have the page linked to that, it wouldn't let me set a page up if it wasn't linked to an account. (don't know if there's an easier way). I turned off the reviews section as we had one ex parent make a nasty one which was completely untrue and even though you can delete the review, it still registers the 'star' score, not too bothered about what they wrote as can easily counter it but it just made me realise how easy it would be for someone to be vindictive. I should use the page more but it ends up on my never ending TDL and gets forgotten about. When you make a post, it seems to encourage you to pay for sponsoring it, which could be a good way to increase interest at a small cost, the post would then appear on peoples facebook news feeds, it seems they target people who are generally in your area or who have checked in somewhere close by or have searched for your sort of business in that area. Having the page has been useful for parents who run out of credit often as they usually have free wifi somewhere and can message us instead.