The Use of Twitter to Build Your Organization's Brand

In October of 2017, I was hired to lead two of DC Public Schools' new initiatives - equity and social-emotional learning.  I wanted to take full advantage of social media's ability to increase awareness of the the new work happening in these two areas.  In January 2018, my team established a Twitter page for the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team and in September 2018, we established a Twitter page for the Social-Emotional Learning Team.

DCPS has a very robust Twitter page and a vast audience.  Currently the DCPS Twitter page has more than 67,000 followers.  We believe that most of the followers are DCPS employees, families and students, whom use our Twitter page obtain the most up-to-date information about what is happening in the school district.  However, there are also a significant number of DC citizens, both friends and foes of the district, that also access our Twitter page.

In the March 30, 2017 edition of eSchool News:  Daily Tech News & Innovation, the article "How school districts are leveraging Twitter to become rock stars" highlighted the following four strategies to increase the impact of your Twitter feed:  1. By Hash(tag)ing Out Ideas; 2. Jump into a Larger Convo; 3. Meet Your Work Spouse; and 4. Get a Little Informal.

The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team uses "DCPS Equity" as their Twitter handle.  "DCPS Equity" currently has only 250 followers.  The team set as a goal as least one tweet per day, which could be highly important equity work that is happening centrally or a school, retweeting important equity content or sharing information regarding upcoming events or training.  The staff member that currently oversees the DCPS Equity Twitter page has the following to say about the page, "It provides a great opportunity to share our work with more people across the district.  Through this platform, we are able to share our work more broadly, as well as, stay more connected to equity work that is happening across the city and in other school districts.  The post to the left, highlights one of the district's principals that actually responded to a post from NASSP, National Association of Secondary School Principals, regarding what equity means to him.  What a great way to highlight our commitment to equity, as well as, build relationships with a local school principal and a national educational organization. 

The "DCPS-Social Emotional Learning" Twitter handle was established in September 2018.  This page has more than 500 followers and is maintained by the Director for Social Emotional Learning (SEL).  The SEL team represents the newest team in the office.  The Director is a millennial and a techie and is a strong advocate for and user of social media.  The Director tweets at least two times a day and initiative seeks to link the site to work that is happening in schools, as well as, across the nation.