Newsletter Volume 7
April has arrived, and with it comes one of the fastest vaccine roll-outs in U.S. history. In the last month, I’ve witnessed educators around the country sharing the exact moment when they were vaccinated on social media, while tears of joy and relief trickle down many of their faces. It’s bittersweet for me. Yes, I’m excited about the possibility of having a majority of our country vaccinated ,and I’m ecstatic that so many educators are getting vaccinated. I can’t help but also be sad. I’m heartbroken for the 550k+ people (and millions worldwide) who didn’t get to witness this moment. I’m reminded of this every time I attempt to pick up the phone to ring my father who passed away from COVID in August. In remembrance of those we tragically lost, I personally plan (when safe to do so) to live my life the way they’d like us all to — with joy. ❤️
As vaccinations roll out, many school buildings are also re-opening for in-person classes.* Administrators are currently tasked with not only creating the safest experience for the remainder of this school year, but also for the upcoming 2021-2022 school year. How do you begin to predict what’ll happen in four-five months, when every day is still uncertain? You create multiple plans based on many scenarios and whatever you do, you emphasize agility as much as possible. As a result, administrators are currently gathering as much information as they can to make their anticipated district purchases for the upcoming school year with the peak of those purchases happening May-July.
So...let’s recap. 1) Teachers are getting vaccinated, and they’re generally returning to school buildings for in-person classes. 2) Administrators are scrambling to make this in-person experience as safe as possible, while juggling scenario planning for the upcoming school year. 3) Education brands are trying to sell to districts, who don’t quite know what they’ll need due to the incredible uncertainty. Oh -- and I forgot to mention that districts now also have additional stimulus funds to spend ($81b to be exact).
I honestly don’t know how we’re all going to navigate this, but I do know we will. If you’re reading this and you’re working within an education brand, the one piece of advice I’ll continue to give you is to be as valuable as possible to administrators and educators during this incredibly difficult time. That means consistently delivering resources through social media, email, and other marketing channels that could help make the road ahead a little less challenging.
* Please take note of my word choice. It may sound like a small detail, but it’s an important difference. I said returning to “school buildings” and not “going back to school.” School has been in session; teachers have been teaching classes in all sorts of ways since the pandemic started.
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We love giving back and mentoring others. This year, we launched our internship program, which gives college students hands-on experience in the exciting world of social media marketing and community building. We’re currently hiring for our summer intern. Share this if you know someone who might be a great fit. And welcome to our first ever spring intern, Ariella Hayden who starts on Monday! 👏🏾
Recent Blog Posts
Three Ways to Make Your Q2 Content As Timely and Valuable as Possible
These Teachers On TikTok Will Make You Laugh, Cry, and Yes... Even Dance
Follow us on Twitter + LinkedIn to know the minute these go live every week.
Marketing + Education Must-Reads
Marketing
47 Facebook Stats that Matter to Marketers in 2021 (Hootsuite)
5 Types of Video to Add to Your Social Media Marketing (CMI)
The Audience to Community Funnel (Jenn Pedde)
How to Grow Your TikTok Account: 11 Tips (Social Media Examiner)
Education
Up-Down-Both-Why: A Feeling-Based Approach to Literature (Cult of Pedagogy)
Alternatives to Standardized Tests During a Pandemic Year (EdWeek)
Why Black Teachers Walk Away (Edutopia)
Top Health Concerns for Kids in 2020 During the Pandemic (Mott Poll Report)
Why SEL Alone Isn't Enough (ASCD)
We’d like you to absolutely ❤️ these monthly newsletters. Would you take a second to click on the icon that best matches your feelings about this issue? Also, you are MORE than welcome to email me directly any time with feedback, ideas, jokes...whatever!
And don’t worry — for those of you that anxiously scroll down to the bottom of these emails for some entertainment, we still got you, boo. As the country begins to reopen, we asked our family of clients and teammates to reflect on what they are looking forward to the most.
Eating in a restaurant
Travel (anywhere!)
Hugging my mom ❤️
Taking my daughter to museums
My daily swim
Attending a concert
What are you most excited about? Tweet us with your answer.