Gimmick Days Add more fun to your social media posts with these great ideas

by Elizabeth Ross Community Relations Multimedia Director Longview ISD

As communicators, we often get bogged down in content, content schedules, tracking, deciding what’s engaging and what is not, basically going 90 to nothing with all our gear in tow. But what can you create when you stop and smell the roses of your incredible district? Great content starts with great planning. Looking ahead so that others can revel in the moment is what we do as communicators. What do we do at Longview ISD? We plan, plan, plan and then execute until we tell the story.

Another key to great content is the relationships you build with administrators, teachers, students, and their families. Having an ally in your planning will ultimately lead to heartwarming, tear-jerking moments that families will cherish. We all have our standard district hashtags for Twitter, “the GRAM” and TikTok, but what happens when we use hashtags to celebrate and step out of the norm?

#MotivationMonday - Usually done in the morning to kick off the week. We try to use images of students working hard.

#MarvelousMontessoriMonday - We highlight various Montessori classes throughout the district with a photo or video from the selected class

#TechnologyTuesday - Fun technology initiatives from our ITS team or the classroom.

#WednesdayWisdom - We like to work with teachers, students and administrators for this. We will gather “wisdom” from new teachers, teachers of 20+ years and students. The younger the student, the more adorable the wisdom is. This is also great for random facts.

#ThankATeacher & #ThankfulThursday - Thisis one of our most popular days! We work with campus principals to highlight teachers who make a difference in and out of the classroom. We get a quote from them and have a standard #ThankATeacher graphic we use.

#TBT - This is probably one of the most used hashtags out there. Get old yearbooks and scan them or take photos of their yearbook spreads and post. Ask alums to share a memory.

#FridayFeels - This is anything cute or heartwarming

#TacoTuesday or #NationalTacoDay – Highlight cafeteria workers with TACOS.

#NationalLegoDay – Showcase CTE Robotics or campus Lego competitions.

#NationalReadABookDay – Create a video about your librarians’ favorite books in the library.

#DrSuessDay – Photos of kiddos dressed up or video of students reading from their favorite Dr. Suess book or a principal reading their fav Dr. Suess book.

#NationalDonutDay – Take fun boomerang videos of teachers being silly with donuts.

#NationalCookieDay – Surprise the class with the most improvement on benchmarks with cookies and go live on Facebook.

Math Awareness Month - Work with math teachers to highlight what they are doing in the classroom to help with math or videos of students who have been struggling with math and what has helped them.

Poetry Month - Use videos showcasing young authors. Work with teachers and librarians to read their favorite poems; this is a fantastic way to highlight librarians and English teachers!

National Autism Month - Highlight co-teach classrooms and create Autism facts to help others understand what these students face. Do you have some success stories with kids on the spectrum? Set up Q & A sessions with them and their co-teacher and do profiles on them. National Volunteer Month - This is a great time to pay tribute to PTA/PTOs and encourage more engagement from families. You can do personal profiles or set up video shorts asking them why they volunteer. April 18-22 is Volunteer Recognition Week.

Hiring - March and April kick-off hiring for districts. Start a #whyILove_______ short videos with staff saying what they love about the district.

#Classof_____ - This is the time to start highlighting seniors. Create senior social media profiles highlighting students that have overcome obstacles, try a social media takeover with the senior class president, start gathering photos for senior superlatives to post in May, send communication to parents asking for #SeniorMemories and ask them to add a message to their senior.

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Random Acts of Kindness - This can be a monthly or weekly “gotcha” moment with campuses. Create a Google form to nominate students and staff. Surprise them with a certificate of appreciation you create in-house. Apr. 3-9: National Library Week - Use videos of librarians reading an excerpt from their favorite book and explaining why they love that book.

Apr. 4-8: National Assistant Principals Week - Celebrate assistant principals by asking them who were their role models growing up.

Apr. 4: School Librarian Appreciation Day - Celebrate them with a photo and a “Top 5 List” of their favorite books growing up.

Apr. 6: National Paraprofessional Appreciation Day - What does the day in a paraprofessional look like? This is a great opportunity for a “day in the life.”

Apr. 22: Earth Day - How do your campuses celebrate Earth Day? This is great content for science teachers to demo what students can do to protect Earth.

Apr. 27: Administrative Professionals Day - Districts can make this a fun day for students, host a “principal for a day” or “superintendent for a day” essay contest in early April and the winners get to be an administrator for a day. Document, document, document. This could be a fun video utilizing time lapses.

#Classof_____ - Create senior social media profiles highlighting students that have overcome obstacles, try a social media takeover with the Valedictorian and/or Salutatorian, post senior superlatives, post #SeniorMemories, ask principals for one of their senior photos for a #FridayFeels post.

May 2 GenTX - GenTX is a way to highlight where students are headed for their next steps. Create some social media frames with college and trade school logos and post them with the students' photos.

Asian–Pacific American Heritage Month - Showcase historical perspectives and ask campuses if there will be projects you can highlight.

National Pet Month - Ask teachers, administrators and other staff to send in photos with their pets. This will humanize and show the softer side of district staff. Mental Health Awareness Month - Interview counselors on self-care tips and how to combat unhealthy mental health practices. Work with PE teachers or stream a yoga session to show physical ways to relieve stress that surround finals and end-of-year testing. May 1: School Principals Day - Try a “guess who” contest for school principals by posting photos of them in their youth.

May 1-7: National Physical Education Week - celebrate those PE teachers with video shorts of students thanking them for keeping them healthy. Ask PE teachers to give you their top five tips for staying healthy and post with their photos.

May 2-6: National Music Week - Show videos with choir directors singing the school song or their favorite song growing up.

May 2-6: National Teacher Appreciation Week - Ask families to send in sweet moments from the past year and a photo of their student and the student’s teacher to highlight. This will also allow families to celebrate their student’s teacher with a sweet message.

May 4: Teacher Appreciation Day - If you have your teachers of the year selected, do profiles on them.

Day - Work with the student council or ambassadors to do something nice for cafeteria workers on campuses and go on Facebook Live when they surprise them.

- District health teams have had a rough couple of years! Work with organizations on campuses to create “thank you” cards for your campus nurses and get video/photos of these organizations presenting them.

May 13: School Communicators Day - Post your team and what they do! On many occasions, people don’t know the “photo lady” or the “video guy,” but this will allow them to get to know you as someone who helps share their story.