Feed your digital signage with Instagram

When first launched in 2006, schools went mad for Twitter. It was enthusiastically embraced as a tool for communication, engagement, and learning. However, the use of Twitter in schools has evolved over time and while it is still used, it no longer seems to be as universally embraced as it once was and is often seen more as a tool for professional networking. With competing platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok which are often suited to a more younger audience, platforms such as Instagram make it easier for schools to connect with students and prospective families.

Some interesting statistics from Statista show that in 2021, there were 1.21 billion monthly active users of Meta's Instagram, making up over 28% of the world's internet users. By 2025, it has been forecast that there will be 1.44 billion monthly active users of the social media platform, which would account for 31.2% of global internet users. Facebook purchased Instagram 3 years ago and between the two, school can cover a vast amount of social media users.?

Yet why do we still see some reluctance from schools in embracing Instagram as a school marketing tool? Could it be to do with digital literacy and there being gaps in staff knowledge and experience of using Instagram? Perhaps staff lack familiarity with the app and are unaware of how effectively it can be used for marketing purposes. Is it misconstrued as an influencer tool and its place not recognised in education? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this…

What’s great about Instagram is that it’s such a highly visual platform with so much scope for creativity. You can go beyond just still images and create time-lapse videos and Reels.?

Instagram can be used as a two-pronged approach in school, firstly as a mechanism for showcasing your schools brand and offering to prospective students and families and secondly as a tool for enhancing your whole school communication and building a sense of community. Let's take a look at both approaches.?

Attracting prospective students and families

As a parent looking at prospective schools for my child I of course want to arrange an onsite visit to the school but before that even happens my first port of call is to check out the school on social media. I’m looking to see how recent the last post was, if it was 6 months ago I’d be wondering why? Is the Instagram account still active? I hope to see recent and regular posts showcasing the fantastic opportunities on offer, trips, clubs, sporting events, school productions and so on. After all, it's a marketing tool to help sell your school and get bums on seats! A great balance would be posting around 3 times a week, with a blend of photos and videos. With the ability to create carousels of your photos and videos you can ensure up to date events are captured and shared. Better still, encourage the digital leaders of today (your students) to help capture these moments. Our young people spend much of their time on social media and as we often talk about at TrilbyTV, students are content snobs and will be looking for impressive engaging content to interact with.

If your prospective families are scrolling the school Instagram feed and impressed, they will likely then visit the school website for more information. Equally prospective families may start with the school website and then be directed to Instagram so be sure to sign post families. You are essentially creating a digital prospectus to attract students and families - really letting them see the insights into school life.

Engage with your school community

Instagram offers a creative outlet for you to interact with your school community.

In a recent visit to Park House School, part of Greenshaw Learning Trust, IT Manager Dominic Hinton told me how displaying their social media feeds on their digital signage has helped increase engagement. “We’re getting more engagement overall, students are now stopping, looking and taking notice of what is being shown. The screens are a conversation piece and it helps everyone keep up to date with what’s going on.”

Dominic also shared how making use of the Instagram integration with TrilbyTV has helped to grow their following on socials. “Having Instagram integrated is great, when photographs are taken and uploaded it pushes the word out about what’s going on within the school. Quite a lot of people have actually started following our Instagram since we’ve been displaying the content on the screens. We are trying to move things forward as a whole school.”

All Saints’ Academy Cheltenham have a really active social media presence with their school community. Marketing and Communications Manager, Kerri Edgar shared:

“We have very active social accounts which is why the option to put Instagram on the screens has been so fantastic! It has transformed the screens to have the most current news and allows the wider community that come in to see our social handles too! It also saves time not having to create double the content!” So as the saying goes, schools can 'kill two birds with one stone'- keep their content fresh and up to date with the benefit of no extra workload. Win win, right!

As well sharing photos via Instagram, All Saints' Academy make use of the video content. Recently sharing a video diary from a school trip to Tanzania, the school community were kept informed of the events and experiences enjoyed by those on the trip and able to feel part of journey. Kerri shared, "It is a captioned video so allows us to play it in the school day muted."

Marketing Assistant, Sam Priest at All Saints' Academy, Cheltenham leads the way with their content creation on Canva to make their social posts stand out and have a professional feel. If you're not sure where to begin with creating Instagram posts or how to make them stand out with that professional feel, creative design platforms such as Canva offer great Instagram templates to help you create compelling posts.

I hope this blog has given you an insight into how Instagram can add another layer of visual communication, aesthetically supporting the creative offering your school provides. You can read more about adding Instagram Feeds in the TrilbyTV support doc here and if you'd like to discuss ways to share engaging content with your school community to maximise impact you can get in touch here.