Favorite Social Media Platforms for Teacher Authors

Kassaundra  00:00

When it comes to social media platforms, you’ve got a lot of choices, but today we’re chatting about my top two favorite social media platforms for teacher authors, and why they are so impactful. 

Kassaundra  00:14

So teacher authors, go ahead and reheat that cup of coffee because I’m your host, Kassaundra Foster and we’re about to get Schooled in Socials. 

Kassaundra  00:22

All right, we’re going to jump in and we’re going to talk about different social media platforms and which ones I have seen the best performance for teacher authors. Now, there are so many choices when it comes to social media platforms out there, between Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, Twitter, LinkedIn – there’s probably more that I maybe don’t even know about – it can truly feel in this time of social media that you need to have a presence everywhere to be heard, but that is actually really not the case. What you actually need is to be active on a platform that serves you and your ideal customer. You don’t need to be plastered across Instagram and Facebook and Tiktok and Twitter – you just don’t. What you need to do is find one platform that works for you and works for your ideal customer. So here’s what I found works best for teacher authors. 

Kassaundra  01:45

Number one, Instagram. So Instagram is great because it already has a strong teacher community established. There are so many teacher accounts and a lot of teachers hang out on Instagram. They’re very active. They’re looking for people to follow, for ideas and tips and resources, and commenting, and asking questions and trying to learn more. And so that is an advantage for you, because you already have a built in community to come into to show them what you can offer them. The second thing is that Instagram is very visual in nature. Not only has it been kind of a photo sharing app, we all know it’s going the video route as well, and that lends itself really great to marketing your engaging resources, because you can show people what those resources can do for them and what it can look like prepping them and what it looks like when it’s done. And you can show people your face so they can see who you are and get to know you. So that visual aspect is so important, specifically when it comes to you as a teacher author. Another thing that I really love about Instagram is that there are so many ways for you to share your content. There are static posts that’s just one picture or graphic on your feed. There are carousel posts which are multiple pictures or graphics in one post. There are reels which is video. There are stories which can be a whole number of things, but where you’re really talking to your audience. And there are lives so where you can get on and talk to your audience in real time. 

Kassaundra  03:48

So why does it matter that you have all those options? Because as a teacher, you know, people learn things in a lot of different ways and in a lot of different styles, and that is the same with your ideal customer. So when you’re trying to bring value to your ideal customer, you want to be able to present that information in a lot of different ways, so that everyone who is your ideal customer can learn that information and see your value. And Instagram just has that kind of baked right in, because there are so many options that you can choose from when it comes to the type of content you’re going to create on that platform. Plus, besides all of the ways to share your content, Instagram has a lot of options when it comes to how you organize that content for your audience. So you are easily able to highlight important topics and resources that you’ve shared about because Instagram has highlights, which are those bubbles that are right above your feed, where you can add in stories that are about different topics and when people come to your page, they can start there. So say they’re interested in finding out what you have for free resources, you can have a highlight with all of your free resources that you’ve shared, and the second that they get to your page, they can click on that and they can see what you offer for free value for them. And the other piece, when it comes to organizing content on Instagram, is probably the most underrated feature of Instagram, I would say, which is guides. So this allows you to put together a series of posts that are on the same topic. For example, I come from a special ed background, so if you’ve been talking about IEP paperwork across several different posts, you can bring all of those posts together and label it IEP paperwork. So if someone just needed tips on that and needed help in that area, they could go to your guides, and they could find all of your posts that have to do with IEP paperwork. So there are so many ways for you to share your content and organize your content on Instagram to help your audience access your value. And finally, my favorite feature in Instagram is that you are able to talk directly to your audience through stories. You are able to get on and chat, and you can have them answer a poll, you can have them drop a question, and they can interact with you in that way. And as you know from the first episode, connections are key. That is the beauty of social media, and that is how you are going to make it work for your teacher author business. So in my mind, Instagram kind of has it all. We’ve already got a built in teacher community, it’s visual in nature, so you can show off those amazing resources, there are so many ways for you to post your information so that everyone in your ideal audience can easily learn about it, you’re able to organize that information in a way that’s easily accessible, and you are able to easily make connections with your audience. I mean, that’s just the dream. 

Kassaundra  07:37

Okay, so I am a lover of Instagram, but there is a another social media platform that I really love, for teacher authors. And you might be surprised what it is. It’s Facebook. Okay. You might be scratching your head or thinking I’m crazy, because a lot of us have been fed this lie that Facebook is dead, but that’s just not the case for the teacherpreneur community, and here’s why. Now, when I talk about Facebook, probably what comes to your mind is Facebook pages. Right? You can have a business page on Facebook. But really, the beauty of Facebook that I want you to be able to harness for your teacher author business is Facebook groups. Facebook groups have so much potential to connect with your ideal customer and build a community. Again, we’re talking connection, connection, connection. So a Facebook group is meant to serve your audience in a specific way, so that there can be a lot more buy in from them. We’re going to talk more about that in later episodes, but this is a way for you to serve and build a community. And I also love that on Facebook, people are identified by their name versus a username, which makes it so much easier for you to address them in a comment or a direct message and just have more of that personal connection with them. And something else that Instagram doesn’t have, which I can’t believe I’m saying that but that Instagram doesn’t have that is perfect for your teacher author business is clickable links in the captions, okay. In your Facebook group, you are not going to have to say, head to the link in my bio to find this resource, you are going to say, here’s the resource, and they can click right on it and get to what they need. And that is awesome, because people have short attention spans, and having to click out and go somewhere else decreases the likelihood that people are going to do that. So having it right there is perfect.

Kassaundra  11:19

 Okay, Instagram and Facebook have proven to me, time and time again, to be the most impactful social media platforms for my clients. Instagram’s range of features ability to easily organize the content for your audience, which is the purpose, and the personalized nature of the app lends itself so well to connecting with other teachers and showing them what you have to offer. On the other hand, Facebook, especially groups, can be a powerful social media platform to help you serve your audience, making meaningful connections and making it easier for them to navigate to the amazing resources you have. So at the end of the day, though, whether you go with Instagram, Facebook or even another platform, you want to make sure that you’re comfortable using it and your ideal customer uses it as well, because that is where the magic happens.