How to Get Busy School Leaders to Blog

For school marketers, your school blog can be both your proudest accomplishment and the bane of your existence.
Because it’s hard to keep a publication fresh and interesting. It’s hard to consistently create content that cuts through the clutter. And it’s hard to get others to support your content creation process.
At the same time, it’s important to capitalize on the expertise within your walls. It’s critical that leadership understand and support your efforts. And it’s imperative that your content marketing efforts support the growth of your school and your brand.
{Sigh.} What’s a school marketer to do?
An important place to focus your efforts: leadership involvement. By engaging school leaders in the content creation process, you can showcase their expertise, gain their support and elevate your blog’s visibility.
Here’s how to get even the busiest school leader involved in your school blog:

#1: Don’t Make Them Blog.

That’s right. If you want school leaders to get involved in your blog or other content marketing efforts, don’t ask them to write a word.
Here’s why: If your editorial calendar relies on waiting for a school leader to sit down and write a blog post for you, it will never get done. Even if her intentions are sincere, and she truly wants to write that post for you, the day-to-day will take over. Because while that blog post may be your priority, it probably isn’t hers.

So if your school leaders won’t be writing blog posts for you, then how can you access the great insights and ideas that are trapped inside their heads — the ones you know will be hugely beneficial for your audiences? Well…

#2: Do Your Homework.

Before you ask for leadership input, research your topic. Know what you want to write about, and where you think your school leader can provide the most value. The homework stage of blog writing may include:

• General Search. Search for the most recent articles written about a topic. What’s trending? What’s popular? Can you approach the topic from a different angle?
• Outline Development. Once you have an angle, sketch out an outline. Which areas need more information?
• Research. Can you fill in some of the thin areas of your article with online research or statistics?
• Audit. Now that you know what your article will be about, and you’ve done some research, you should know where you need input from your leader. So go back and review some of her past publications, newsletters, emails, etc. Does she have anything you can repurpose?

#3: Ask For One Thing.

Ok, so now you have a pretty tight article outline, and you know what you need from your leader. But before you approach her with your request, get super specific. Asking for one thing — one answer, one fact, one resource, one idea — is a request that someone can tackle right away, rather than putting it off for a later time.
Need a specific quote? Try writing one for her, and then email it to her for her review or edit. Need the answer to one specific question? Send her a very brief email explaining your article and asking that one question. Want her opinion on a controversial topic? Again, get super specific. Set a scenario, and ask her to explain her choice/opinion/viewpoint in 1-2 sentences — or even better, bullet points.
The “one thing” ask can be done by email, over the phone, or in person. Understand your leader’s communication style, and approach her in a way that makes her most comfortable.

#4: Help Them Share.

Now you have a final, awesome, published post. Fantastic! Your work is not done, however. Continue engaging your school leaders by encouraging them to share the article with their colleagues and on their personal social media platforms.
An easy way to do this: give them ready-made social posts to share. This way, all they have to do is copy and paste the posts onto their accounts, press share, and presto! Your post is reaching more people, with an endorsement from leadership.
Those are four fairly simple and straightforward ways to get school leadership involved in your school blog, but there are many others. How have YOU engaged your leadership in the content creation process? Share your ideas below, or over on Twitter!