Not Ready for a School Blog? 4 Powerful Things to do Now

Blogging

Blogging can be powerful. It can be effective. It can be fun.

But what if your school just isn’t ready?

What if you want to start a school blog, but you have valid reasons (such as time, budget or staffing) that keep you from diving in head first? What if you know it will land on your to-do list soon, but it just isn’t there now?

You can start prepping now so that when the time comes, you’re not starting from zero.

Keep learning.

The more you know about blogging, the easier it will be to get yours started. Be proactive and stay informed. Make a commitment that you’ll read at least one blog post or article about blogging each week. Take courses, be aware of the trends, listen to podcasts. This knowledge quest will serve as continuous preparation and removes the stress of actually doing.

Start a swipe file.

As you’re reading/watching/listening to content about blogging, write notes about the things that stand out to you. Save the articles that resonate with you. When an idea pops into your head, don’t assume you’ll remember it—write it down. Keep it all in a swipe file that you can dig into when you’re ready to start strategizing about your blog.

Build your team.

Whether your marketing department consists of seven people or just you, you’ll need support to design, develop and launch your blog. You’ll need content support once the blog launches, whether it’s on an ongoing basis or just occasionally. Start planning now by considering who has the skills you need. Look beyond the marketing and communications departments—consider how you can involve faculty, students, and the president, dean or head of school.

Keep a list of who you want or need to be involved, and the role they could play. The president or head of school might enjoy writing a monthly article, and the journalism club might jump at the chance to help brainstorm ideas and write content.

Prep your workload.

Your school’s new blog will be a time commitment, so start looking at your workload now. Do you have the capacity to get everything done in house or will you need to hire outside help? Do you need to adjust your budget to hire someone new or allocate dollars for strategy and content development? Are there tasks you can hand over to an intern that will free up your time to concentrate on the blog?

These types of changes often take time, so starting to consider them now will put you in position for a smooth launch later.

Just because you aren’t ready to launch a school blog now doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do. Sometimes great ideas aren’t brought to life by big, bold actions— a series of small steps will get you there, too.

If you need help finding your next right step (big or small), we can help.