School Auction Social Media Strategy Series: Content
You’re on a roll, now. Your SchoolAuction.net website is set up, your social media pages are ready to go, and you have hashtags that are itching to be used. Now we need to talk about_what_ you’ll be posting - a variety of content regularly increases engagement and prevents content fatigue. Followers want to see auction items, of course, but they will begin to zone out if your posts all look the same.
But before we talk about the what, we want to sneak in one more suggestion on how. Think about batching tasks (such as writing item descriptions, taking pictures, making memes, and the like) is an efficient way to create content. Make this a fun activity where the PTO and volunteers come together in a casual setting once or twice to hammer out the bulk of the legwork involved in creating content for a successful social media strategy. Batching prevents your social media manager from constantly stressing out about what to post next. As an added benefit, curating all of your content at one time will create a sense of continuity in your posts.
If several volunteers are going to be posting on behalf of your school auction, use a file sharing platform like Dropbox or Google to store your content. Consider creating separate files for each of your content categories so you can access them easily. If your posting schedule includes a Meme Monday, for example, you don’t want to be shuffling through several files before you find a meme to post. Speaking of post scheduling, we’ll touch on that in a future blog. .
Auction Items
If your auction items are already procured, take pictures of all of your items at once during a batching session. Add them to your SchoolAuction.net catalogue, for those items without images already. Take a few angles of each item to post on social media over the course of the campaign so content looks fresh and not recycled.
A great way to engage your audience is to ask open-ended questions in your auction item posts. Nostalgia is a powerful tool to leverage. If one of your auctions is a board games package, for example, include in your post an open-ended question like, “What was your favorite board game growing up?”
Fundraiser Purchases
Chances are pretty high that your group has a specific project or campaign in mind for the money you are going to raise. Share that with your guests! If you already know where your auction proceeds are going, take pictures of the “before” and create an image (or find a picture) of the ideal “after.” Posting the dilapidated, old playground equipment next to a picture of the dream set your PTO has its eye on draws your audience in emotionally. We all love a good before and after—especially on social media.
Auction Item Donors
Take advantage of the emotional connections your auction participants have already forged. If one of the auction items is a cake from the beloved bakery down the street, post pictures of the owner and tag them and their bakery in your posts. (With permission, of course.) Not only does this strengthen the community bond, it also works as cross promotion for the bakery. It’s okay to ask them to return the favor. Win/win!
Memes & Quotes
Memes and inspirational quotes are an easy way to mix up content for your social media pages with minimal effort. If your auction has a theme, use Google Images to find memes or inspirational quotes that relate to it. For example, for a luau theme, post a bright background with the phrase “aloha kakahiaka,” (good morning) on social media one morning. If it’s a masquerade auction, post two masks and ask your followers to vote for their favorite. Remember, when sourcing images, be sure to give credit to the creator if available, and don’t use watermarked images.
By varying the types of posts you make across your social media platform, followers stay interested and are less likely to scroll right by. Include a link to your SchoolAuction.net website in each of your social media posts so your followers can quickly and easily access all of the auction details and even bid on items early and remotely. Remember to use your hashtags!
