3 Steps for EdTech Marketers to Boost Social Engagement

You’ve likely heard about content marketing. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are the common places everyone posts their marketing content. To help you boost social engagement in your industry, we’ve laid out a few “places to be” for educational technology marketers. Reach out to teachers, parents, students and all the other players of the EdTech industry with this helpful guide!

Step 1: Read, Comment, Write

 

• Edutopia and MindShift are two great blogs to start exchanging with peers in EdTech. Users can choose from over a hundred different topics and “join the conversation”. They can also subscribe to the newsletter and follow the key authors on Twitter or Facebook.

 

EdSurge helps you keep track of the upcoming EdTech events (especially EdSurge summits) and allows you to post on their blog. Make sure you read their “editorial guidelines” before submitting an article. They are looking for high quality essays rather than regular marketing pitches. eLearning Industry is a website specifically for eLearning professionals. You can post articles or events here and get insights on all the trends and solutions that are emerging in their field.

Step 2: Connect

 

• Edmodo is an educational social network that connects parents, teachers and students. Their blog is a useful tool since it gathers the opinions of all the EdTech players. They also offer businesses the possibility to partner with them. You can also publish content, rate and review what’s being shared.

 

Signing up to be an ISTE member gives you access to ISTE Professional Learning Networks (PLNs). PLNS are topic-based communities focused on the hottest issues in EdTech. You can choose from 28 PLNs, in which you’ll find ISTE members from around the world to share your passion and expertise within forums, webinars and other interactive formats. It’s a real hassle connecting with hundreds of educational technology professionals one by one on LinkedIn. Save yourself time and effort and connect with LinkedIn groups in your field. Here are a few of the larger groups in the US:

• EdTech Jobs and Education Technology Careers is a networking, career support, and information sharing community for people who work in an EduTech & eLearning capacity.

 

EdTech Leaders Online Group is a network for online educator professional development and virtual school programs. Technology in Education is a group that seeks to understand, implement and educate communities on the means of incorporating technology into education.  

Step 3: Speak up

The educational technology scene is changing and expanding fast. With increasing numbers of events and conferences being hosted, you should get involved by searching EdTech Meetups. Aside from growing your network, you also get the opportunity to pitch your project to peers as a practice. Get the jitters out before going in front of investors! You should also check out the regularly scheduled events from the blogs mentioned above. EdSurge does an especially great job at highlighting upcoming gatherings. Also consider contacting the organizers to see if you can join a panel or even give a quick pitch. Finally, it can also be worth reaching out to local schools and offer to attend a staff or department meeting to talk about your work. Cold outreaches like this are challenging, but it is worth trying if it can initiate successful partnerships in your area. Now that you know where to go, choose the online sources that best fit your needs. Remember, selecting the best place for your great content is more effective than flooding too many sources.