Hi! I'm Mira
I am a senior at Carlmont High School. I am the Social Media and Marketing Editor-in-Chief for my school’s journalism program.
MARKETING INFO
Objectives
I wanted to increase engagement and gain more followers/subscribers for our social media channels and email newsletter.
What I did
I marketed Scot Scoop on several different platforms. I posted our social media handles, news site link, and email newsletter on NextDoor (a social networking site for neighborhoods) and Canvas (the learning platform our school uses). I also sent this information to our school principal and four feeder schools so they could share it in their weekly newsletters.
Marketing Scot Scoop on the Carlmont High School Canvas announcements page
Marketing Scot Sccop on NextDoor
Announcement posted on the e-newsletter of one of our feeder middle schools
EMAIL NEWSLETTER
Mira Bhatt
Marketer of the Year Portfolio
Objectives
I lead a team that posts articles from our publication to all social media channels on a daily basis. Even though we post frequently, I realized that it’s possible that our audience might miss articles if they aren’t logged in at the right time.
I thought a possible solution might be to create and automatically send an electronic newsletter to subscribers which includes the current week’s articles. This way, they have access to all articles in their inbox, at any time, without having to log in to the Scot Scoop website.
What I did
I proposed this idea and after getting approval, explored options for creating and sending an automated newsletter. To save money, I created a free MailChimp account and figured out how to set up an RSS feed that automatically pulls our most recent articles. I created a newsletter template and set it up for automatic delivery. To attract subscribers, I asked our principal and the PTA presidents at four incoming middle schools to promote the newsletter.
Results
We have increased the number of subscribers by 36% this semester and now have close to 400 contacts. Over time, I’ve optimized the newsletter by adjusting the RSS feed to pull from our Top News section, which places the most popular articles on the first page. This increased our click rate to 7.9%, which is almost 2x the industry average click rate and 4x the average click rate across industries.
JOURNALIST OF THE WEEK PROGRAM
Objectives
From viewing analytics data on social media, I found that when we profile students, engagement increases, so I proposed a program to feature a journalism student of the week.
What I did
I worked with my journalism teacher and editor (at the time) to finalize the process for collecting nominations, how many students to feature, and how and when to feature them. We designed a form to let students nominate each other and selected four students per month. I interview each of the featured students and create a template and post each week on our four social media channels. The journalists of the month are then also featured in an email campaign to our subscribers.
Instagram template used for the Journalists of the Week in May
Results
These posts increased our engagement on social media, with more people retweeting the information and clicking on student profiles and our website link. A side benefit of this program is that it has given students a chance to recognize their peers and to be recognized, which has helped us connect during distance learning.
The Journalists of the Month email campaign sent out in April
Engagement with our Journalist of the Week Instagram stories
QR CODES
Objectives
I wanted to enable people to quickly and easily reach our Scot Scoop website and social media accounts and to increase engagement.
What I did
I created and included a QR code and a Linktree site for a page I designed in the second issue of the Highlander (our newsmagazine) to advertise our Pacemaker finalists and our email newsletter subscription. When a visitor scans the QR code, they are directed to our Linktree, which contains all of our social media accounts on one page. I plan to use the QR code on flyers around Carlmont when students return to school this fall, so they can easily connect with our publication.
The page I designed in the second issue of the Highlander
Scot Scoop Linktree page
ANALYTICS
I tracked key metrics for all of the email campaigns we sent out this year to determine what was working and not working; using this information, I can find ways to increase our open rate and number of subscribers. I created a slideshow analyzing the results from September 2020 to May 2021.
OUTREACH PROGRAM
Objectives
When I learned that one of our feeder middle schools, Ralston Middle School, had started a brand new journalism class, I reached out to the teacher to see if she’d be interested in connecting with our high school journalism program.
What I did
I offered to lead an hour-long Zoom class on how to write a lede and structure a news article. I also pulled in two of our editors-in-chief for a Q&A session. The students were very engaged in the chat room and asked a lot of questions. We collected their questions and provided answers in a google doc, which we sent back to the class. At the end of the call, we also provided the students with our social media handles and links to our new site and saw an increase in engagement that week.