Steps For Promoting Your Event & News

One month prior to your event 

1. Create event summaries for the school calendars. Send event details to the PTA website editor at whittierwebsite@gmail.com and to Monica Ganyard at maganyard@seattleschools.org (event date, time, location, a brief description, and any relevant links). This information will be used to populate the calendars on the school website and on Konstella.
2. Update any related web copy. If there is a page on the school website related to your event, verify that the information is still relevant. If not, please send updated content to the PTA website editor at whittierwebsite@gmail.com.

Two to three* weeks prior to your event

1. Think about how and where you want to promote your event. See below for more info on the communications channels you can use. 
2. Consider: should your event be promoted more than once? Probably! For events that require more than one type of action (e.g. RSVP, donate items, volunteer time, buy tickets, bring/wear something special), consider making multiple asks in the weeks leading up to your event.
3. Submit your content via the content planning calendar. Create separate entries for each place and date that you want your event to be promoted. You can enter the text directly into the spreadsheet OR link to a Google Doc if that’s easier. 

*Really? Three weeks? Yep! The WildChat only goes out twice monthly, so if you plan to promote your event there more than once, you need to submit your content early. 

Channels for promoting your event

The Whittier WildChat

Bi-weekly newsletter published in collaboration with Principal Clark. Submit your announcement (link to spreadsheet) by the Friday prior to publication. Check the editorial calendar for publication dates, the theme of each issue, and blackout dates. 

KidMail 

Fliers sent home in students’ backpacks each Tuesday. Provide your printed fliers to the front office by Monday morning. (check that that’s correct) See below for tips on creating attractive graphics. 

Whittier’s PTA Facebook page 

Weekly roundups and one-off posts to promote school and community events, fundraisers, etc. “This Week at Whittier” digests go out on Sunday evening. Please note: because of changes in Facebook’s algorithm, we will no longer be posting PTA announcements to each grade-level Facebook page (putting up multiple posts containing the same content within a few minutes of each other gets you flagged as a spammer

Konstella

We use Konstella for creating…

Announcements: Emails that can be sent to specific classrooms, grades, or the entire school. These replace the room rep emails from last year. If you’d like, you can submit the same text and visuals for announcements and for Facebook posts.

Signups: To create a signup, contact the PTA Communications chair at communications.whittierpta@gmail.com. You’ll receive admin access to create all-school or grade-level signup forms in Konstella. 

Ticket or merchandise sales: We haven’t yet tested this feature, but if you’d like to give it a try, let us know!

Ways you can make your event stand out

Include a picture. Be sure to include a link when you submit your content via the editorial calendar.

Create a professional-looking visual. The days of creating announcements using clip art and Word are done (and thank goodness). Using Canva or one of many other free visual editing tools, you can quickly and easily create social media posts, fliers, infographics, landing pages and more using customizable templates or drag and drop tools.