My current job and digital tools
I work as a administrative kindergarten manager in a non-profit organization. I do most of my job with computer using Microsoft Office tools, mainly Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. I also use daily few online applications like Fennoa for financial administration, Mobiilivarmenne to sign in to different services and Effica Satelliitti for service voucher management with the city of Kuopio. I also use few Social Media applications like Facebook, Istagram and WhatsApp in my work.
Even though I have used Instagram in my work, it is a new platform to me, and I want to learn more about it. That is why I chose Instagram as one tool in this task. Our customers (parents of the children) are mainly the age group who uses Instagram, so it was essential to go to Instagram last Autumn. Before that we had only Facebook. Instagram is based on the pictures and videos. The positive side is the old saying “a picture says more than a hundred words” but it is essential to know the rights in publishing pictures. Especially when we are dealing with the children, I think we can´t publish their faces. We must ask permission from the parents to use any kind of picture of a child in social media.
Istagram can be used to increase awareness of the organization for customers but also it can be used to build a brand as a employer. That is important viewpoint in the field of early years education currently because of the competition of good employees.
Posting in Instagram is fast and easy. The company profile can be used by many people and they don´t need to have own profile in Instagram. Instagram marketing is easy, and it can be done same time together with Facebook marketing.
I could use Instagram more as a part of my daily work in posting about daily life in the kindergarten and also information about coming events can be shared in Instagram to our current customers and also potential future customers. Private messages are also usable tools for potential customers in Instagram. They can send us a message if they want to ask something about our operation.
Snapchat
I use Snapchat only with my daughter but in the future I think this would be one more social media to use in my work. Snapchat is mainly used by teenagers and young adults who are potential customers in early years education. In Snapchat the pictures disappear after opening but stories can be seen for 24 hours. Stories about events in the kindergarten would be a good tool in our brand awareness project. Paid marketing is possible also in Snapchat.
LinkedIn organization profile would be useful tool in early years education now when we have shortage of labour in the industry. In LinkedIn we could build an employer brand and also at the same time we would increase awareness of our services. In LinkedIn we could post information about our events, daily life in the kindergarten and it can also be used in recruiting new staff. The problem in recruiting in LinkedIn is that many kindergarten teachers and nursery nurses are not yet in LinkedIn but I think that is going to change in the future.
Doodle
We have problems scheduling meetings in our work place. The problem exists in the meetings among our staff but also in meetings with the parents. Doodle would be good tool for setting times for all kinds of meetings. In Doodle it is possible to organize group meetings, connect calendars and for example Google Meet. The downside is that the free version has advertisement, and the professional versions are based in the monthly fee.
YouTube
YouTube, together with other social media platforms, would be good to increase people’s awareness of the kindergarten I work in. YouTube account is easy to create, and it is possible to share videos as private when only user with given permission can see it. Private videos would be good in sharing children´s daily activities or for example Christmas party with the parents.
Self evaluation
It was interesting to get to know new eplatforms and I am sure I will start using some new in the near future. The problem with all the social media platforms is that posting must be done regularly. That is why it would be good to build a social media and awareness strategy for our organization. As I learned during this task, there are so many different eplaforms that a proper plan is essential if organization would like to use them effectively.
I find it hard to use social media in my work because we work with children and confidentiality questions are even more complex than usually. We ask permission from the parents, but I think parent´s don´t have right to publish or give anyone right to publish child´s face pictures in social media. This task gave me a new viewpoint to social media in my work. Like I wrote earlier, I think now is the time to start building an employer brand to keep and get new employees in the time of shortage of labour in our industry.