You pick up your phone when the bell rings after the last class of the day, and tap on the Instagram icon on your home screen. The app opens, and the first post you see is a picture on the Dana Hall School official account.
Dana Hall uses a wide range of social media accounts, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram,so that the school can reach a variety of age groups of target audiences. The School also has several other student-run accounts that are club-specific. According to Assistant Director of Communication Molly Kieloch, the School’s social media accounts are used to present Dana Hall’s stories to the public. The student-run media’s purpose is to get more support and attention for the variety of clubs and organizations at school.
According to Ms. Kieloch, the School’s target audiences are alumnae, parents, families of students, and even prospective students: anyone who is connected to Dana Hall or is looking forward to connecting with the School.
The Communications office is also careful about controlling the speed of updating the accounts. “We try to post once or twice a day. We post that to the main feed and occasionally post on the story as well.” Ms. Kieloch believes that “the more that you post, the more interactions, the more people see it, the higher it gets in the main feed. So it’s important to keep posting.”
Students also use social media to advertise for clubs and organizations. The Student Activities Club (SAC) co-head Kaylie Quach ’23 started a social media account this past summer for Dana Hall’s Student Activities Club. After the account was created by Kaylie and Kelly Chen ’24 (this reporter) using a personal email, Ms. Kieloch directly messaged the unofficial account on Instagram and informed them about the procedures they would need to follow to get an official account. The two student leaders contacted Ms. Hamel and got the School’s technology department to create a school-verified Instagram account for their club two weeks later.
This is Kaylie’s second year holding this leadership position, and as an experienced leader of the club, she realized that student involvement and hearing students’ voices are critical for a club like SAC which serves the Dana Hall community. Kaylie explained that it is much easier and more convenient to receive feedback from students through social media and added, “we chose to create this account to have a stronger connection between us and the student body.”
Some ways that SAC plans on using their Instagram account in the future is to post pictures of events to inspire participation and keep followers updated. In addition, Kaylie has concrete plans on how she is planning to use the story feature on Instagram: “Mondays are going to be weekend activities poll day. We’re going to put up a poll of two to four on-campus activities choices and then let students choose what they want to do for the week.” Kaylie has observed that students tend to think on-campus activities are not as exciting as off-campus activities, so asking students to choose activities for themselves might be a good way to keep students engaged in on-campus activities. Furthermore, SAC plans on using the Direct Message feature that Instagram offers, which allows SAC to have open and easy communication with students about their concerns and suggestions for the club.
The Baking Club started its official Instagram account in October 2020. This student-run account includes updates, pictures of baked treats, meeting reminders, and more information about the Baking Club. The account has posted sixteen posts so far, all of which include at least one high-quality picture.
According to Ms. Kieloch, the Communications office wishes to see more students to send their memories and stories at Dana Hall so that she can share it on a larger platform. Please email her at molly.kieloch@danahall.org if you have any type of media that documents your experiences at Dana Hall.
