Social Media And Why Your Yearbook Publisher Should Be Helping You

When our office visits a potential new customer we never talk about number of copies and pages.  Why? Because your students don't care about how many pages the book is or how many copies the school orders. What they DO care about is how the Yearbook makes them feel when they open it for the first time. Do they feel connected to the Yearbook? Do they feel connected to their school? Yearbooks really have not changed much over the years but what has is how schools should be using social media to enhance the Yearbook experience. Stitch- our social media portal has been a big part of schools this year. It's worth checking out at www.hjstitch.com. What else is new? How about rolling a smartphone over a Yearbook photo to watch and listen to video or see a slide show of additional content?

Ask your Yearbook Sales Professional to consult with you on social media and forget about number of copies and pages for a moment. Taking this route will engage more students, celebrate their accomplishments and ultimately improve school spirit.  That's how the traditional printed Yearbook can make a difference in your school and that's #yearbooksuccess

Why The Best Schools Succeed

Successful schools have three things in common. One is that they create relationships with trusted partners and vendors in the community. In my experience relationships are key to any successful school. Our office fields many calls throughout the year from schools with unique issues. Perhaps an administrator wants to give a Yearbook to a student that can't afford a one but has great academic performance. In this case we will make available a handful of Yearbooks to assist the school and we can talk pricing strategies to allow the school to have Yearbooks on hand every year for these situations. 

Secondly, successful schools are always thinking two and even three years down the road. What do we want the Yearbook to look like in 2015? Recently I had a meeting with a new school that asked a great question. "How are you different than the other publishers". How long do we have to talk? ;)

Finally great schools focus their first editors' meeting on the Yearbook NOT the budget.  Nothing brings a meeting down quicker than talking about price, copy counts and page counts.  Start with the dream and work the finances around it.  

#yearbooksuccess is easy when you start now. Visit www.yearbookdiscoveries.com the best schools are already there.  

June is an emotional month- kind of like flipping through a Yearbook

I just heard a "thud" at the door. Exciting!  Likely Yearbook samples that sometimes arrive shortly after delivery to the schools. As the Fedex driver turns and heads off there's a moment of contemplation about the school year.  The final printed and bound copy is very exciting to crack open for the first time. Schools are just as excited, but as their sales professional I also have that "dad moment" of feeling proud of the editors for accomplishing such a huge task. June is a roller coaster ride of ups and downs though. Sure the delivery is exciting but sometimes the staff Advisor moves on or the editors graduate.  Time to start over again. #yearbooksuccess isn't achieved easily, but nothing worth it ever is. Let's evaluate what went right and what needs improvement and get ready for a great summer.  Congratulations!  We did it together!

Regards,
Matt & Mary Sloan
www.yearbookplanet.com