Instagram takeovers are a fun, genuine way to showcase your school’s community and all the wonderful (little and big) things that make it so special. A takeover is when a member of your school community posts for you on a selected day.
The goal is to show your school from a fresh, unique perspective. And for that person’s followers to see your school. To make the most out of this popular social media technique, you’ll need to plan, but the efforts can help expand your school’s reach.
Before you identify your take-over person and start posting, brainstorm with your admissions office and leadership team to connect the takeover with your content and school calendar.
Do you have a big event coming up? A big sports rivalry? If you want to get more prospects for your middle school, then takeovers by middle school teachers make sense. If your student government president is going to speak at your open house, have them take over your Instagram account a few days before to make your prospective students feel “in the know.”
Announce your Instagram takeover so your audience knows what’s coming down the pike. If people know it’s happening in advance, they can be ready to love, comment and share.
By carefully planning and executing Instagram takeovers, you can create a fun, engaging, and authentic way to showcase your school’s unique community. Here are some ideas to get you started on creating a great Instagram take-over:
Student-led Takeovers
- Day-in-the-Life: Have a student document their entire day at school from morning routine to after-school activities.
- Club or Team Spotlight: Feature a specific club or team, highlighting their activities, goals and members.
- Student-Created Content: Encourage students to submit their own original content, such as photos, videos, short stories or poems.
- Behind-the-Scenes: Give followers a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes work of student organizations or events. Fall plays are great for this!
Faculty and Staff Takeovers
- Teacher Spotlight: Feature a beloved teacher, discussing their passion for education, favorite teaching moments and advice for students.
- Staff Appreciation: Show appreciation for staff members who often work behind the scenes, highlighting their contributions to the school community.
- Alumni Spotlight: Interview successful alumni and ask them about their experiences at the school and how it prepared them for their careers.
Special Takeovers
- Mascot Takeover: Have your school mascot take over the account for a day, sharing fun facts, interacting with students and promoting school spirit.
- Head of School Takeover: Give your head of school a chance to share their perspective on the school, its mission and their vision for the future.
- Guest Takeover: Invite a local celebrity, school board member or community leader to take over the account and share their experiences.
Collaborative Takeovers
- Student-Faculty Collaboration: Pair a student with a faculty member for a joint takeover, discussing their shared interests or experiences.
- Club Collaboration: Have two or more clubs collaborate on a takeover, showcasing their shared activities or goals.
- School-Community Partnership: Partner with a local organization or business for a takeover, highlighting the school’s involvement in the community.
Sprout Social gives some great tips on doing this from a business perspective, but they are pertinent to the school space.
Ensuring a Seamless Instagram Takeover
Takeovers require great communication with the person taking over the account BEFORE takeover day. Training is essential, and ensure they have your contact information so they can reach you throughout the day.
- Encourage authenticity: what do they love about your school? What is their particular p.o.v.?
- Use relevant hashtags to increase visibility and engagement. Need help? Check out our hashtag guide.
- Respond to comments and messages to create a more interactive experience. Give your takeover individual some guidelines for how to respond.
- Be explicit about what to post and explain that you want a combination of Reels, Stories and Posts (see below for ideas).
- Also, explain what not to post. For example, if the construction of your new science building is making parking tough on campus, a post about how far a student’s walk from his car to class might not be the best way to start the takeover day.
- Show a breadth of community. For students (and parents), it’s essential to showcase a variety of students from different backgrounds and interests rather than repeatedly featuring the same friend group. This approach offers a broader perspective of campus life.
- Think beyond the expected student leader. Maybe it’s the stage manager for the fall play a few days before the curtain goes up or the student who hangs in your maker space and is a whiz on the 3D printer. Just make sure that the student is social media-savvy and trustworthy.
Creating the Best Mix of Instagram Formats
By combining Instagram’s content formats and tailoring them to your specific takeover ideas, you can create a dynamic and engaging experience for your followers. Here’s how you can adapt the Instagram takeover ideas to fit different content formats:
Reels: Shoot for 15 to 90 seconds for these short videos (vertical format). Unlike Instagram Stories, these don’t disappear after 24 hours.
- Behind-the-Scenes: Create short, engaging Reels showcasing the behind-the-scenes work of student organizations or events.
- Tutorials: If a faculty member or student has a particular skill or talent, they can create a Reel tutorial.
- Challenges: Launch a school-wide challenge and have participants share their results in Reels.
- Dance or Lip Sync Battles: Encourage students to showcase their creativity with dance or lip sync battles.
Stories: Think of these like an “in-the-moment” slideshow. Stories will disappear after 24 hours. These can be up to 15 seconds long and, like Reels, should be in vertical format. These are less formal than Reels or traditional Posts and will appear at the top of your followers’ feed.
- Day in the Life: Use Stories to provide a real-time glimpse into the daily life of a student, faculty member or mascot.
- Q&A Sessions: Conduct Q&A sessions with students, faculty or alumni, allowing followers to ask questions and get answers.
- Polls and Stickers: Use polls and interactive stickers to engage followers and gather feedback.
- Countdown Timers: Build excitement for upcoming events using countdown timers in Stories.
Posts: the traditional Instagram post that shows in your followers’ feed and your profile.
- Photo Galleries: Share collections of photos from events, activities or student work.
- Long-Form Posts: Use posts to share longer, more detailed stories or information about your school, its history or its mission.
- Carousel Posts: Showcase multiple images or videos in a single post, perfect for sharing event highlights or student portfolios.
- Quotes: Share inspiring quotes from students, faculty or alumni.
After the Takeover
Give a shoutout the next day to your takeover person on your social media. Thank them with a handwritten note and school swag, too. Final step? Regardless of who takes over your account, change your password after the takeover.
Instagram takeovers require planning and trust – you are asking someone to post content about the school on your account – but it’s a great way to increase followers and engagement. It also gives someone a peek at how wonderful your school is from another point of view.
How can our social media experts help you make the most of your content and reach a wider audience? Let’s talk.
