Independent schools are flocking to social media and with good reason. Social media offers the promise of inbound marketing, branding, improved search engine optimization (SEO), and the ability to engage with the many constituencies at an independent school - all at little or no cost. The problem though is once independent schools create their social media accounts they aren't sure how to properly use their new social media channels like Twitter.

When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 and famously steered the company back from the precipice of irrelevance, he told the world, in very simple language, how he was going to do it: Think Different.

Often when I have the opportunity to speak with educators about schools marketing I imagine a little thought cloud building over their heads. In it is the image of a used car sales person or some other slick, overdressed personality who created a pushy, high pressure sales experience they would rather not repeat and certainly don’t want associated with their school. But marketing shouldn’t be a scary term to educators! When we discuss marketing in the context of schools, think of it in terms of demonstrating accountability.