What’s the biggest challenge for your district? For many, it’s keeping community members in the loop on activities and events happening in and outside of school. That’s why we created Community Messenger, to tighten engagement across your entire district, community partners, and all members, even those who don’t have a child enrolled in school.
The Prize: Deepened Connections
Now that you know a bit about jmc’s robust messaging platform, we’d love your help in telling the community about it! In exchange, the school that drives the most purchases of our Community Messenger tool will win a communication strategy sesh with best-selling author and international speaker Joe Beckman followed by a bonfire chat on human connection with singing, book-signing, and connecting with the community.
Community Messenger Talking Points
While how you get the word out about Community Messenger is up to you (carrier pigeon?), we’ve put together a few key points to help you talk confidently about the tool:
Community members can sign up on their own. No admin approval needed.
Unlike with most communication apps, community members don’t have to request an account to start receiving district-community news. For admins that means no more sifting through account requests. Members simply sign up online for instant access to the latest events, cancellations, and other key updates, keeping them engaged in the community.
Members can also manage their Community Messenger account on their own. Guided by in-app prompts, community members can update account information like passwords and contact details without the need for assistance from the school district or community org, further freeing up office staff. Plus, members can add up to five phone numbers and email addresses to ensure important messages reach them no matter where they are.
Community Messenger helps admins maintain an organized contact directory.
A tidy contact directory is essential to timely delivery of messages. Admins maintain the entire contact list for their district from one dashboard, with the flexibility to manually update contact information, delete contacts, as well as import and export lists. Plus, they can ‘star’ frequently messaged contacts, making their favorites easier to find in the list.
Members can pick and choose which community-district news to receive.
Community Messenger gives members the option of subscribing to message categories, or ‘Groups’ as we call them, to filter out any unwanted news and cut down on inbox clutter. They can modify these preferences at any time. Admins can establish ‘Groups’ based on topics of interest like School Alerts or Community Fundraisers to promote engagement in those areas.
A detailed message log gives admins the data to enhance messaging.
Office pros have full visibility into data on past communications, including who was contacted through which contact method and when. They can also peek at the log’s visual progress bar to track messages out for delivery. By empowering school district and community org admins to monitor communications and evaluate engagement, they can strengthen future communications.
Admins can customize messages and delivery methods for effectiveness. Schools and community orgs can make messaging stand out with attachments, custom formatting, and their logo, ensuring that the message is received and not mistaken as spam. When sending a message, admins have the option to choose phone, email, or text message — or send any combination of those message types at the same time, to save time.
Best of luck, jmc friends!