School district leaders in Detroit have turned to students as their newest allies in marketing the district to prospective families and getting their message out to community members.
Detroit leaders in March announced they planned to hire about two dozen “student influencers,” tasked with posting pictures and videos on their own social media accounts about school district happenings.
The idea is that prospective families and current students and their families may find hearing directly from students more engaging and insightful than standard district-issued communications, said Sharlonda Buckman, Detroit’s assistant superintendent of family and community engagement.
Buckman hopes that authenticity can drive up community engagement and fight enrollment declines that have persisted over the past two decades.
“You hit a lot of marks with a program like this, because it’s one thing for us to talk about how our students are doing, but it’s another thing for them to talk about what they’re doing,” Buckman said. “It’s more believable to both students and parents.”
Detroit leaders attribute much of the district’s enrollment decline to falling birth rates and a city population that’s generally been shrinking for decades. But charter schools also enroll about half the city’s students, according to Chalkbeat, and Detroit students can choose to attend school in nearby suburban districts that accept students through the state’s School of Choice open-enrollment program.
There are about 49,000 students enrolled in the Detroit public schools community district now, down from more than 150,000 in 2002, according to school district data.
Public school districts across the country, which depend on funding tied largely to enrollment, are more often making concerted marketing pushes as they confront these population pressures and heightened competition for students—including from programs in a growing number of states (though not Michigan) that provide families with public money to enroll in private schools.
Starting next year, a new federal program will make additional public funds available for private school in the states that opt in, further ramping up competition for students. (Michigan’s governor hasn’t indicated yet whether she’ll opt in.)
Detroit’s push to enlist student influencers in broadcasting the district’s strengths is part of a broader marketing plan that earmarks more than $1 million from the current budget of more than $1 billion into efforts that include print and broadcast ads and an improved district website and social media presence.
Student influencers bring ‘authentic voices’
The student influencers add a unique, on-the-ground perspective that other parts of the marketing initiative don’t offer, Buckman said.
District staff generally identify events or topics for the influencers to “cover,” Buckman said, including one recent expo where rising high school freshmen could explore the district’s high school options and potential career pathways. At that event, one student influencer interviewed local radio personalities and another brought viewers along with her to the event.
Buckman hopes the student influencers eventually will pitch their own ideas for events they’d like to attend and post about on social media.
“It really is inspiring to see them doing this in their authentic voices, talking about the things that that are exciting to them,” Buckman said.
In some cases, the district may repost the student influencers’ posts to its own social media pages, Buckman said.
The influencer initiative helps students build an online presence
Before students began posting about the district in their official influencer capacities, Detroit school leaders hosted a training series to make sure the students understood the district’s social media policy and what was appropriate to post—they’re not allowed to use songs with explicit lyrics, for example, Buckman said.
“We’re teaching them judgment in terms of how you show up online,” she said.
The training also covered the importance of meeting deadlines and how to use different platforms, like TikTok and Instagram. Students practiced making videos (that they didn’t post) and got feedback from staff members and peers so they could get a feel for content creation before making real posts as official influencers.
The district also sees the initiative as an opportunity for students to build their online footprint responsibly and build portfolios as online content creators—an occupation that has become a more common career path in recent years.
Detroit selected about one student influencer from each of the district’s more than two dozen high schools. The students who participate are eligible for a $250 monthly stipend and receive monthly coaching and feedback from staff.
“When you think about it in terms of a career path, it’s a relatively new thing, but you still have this need to develop a resume and portfolio, which is something they can do through this program, and that stipend gives them compensation but also an incentive to really, literally, take it seriously, as if it is a job,” Buckman said.
A student influencer says the role has already changed her life
Janiah Smith, a junior at Cass Technical High School and one of Detroit’s student influencers, said the role has already opened up opportunities she never thought were possible even just a few weeks ago.
Janiah saw an ad online for the student-influencer position and applied, thinking it was “a long shot,” because she didn’t have a long resume working in social media. She also thought the district was looking for “someone on the honor roll or who plays violin—basically someone other than me.”
But Janiah believes her outgoing personality and willingness to stand out and “maybe look a little weird” set her apart. The district selected her as a student influencer about three weeks ago.
Since then, she has attended several district events and fundraisers and has been invited to profile school clubs. At one event, an employee with the city’s transportation department noticed her and invited her to emcee another event.
“It’s crazy how that little ad changed my life,” Janiah said.
The district’s backing has made people—especially adults—more likely to take her seriously, Janiah said. That’s helped get more eyes on her posts, which benefits her social media presence and helps get the district’s messages out.
“Before, adults would dismiss me because I’m a student, but when I say I’m a DPSCD student influencer, they’re more likely to listen to me,” Janiah said. “They’re like, ‘What is she doing that is so important the district would put its name behind her?’”
