Jim Jordan's 40 Things To Do After The Yearbook Is Done

13. CREATE A PROMOTIONAL VIDEO A number of schools use this time to produce a promotional video to create buzz about the book’s arrival or to promote sales. Select a team of students who have video interest and experience, and let them create. Alyssa Boehringer and her staff at McKinney High School in McKinney, Texas, saw a Honda commercial in which yearbook photos turn to live action video, which inspired them to create a promotional video that rivaled the original ad. To promote our 50 th Anniversary book, my students created a video that highlighted all 49 previous yearbook covers and encouraged everyone to buy the 50 th before we sold out. 14. CREATE AN ALL-SCHOOL SLIDESHOW. Create a slideshow using yearbook photos — that are both in the book and that didn’t make it — taken by your photographers to create buzz about the book’s arrival. Plan an assembly or rally at the end of the year, and this can be a part of it. We had a Senior Farewell Rally and a slideshow that featured the graduating seniors was a big part of it. If you can’t have a rally or assembly, show the slideshow on your school media program or post it on your school web site. 15. CREATE AND DELIVER A SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN. Every yearbook staff should have a social media team to gather information and push details about the book out to your school and community. Use Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat (and for the old folks, Facebook) to promote joining the staff, increase sales, and get the school excited about the arrive of the book. Using social media effectively can have a huge influence on many layers of the yearbook process and will take as much time as your team is willing to give to it. To see other ways schools are promoting their yearbook, download a copy of our eBook, Creative Ideas for Selling Your Yearbook.

Photo by Kylie Jones

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