Last week Read Write Web ran an article titled 5 Ways to Sell Social Media to Your Boss. The article is clearly targeted to those working in the sales and marketing business, but some of the concepts shared in the article can be applied to academic settings.

The first idea in the article by DJ Francis is “keeping up with the Joneses.” Francis makes the point that no boss wants to be left behind. Chances are good that your boss, in our case school administrator, has seen some element of social media. Francis then suggests that employees show their bosses examples of how social media can help accomplish the organization’s objectives. The lesson for teachers who want to sell administrators on using social media in the classroom is to show, not tell, administrators how social media can help meet the school’s objectives. If you’re school is trying to improve communication between parents and teachers, show your school administrator how a blog help reach that goal.

Francis also mentions in his article that bosses in business want to see a return on their investment. In my experience, school administrators also want to see a return on their investments. Obviously, school administrators aren’t looking for profits, they’re looking for increased student engagement and achievement. Any school that has Internet access and computers has already made the material investment necessary to use social media. Remind school administrators that they have already made the financial investment necessary, allowing teachers to use social media like blogs, wikis, Twitter, Edumodo, etc will increase the return on the investment.

If you have a few minutes take a look at 5 Ways to Sell Social Media to Your Boss and see which ideas you can use with your school administrators.

If you don’t have time to read the full article then just take a look at this short example of how to impress your boss with web 2.0.