Andrea Gribble manages social media for around 85 schools across the country, so she’s usually the first person to notice when something is shifting for school communicators. In this conversation, we get into the real tension a lot of schools are sitting with right now, how to protect students from deepfakes and misuse without disappearing from social media altogether, and how to keep posting consistently without leaning on AI so much that everything starts to look the same.

We also get into the pressure to make every post perfect before it goes out, and why that instinct is often the thing holding school marketers back the most. Andrea shares what has actually worked in her own small district, from a photo that was never supposed to perform well to a reel strategy that took almost no equipment and reached more people than her page’s follower count would suggest.

In This Episode, I Discuss:

• Why treating student photo permission as strictly in or out is easier to manage than a mix of exceptions
• The small details, like identifying names or labeled desks, that can quietly turn a simple photo into a privacy risk
• What is fueling parent concern about AI-generated content, and why an AI-made flyer can cost a school its branding
• Where AI can genuinely help with social media strategy, beyond just writing captions
• Why an imperfect, in-the-moment photo can outperform a planned, polished post
• The mindset shift behind “posted is better than perfect and unpublished”
• Why reels do not require a professional camera, a large following, or a complicated plan to get started