Social media’s double edge exposes school brand

The students are a product upon which the school is judged.

OPINION: I’ve watched the news about Wellington College students with appalled fascination.

Every organisation has a brand that must be managed. A school is no exception.

The reputation of the prestigious Wellington College just took a big hit when two year 13 students made private Facebook posts such as: ‘‘If you don’t take advantage of a drunk girl, you’re not a true WC boy.’’ Other students from the school were upset and made the posts public.

Wellington College has a good reputation and has worked hard to build its brand as a school of academic excellence.

My heart goes out to the staff and school’s board of trustees, who have been hit by the subsequent media storm.

If you think of a school as a business – and they are multimillion-dollar businesses – then the students are a product upon which the school is judged.

But in this case the product is also the customer, and comes in the shape of teenage boys who may not always make good decisions.

Are secondary schools, full of teenagers, ticking time bombs? And if so how does a school manage its reputation with these volatile stakeholders?

One fundamental way is through the culture it creates.

Like any organisation, the values that are instilled internally help to build the culture and, in turn, that helps reputation.

For a school, those values must include respect. Values are not just words in a document; they must be demonstrated top to bottom through everything an organisation does. This is how a brand or reputation is built.

The students’ comments did not only reek of violence and distaste, but also put their school at the centre by claiming students not engaging in this behaviour weren’t true ‘‘WC’’ boys. This implied there was a culture inherent in the school community that encouraged this attitude.

Wellington College’s quick moves to distance itself from the boys’ comments helped demonstrate that it would not tolerate or condone these views.

The subsequent suspensions and bans from top level sports and arts went some way towards reinforcing this.

But it was a tricky public relations line to tread – between distancing the school and looking after the students and their parents who, no doubt, needed some care and management too.

The incident also once again demonstrated the good and the bad of social media, which magnified the teenage misbehaviour as well as the response.

Wellington College would not have had to do any stakeholder research to be aware of the outrage throughout the Wellington/Kapiti region and beyond.

But the incident also created a platform to talk about some very serious issues. Young women took that opportunity, including protesting at Parliament.

It’s been a tough few weeks for Wellington College and there will be much rebuilding to do.

If the actions of these students do not reflect the school’s culture, it seems unfair that its reputation was tarnished. But with constant reinforcing of positive values, in time it will rebuild its brand.

If there is ever any issue where good comes out of bad – let it be this one.

❚ Cas Carter is a marketing and communications specialist.