As Bloomz’ Director of Customer Success, Mallory Miller helps educators and administrators use Bloomz successfully. “I love my job,” says Miller. “I became an educator over 15 years ago and transitioned into an administrative position to positively impact more students, staff, and parents. Now that I’m at Bloomz, I can continue to make a strong impact by collaborating with and educating administrators and teachers nationwide.”

Here are her favorite tips for maximizing the benefits of Bloomz.

1. Keep Your Communication Simple
   We hate to say it, but most people read the first couple of sentences and skim the rest. Whenever possible, use bullet points, images, or infographics. “If you can summarize information in an infographic, people retain it better,” says Miller. 
   
   ✴️ Pro tip: Templates will save you time, especially for newsletters and other posts you share regularly.
   
   
2. Keep Content Fresh
   The schools with the highest amount of parental engagement update content every-other day or weekly. “Parents love seeing what their children are working on. You can post a bunch of photos with a caption or pictures of students working on projects. These kinds of posts really help parents when their kids say they learned nothing at school that day." 
   
   
3. Target Audiences for Appropriate Posts
   Guidance counselors can create a class or group of students and share customized resources such as time-sensitive college admissions tasks or graduation requirements.  
   
   
4. Prioritize Bloomz as Your All-in-One Communication Solution
   Make sure that all groups—student council, transportation, clubs, teams, bus routes, PTO/PTA—use the platform. “When everyone uses the same tool, it’s easier to deliver meaningful, targeted communication,” says Miller.
   
   Bloomz makes it easy for parents to find what they need. Unlike other platforms, Bloomz intuitively shows each type of group separately and with the appropriate roles and permissions. For example, sports teams have coaches, players, etc.
   
   
5. Use the Documents Tab
   This tab can be found under our Library icon and looks like a mountain range.  “Think of it as a virtual holding place for important documents like the ones your front office constantly gets called about,” says Miller. She recommends uploading your district’s Code of Conduct, vacation schedule, and other similar items. (Get detailed instructions here.)
   
   ✴️ Pro tip: Make a post explaining how to find these documents by sharing a screenshot of the platform and send it out as a monthly reminder.
   
   
6. Customize Classroom Names
   Miller encourages schools that integrate Bloomz with their student information systems to change classroom names from the way they come in (000ADE2ndgradeMsMiller) to ones that make more sense (2^nd grade Ms. Miller). This simple task can provide clarity for school staff as well as for parents and students.  Here’s how to change the classname: Setting (gear icon) > Edit settings > General Tab > Name. Please make sure to click SAVE in the upper-left corner of the page. And don’t be concerned about making these kinds of changes—your classes will still sync every night with updated rosters.
   
   
7. Use Bloomz for Teacher Evaluation
   Administrators can see their teachers’ messages to parents and offer advice if need be. “No more ‘he said, she said’ or guessing what happened,” says Miller. An elementary school principal before she joined Bloomz, Miller checked the platform monthly to see which teachers were highly effective communicators and which teachers needed coaching and provided professional development accordingly. Teachers can upload Bloomz screenshots as evidence to support their domains of effectiveness requirements.