Last year, we wrote an article about how to incorporate social media into your school’s marketing plan. This year, we have confidence that social media is already part of your school’s communication strategy; what you need now are a few tips on how to propel to the next level.
Tip 1: Have a trusted source manage your social media. One of the biggest mistakes organizations make is leaving their social media accounts to younger employees, thinking it’s a younger person’s marketplace. Social media platforms are not just for the twenty-somethings. Your accounts need to uphold your school’s mission and values—something a younger employee might not have had enough time to fully understand. Appoint someone as your Community Manager who is seasoned enough to effectively communicate your school’s mission through comments, answers, questions, and article sharing.
Tip 2: Analytics are your friends. Being part of the social media scene isn’t enough—smart organizations know and record whom they’re interacting with so they can measure their efforts. Investing money into online marketing should never be a blind investment. Have your social media expert provide monthly analytic reports. These should measure at a minimum conversations, users, shares, and clicks. If this is a new concept for your school, look into free resources available, such as Klout or Google Analytics.
Tip 3: Invest in important messages. Facebook has recently made it possible to promote messages. For as little as five dollars, you can extend your audience considerably. This is a powerful resource for getting your important messages—events, important updates, fund-raisers, etc.—to a larger pool. Don’t forget to measure these campaigns!
Tip 4: Have a strategy. It’s so easy to say, “We want to capture more alumni interest” or “We want to be able to reach more parents about anything and everything.” You might be snickering, but believe us these are reasons we’ve heard for school’s investing time in social media. These are starting points, but you should have a well thought-out strategy for your social media Community Manager with finite, obtainable goals. For example, increasing ticket sales to your school’s annual musical by 3%, increasing alumni attendance to events by 7%, obtaining higher SEO ratings, increasing visits to your Web site by 10%, etc. These are examples of the goals you want to set and strive for.
Tip 5: Engage in conversations. Social media isn’t about how many people are talking about your school. Sure, that’s part of it, but it’s more about conversations between your school and “fans.” Don’t shun your Community Manager from answering questions, commenting, or resharing interesting findings from your followers. Facilitating conversations is a big portion of the social media magic that drives search engine optimization (SEO). You want people to find your pages and Web site easily—so start talking about it and Google will appreciate and reward your efforts with higher search engine returns.
Tip 6: Explore new platforms. There are the respected social media giants Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and, newcomers to the game, Pinterest, Google +, Meetup, and Bebo. It’s important that your school has a presence on at least one of the giants, but it’s also a good plan to be familiar with newcomers in case they explode with popularity. Think proactively and explore other platforms.
Additional ISM articles of interest
Private School News Vol. 9 No. 5 Social Media: Weighing the Risks
Private School News Vol. 10 No. 3 Social Media Now Required for Some Ivy League Schools
ISM Monthly Update for Admission Officers Vol. 10 No. 1 Communicating Through Social Media
Additional ISM resources for Consortium Gold members
To The Point Vol. 16 No. 4 Building Your School’s Social Media Campaign
