The goal of content marketing is to drive conversations and relationships with current and prospective families. The value lies in creating engaging content that draws interactions beyond just views or clicks.
Schools create blogs so readers take an active interest in your activities and connect with your mission. Your blog should demonstrate your value to current and prospective families alike.
As we continue to observe social distancing, blog content remains an important element of your content marketing strategy. Promoting that content through social media and placing strategic ads only succeeds if the content your target audience lands on aligns with their needs and values.
What Kind of Content Should Schools Create?
The content you create should speak to your audience’s wants and needs. Think about what your audience wants to know. Then find ways to demonstrate that you can serve those needs. Your social media posts and blog entries should reflect this.
While what you create will align with your unique mission and community, we have observed that the following topics work for all private-independent schools.
Value in outcomes
Parents want to see the value of your programs and what they’re paying to receive. They want to see students who have graduated from your school and moved on to become well-rounded world citizens. Case studies and student spotlights can serve this purpose well.
A safe, caring community
Highlight your faculty’s care and concern in your content, illustrating the steps they have taken to transition to distance learning and how they’re preparing for the fall. Celebrate how your teachers interact with students individually, and ensure these elements are front and center in your content.
Positive academic achievements
Use your blog and social media to feature academic challenges, the work of your quality faculty members, and key curriculum highlights. Your school’s community partnerships and projects offer an ample source of content related to your mission, your values, and leadership initiatives.
Student engagement
Students want to experience self-efficacy. Many love to share their unique experiences, the shared culture, and the sense of community they feel in school. Students desire the freedom to be themselves, test themselves, and make choices. Showcasing students' independent projects inspires others and allows them to preview the academic challenges they can experience in your program. Your content can help prospective students understand your academic depth and how current students love your programs.
Tune in to live webinars every week during the school year to get specific, research-backed insight you can immediately apply at your school.
Five Blog Content Themes for Prospective Families
As you work to tell stories, keep the following themes in mind.
Cost
The first question parents consider once they decide they want to pursue a private school education for their children is how they are going to afford it. Develop content that addresses financial aid and budgeting. Make sure you emphasize the value your educational program is providing. Parents should be aware of what their tuition supports.
Common challenges
This is not to focus on the negative. However, acknowledge the reality that there are some obstacles students may need to overcome to succeed in a competitive independent school environment. Blog posts that cover topics such as “How to Survive Freshman Year” speak to concerns students may have.
Comparisons
Families are already looking carefully at the differences between well-regarded independent schools, so make it easier for them. Create blog posts that compare other schools in your area to your offerings. Compare your school model to others. You are not highlighting your shortcomings by doing this. Your transparency can only help ensure that the families who enroll at your school are in the right place.
“Best-of” lists
This content is easy to generate and enjoyable to consume. Topics like “Top Five Montessori Toys for Your Home” or “Ten Ways to Help Kids Study More Effectively” are valuable to parents and demonstrate your desire to provide expertise and support.
Reviews
You can write your own reviews for your blog by interviewing parents and recording alumni testimonials. Real people talking about their genuine experiences with your school provide the best advertising money can’t buy.
Start With Brainstorming
Are you ready to generate regular, engaging, and relevant blog content? Great! Now where to begin?
Your first step should be an idea session. This exercise helps you put all your ideas on the table to find the most relevant and engaging topics.
An obvious starting point can be the return to school this fall. Many schools are operating in hybrid mode or fully remote. The last few months have been largely about the reaction to the pandemic.
Start the new discussion about your next steps. What is your school doing about safety? How are you preparing for education delivery? What are your contingency plans? Shift the conversation to the future.
Your next objective is to collect the most frequently asked parent questions. Put together a series of FAQs about particular aspects of the enrollment process, grading rubrics, or extracurricular activities.
Gather and review any available survey data. What do parents and alumni have to say about their experiences with your school? What made them decide to attend?
You can use tools like Ubersuggest. Ubersuggest is a browser extension that shows what else people are looking for in search engines based on the search they input.
For example, searching “private schools in my area” in Google might show that some individuals who linked to your school also searched for tutors, school supplies, computers and software, dormitory supplies, or sports equipment. This can help you zero-in on relevant blog topics that will get their attention.
Remember, your website is more than just a marketing tool. It is an admission tool delivering content to families searching for the right independent school experience. Your content must show them who you are and what you offer.
