Social media is a powerful marketing tool for schools. It provides an opportunity to build relationships, maximize engagement, and generate new family inquiries. However, it’s challenging to know how to use social media effectively.
Here are three major components to consider as you unlock the potential of social media.
1. Create Engaging Content
The key to success on social media is creating engaging content that resonates with your target audience. First, decide what kind of content appeals to them and what topics they care about most. This could include anything from highlighting success stories from current students or alumni to sharing information about upcoming events at your school or providing helpful advice for prospective families. Then decide what format is most likely to engage your audience—videos, articles, or graphics—so you can begin creating content tailored to meet their interests.
Images courtesy of Kraig Doremus, Associate Director of Marketing & Communications at The Swift School.
2. Use Paid Strategies
Paid social media strategies can be extremely effective in driving measurable results such as website visits and leads. These strategies involve using targeted advertising campaigns on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to promote your school’s message to a highly targeted audience based on demographics such as age, location, and interests. Paid promotions also allow you to track data such as impressions (how many people saw your ad), click-throughs (how many people clicked on your ad), and conversions (how many people registered for an event, filled out a form, or downloaded a piece of content). This data allows you to measure the success of each campaign so you can adjust as needed to optimize performance over time.
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3. Review Analytics & Reporting
It’s important to track each campaign’s performance—whether it is free or paid—to measure return on investment (ROI). This can be done using tools like Google Analytics or Facebook Insights, which offer reporting on key metrics such as page views and engagement rate (the percentage of followers who interact with posts). Having access to this data allows you to determine which campaigns are performing well and which may need adjusting to perform better in the future.
Social media is an invaluable tool for schools looking to expand their reach and connect with potential students and parents. By understanding how to create engaging content tailored toward your target audiences’ interests, using effective paid strategies, and tracking analytics and reporting, your school can maximize engagement with your audiences online while driving measurable results. Investing time into developing an effective social media strategy can be incredibly rewarding and increase awareness about your educational programs among prospective families—ultimately resulting in more mission-appropriate students enrolled at your school.
