It’s almost time for kids to go back to school for another semester. As part of the school administration, this also means it’s time for you to start thinking about how you can get those new admissions to roll in. But how do you engage new students and their parents and stay ahead of the competition?
Through social media, of course! Social media marketing is currently one of the most widely used promotional strategies in almost every industry. When talking specifically about schools and colleges, social media serves as the ideal platform for reaching out to impressionable children and teenagers. In short, if you’re looking to attract attention toward your school, you’ll find more potential students on social media than anywhere else.
An ideal social media strategy targets your audience, is measurable, and a lot more budget-friendly than any traditional marketing campaign. Here are 4 tips on how you can get the ball rolling on your back-to-school social media campaign and kickstart an increase in enrollment numbers.
1. Create a community on Facebook
Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms to date, and is the central location for many businesses and brands to build an online community and engage in conversation. Facebook is also more likely to be used by adults and parental figures than any other social media site.
If you’re a school looking to engage parents, It’s time to start using your Facebook page regularly (or create one) and engage your community through informational posts, events, statuses, and more. Use Facebook advertising to target a specific audience for every piece of information you’re sharing, then create some engaging back-to-school posters using online design tools like PosterMyWall to share with them.
Having an open day or welcome rally on the first day of school that you want parents to know about? Target your audience and choose a fitting template like the one below to market your school events. Get word out about your school’s fantastic plans for the academic year to all the interested parents in your Facebook community and boost engagement using vibrant visuals to enhance their intrigue.
2. Market success stories on Instagram
One way to get potential students interested in your school is by promoting success stories of past students. Use your digital presence to show how your school has had a lasting impact on others, and how you have played a part in your students’ success.
Make student profile posts on Instagram and Facebook and talk about their academic and professional achievements. Nothing has a bigger impact on parents than seeing good results from your institution. From great job opportunities to college acceptances and awards and honors, you can talk about how your institute played a part in shaping student success.
Whitmore School has done well in keeping up with student successes during the virtual semester, and has made sure to publish their positive experiences for everyone to see.
You can do this for both alumni and current students. Get their consent to talk about their experiences at school and market their success to your potential customers.
3. Showcase campus life through Facebook and Instagram Live
To connect with your prospective students and their parents, make use of the live story features on platforms like Instagram and Facebook to showcase your campus in real time.
Give them a glimpse of what the classrooms look like. Take a tour of the campus grounds and show its facilities. If your campus has dormitories, show a peek of life inside dorm rooms. Add a twist and feature current students in this live series as they go about their daily lives and talk to you about their favorite parts of the school.
This will give students a peek into life on campus. It will also give parents a chance to see what sort of school life their children will have.
4. Engage with students and alumni on Linkedin
Linkedin is one of the more professional social media platforms out there. Which is why it’s the perfect place for you to network online and create connections to help promote your school.
Create a profile for your school on Linkedin, and start a school Linkedin group for current students and alumni. Bringing together old students in a group will help you engage with them in a professional manner, keep tabs on what they’re up to, and allow you to share current school information with them on a regular basis.
If your alumni have children of their own or in their family, it’s a great idea to keep them up-to-date with current events at your school to show them that you still offer quality educational experiences. If they’re part of reputable companies now, compelling them to share information on your school on Linkedin will help improve your overall brand image and make you more recognizable as a school.
Share back-to-school admission graphics with your Linkedin connections and alumni and have them share your posts to get more traction and recognition as a quality institution.
5. Send out email newsletters
If you want to keep potential clients engaged with what your school is doing regularly, a great way to advertise your image is through an email newsletter. You may have plenty of updates about your school that you regularly share with enrolled students and their parents. Why not share this information with parents of prospective students as well?
Whenever a parent or student visits your website, ask for contact information like email addresses. Once you’ve gathered their information, add them to your email list and share your monthly newsletter with them.
This doesn’t have to take extra effort. With the help of online design tools, you can now create beautifully structured newsletters and send them out to your entire email contact list straight from the editor. Add the month’s highlights to your newsletter, include positive statistics like class results, feature the top school events, and send it all out to your students and their parents in a matter of minutes.
Final Thoughts
The perfect social media strategy is one that helps you reach your target audience online through a multitude of ways. For a school looking to increase their enrollment numbers before the start of the next school year, an effective social media strategy is one that promotes their educational standards, their extracurriculars, and their campus life in an engaging manner.
Kick off your own social media marketing campaign with these simple tips and have those enrollment numbers going up in no time.