Social media is revolutionizing the way that schools can connect with their community. It has never been easier to engage, inform, and entertain both current and prospective families. But without the right social media strategy in place, your channels cannot reach their full potential to boost enrollments, awareness, and engagement. How do you know if your social media is effective, or just mundane messaging? Ask yourself these four questions to optimize and elevate your school’s social media!
#1: Is Your Social Media Reaching Parents?
First and foremost, your social media is only effective if it reaches your school’s families. There is no best social media channel. The best channel depends on which platforms your families turn to for their information and entertainment. For this reason, it is crucial to know and focus on the platforms that best align with your audience. Your school should utilize multiple channels to reach more families. However, you must know which app or site is the parents’ primary platform. School leaders have enough tasks to balance, so tackling social media can become overwhelming if your time is not devoted to the most relevant channels. Additionally, you can create content targeted towards your audience when you know the platforms they frequently use. Different demographics have different preferences, and different platforms serve different purposes!
#2: Is Your Social Media Consistant?
Consistency is key! When posting, your school’s branding should be apparent to avoid sending parents mixed messages. You can prevent confusion and keep posts consistent by delegating one singular faculty member to take charge of posting. Canva is a great resource to create posts that reflect your school’s brand. Additionally, demonstrating consistency reflects professionalism for your school. If your social media channels are consistent, it shows parents that your education is consistent. Furthermore, set a schedule for posting, and make sure you adhere to it! You can leverage automation tools such as Hootsuite to schedule posts ahead of time and ensure all posts continue, even when you are away.
#3: Is Your Social Media Engaging?
To avoid mundane media, your school’s content needs to invite engagement from families. Parents are not only looking for information; they are looking for entertainment. The best way to accomplish this is to focus on the students. Whether your goal is to attract prospective families or retain current families, focusing on the students achieves both. You can do this through student spotlights, highlighting funny moments, celebrating sports accomplishments, showcasing current projects, or featuring student testimonials. It allows you to harness the power of storytelling and evoke emotions from families. Parents love seeing their students thrive! Additionally, it can help prospective parents confidently determine if your school will be a good fit for their child. To further increase engagement, keep up with trends. Participating in trends not only makes for engaging content, but it excites students to partake. That’s right; have your students create the content! Hold fun challenges relevant to current trends to encourage student engagement and put content creation in their hands. Additionally, the social media algorithm rewards engagement. As a post receives more interactions, the more it is shared with others. You can attract more prospective families simply by showing off your school pride in fun ways.
#4: Is Your Social Media Informative?
Your school’s social media should be a go-to resource for current and prospective families to gain information quickly and clearly! Include pertinent information such as your location, moto, website link, and application link in the bio. Furthermore, make sure to dedicate several posts to upcoming events, important updates, and your school calendar. To balance both information with engagement, try sharing information in an engaging way, such as making a video or running a contest. Especially as protocols continue to change, being clear, consistent, and transparent with information is vital. Uncertainty and lack of transparent communication with parents will push them to explore other school options that are more communicative. Having a balanced blend of information and entertainment is the sweet spot that provides value to families.
Now What?
Social media is not just a great tool to use. It is a necessary tool to reach your school community. Remember, you should post with intentionality. Your posts should align with your school’s social media goals, whether it includes the number of followers, interactions, or inquiries. Not sure where to start? Schola is here to equip your school with the tools you need to attract student leads, boost awareness, and increase engagement. Claim your free school profile to start connecting with prospective families and gain access to valuable marketing tools. Here’s to a year of strategic social media to improve your education outcomes!