For a long time, the idea of using social media for schools has been frowned upon. With a whole sea of GDPR and privacy policies in the way, it has seemed too much of a risk to share news and images of your school with an online community. Social networking sites are currently estimated to reach 3.96 billion users in 2022, and this number is expected to rise as mobile usage and social networks increasingly gain traction. That is a lot of people! With such a big potential reach, social media is something every organisation needs to be utilising to stay ahead of the game.
Whether you are using social media to promote your school to potential new parents, to engage with your current community or to appeal to hopeful future faculty, it is one of the best ways to reach your audience and communicate your intended message.
With so many other forms of outreach prioritised by schools, it can be tough to know exactly what to use social media for. We are here to solve that problem for you with 5 things you should be doing on your schools’ social media platforms to increase brand awareness and spread the word.
Share school events and images on social platforms
Social media, particularly Instagram, is a very visual platform and responds well to imagery and video content. If you have a good bank of quality images and videos of your school (for example taken for use on your school’s website or in a prospectus), a great way to use these is by sharing them across social platforms.
In today’s world we know how difficult it can be for parents to juggle hectic schedules, and sometimes they aren’t able to attend events. Streaming school events live across social platforms is a great way to make sure anyone who could not attend it is still able to experience and show their support.
Broadcast school updates to parents and students
As we all know, not one day in a school is the same and often updates have to be shared immediately. With many parents and students constantly on the go, they may be more likely to check social media instead of their emails in search of updates.
Being able to broadcast school updates across social channels is a quicker way to reach a wider audience. It gives your communication with your school community a more personal feel and is more likely to get higher engagement. Whether it be informing parents of an upcoming bake sale or promoting recent exam results, social media is the place to broadcast any message and reach your intended audience.
Use paid social advertising to increase brand awareness
Paid social advertising can be a great use of budget to increase brand awareness. With 1 billion Facebook stories and over 100 million photos being shared on Instagram on a daily basis, getting social posts seen organically is becoming harder and harder. Putting some budget into your social strategy will help get your content in front of more eyes.
You will also be able to specify the audience your content is being shown to, helping you get more out of your budget and efforts. By targeting through interests, location, age, etc… you can reach your perfect audience. Find out more about paid social advertising and why it is such a powerful tool here.
Create Facebook groups for students and parents
Facebook groups are a great way to encourage students and parents to interact with each other outside of the classroom. Whether you are wanting students to work collaboratively on a project, or you are finding ways for parents to communicate with each other about extra curricular activities, setting up a Facebook group can be a successful strategy. You can also use these groups to raise awareness and advertise any events going on in and around the school.
Build and engage with an alumni network
Social media platforms are a great way to build and regularly engage with an alumni network which many schools will know the importance of. With an array of people holding a wealth of experience and skills to share with current students, regularly engaging with an alumni network via social media is a great way to keep that group involved with school life. It can also be a means of highlighting how far some of your former students have gone in the world.
Whilst many schools still feel social media is not a necessary marketing strategy for them, or if they are concerned about the dangers of sharing school content on social platforms, we are here to tell you how important using social media for schools is.
Whether you are looking to boost brand awareness, generate leads or recruit new faculty, social media is one of the most powerful tools in any organisation’s arsenal and should be a priority for any marketing team. With an effective strategy behind it, social media can make all the difference. If you are interested in how we might be able to help you with your school’s social media strategy, get in touch today.
