Ideas and Tactics for Success

Schools all over the country are working to find the perfect recipe for social media success. I feel your pain. It seems as soon as you start seeing success on one social media channel, there is another that suddenly pops up as the next big thing. (Vero anyone? Do a quick Google search if you haven’t heard of it. But don’t panic – it appears Vero won’t be here too much longer as of this writing.)

As we finish out the first part of 2018, here are a few things to keep in mind throughout the rest of the year:

Facebook’s latest algorithm change means your school’s organic reach on Facebook may have dropped. The good news is that it’s not a problem with your content or the people that have liked your page. This new algorithm means posts by publishers, brands, and schools are downplayed in users’ feeds in favor of content by friends and family.

This is good news if you were tired of seeing 50 cat videos in your feed each day, but it means schools must work harder and spend money to grow their presence. Consider these tactics:

  • Paid Advertisements: Paying for users to see your content isn’t a bad thing and there are many strategies to both increase your audience and promote your content. Decide how social media paid campaigns can support your enrollment, development, and community engagement goals and develop campaigns that align with those goals.
  • Boosted Posts: Afraid that parents won’t see your announcement about the upcoming school musical ticket sales? Boosting posts for a modest price ensures that your content will find its way around the new algorithm. You can target your page’s existing audience or target a new audience using specific zip codes, etc.
  • Reviews: Reviews on your school’s Facebook page are vitally important, so continue to reach out to your brand ambassador parents for assistance in building out this section.

What better way is there to tell your school’s story than with an Instagram and/or Facebook story? While Facebook’s version has been slower to gain traction, Instagram’s Stories mode is an incredibly popular way to showcase spontaneous, authentic content.

  • If you’ve often wished you had a way to organize your school’s Instagram feed by category, Stories gives you a handy workaround. Once you’ve posted video or photos to your Stories feed, you can search the Stories archive and pull older media into categories that appear right below your profile bio. Try creating categories like Sports, STEM, or Music!

Chatbots are a huge trend in social marketing, but it hasn’t quite trickled down to the K-12 space yet. That doesn’t mean that the general premise isn’t valuable, though. If you’re not familiar with chatbots, they’re typically used by businesses on social platforms – like Facebook – to chat with customers (on Facebook Messenger, for example) about payments, customer service questions, and more. How do you translate the growing need for immediate customer responsivity to your school? Try installing a customer service chat module on your school’s website. Olark is an incredibly affordable service (starting at $17/month) and lets you communicate or address questions with prospective parents without forcing them to pick up the phone or drop by the school.

Once you start adopting these social media tactics, you’ll likely see an increase in engagement and impressions right away. It’s important to stay updated on social media techniques so you can promote your messages, keep your audience engaged, and get them to interact with your school online.