What social media platforms do schools actually need?
Schools need to utilise social media. We all know that, right?
I hope, that by the fact that you’re reading this, you already know of the ways in which using social media and digital marketing can benefit a school. If you don’t, then click here. If you still don’t agree then call us we’ll show you. By utilising social media and digital marketing, we recently helped a sixth form college improve their applications by over 25% - which in terms of funding over two years, makes a huge difference.
Anyway, I digress.
I will, from now on, assume that you need no longer require ‘enlightening’ and that you understand that social media is good for your school.
Last thing on it, I promise. Remember, the stronger a relationship is between a school and the community that it serves, the more people will want to go to that school.
There are many ways to improve the relationship between school and community, but in this blog we’re going to look at using social media.
But which platforms? There are so many… And it’s a lot of work/time/effort/energy to properly use them all. That’s true. You’re right. And don’t we know it!?
So it makes sense to just use the ones that will really work for you and your school, right?
Well, we’ve created this handy guide to the platforms that we think a school most definitely do need.
Let’s go:
Yes, your school definitely needs an up-to-date, functioning, and informative Facebook page. It should contain all the correct contact information, updates from your school including events/dates/times etc.
Top Tip: Use your Facebook page to have conversations with your audience. Don’t ignore comments/replies, encourage conversation and engage with those that engage with you.
On a par with Facebook, a lot of people use Instagram to check the validity of a school. Don’t share weak or boring content (national cat day etc), your audience will think that you’re weak and boring. Post vibrant, energetic and exciting content, and your audience will see that you’re vibrant, energetic and exciting.
Top Tip: Use a combination of polished and ‘rough’ images/videos. Whilst we all want to show off our schools in their best light, it’s also a great platform to show more ‘behind the scenes’ of your school. Your audience will feel more connected with you if you show your pimples as well as your glossy shots.
YouTube
If your school makes videos that you’re proud of (and this is important) then yes, use YouTube to store them. It’ll save you storing them on your website, and will allow for you to ‘playlist’ a series of videos and keep them in one place. But, in our experience, people don’t go on YouTube to find a school to send their child to.
Top Tip: Use YouTube’s ads to promote your videos and interrupt your audience with adverts from your school.
TikTok
TikTok. This is a tricky one. TikTok is HUGE, but it is a little bit different from the others above, and it’s very VERY easy to get wrong. We almost advise against using TikTok without some serious supervision. However, if you are going to use TikTok, don’t use it to try and be funny/cool. It will rarely work and will 99.9% of the time show you off for being the opposite. It’s a difficult beast - approach with caution.
Top Tip: Find a company like ours who can help you with TikTok. We use TikTok ads to get our school’s message in front of their audience in a way that works and results in increased awareness, engagement and applications for our clients.
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Company Ten helps schools all across the United Kingdom do digital marketing better. From video production and photography to social media management and training, and a lot of things in-between - we are specialists in helping schools use ‘digital’ to their advantage. We’re not just flogging our services either, we actually want to help! So that’s why we offer free monthly training in digital marketing - to help you and your school improve and do better. We want you to be able to utilise everything that the world of digital marketing in education has to offer.