Schools - are you getting the most out of social media?

Whether you’re working in a small primary school or large all-through independent school, you should absolutely be using social media to communicate with all your stakeholders. Facebook and Twitter are immensely popular channels for schools and the vast majority of parents most likely use at least one on a daily basis. The average person spends 135 minutes EVERY DAY on social media – if social doesn’t feature in your school marketing - you’re definitely missing a trick!

What are the benefits of using social media in a school?

Important information in an instant!

There’s the ability to communicate quickly (and for free) with parents, for instance in the event of a road closure due to an accident near school, or to remind parents of upcoming important events like a school trip or parents’ evening. But your school website already does this right? Yes, sure, but are parents constantly on your school website looking for information? Not very likely. Unless you’re using an app with push notifications and/or a text messaging service then social media is a super easy way to reach many parents with important updates.

Reaching a wider audience

Having parents and grandparents commenting on your posts, activities and generally engaging with your content gives your school far greater audience reach by creating more and more impressions for your post. This is boosted further by them sharing or others joining in the chat. The more engagement your content gets, the more visibility it gets on social media - so more people see your school brand and unique content. None of this costs the school a penny – it’s free marketing!

Use social media to drive digital experience

Social media is such a powerful tool, it’s uses reach way beyond photo sharing and text updates. You can use social media to reach your audience at every single touch point. Think about a parent looking for a school for their child, they might use social media reviews to gauge other parents’ views of a school to influence their decision making. You can use social media to gather stakeholder opinions by creating easy polls to get quick answers to questions you might have.

Give your school brand a voice

Opening dialogue between your school and its stakeholders on social media is a fantastic way to communicate and give your school brand a human voice. Actively replying to comments and questions on social media and engaging in chat can reinforce positive experiences with your school. Some schools shy away from this for fear of negative comments. It’s true, social media puts you in the public domain and people can say what they like (assuming you allow posts - you can control and approve them as an admin.) but even this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. People appreciate transparency and quick reactions to deal effectively with negativity or issues. Demonstrating excellent communication by acting on all manner of queries reinforces trust with your school brand.

Time is often an issue for schools to manage social media, so assigning a designated person to manage your social media is a good idea. Failing that, agencies like us manage social media accounts for schools and colleges, so that’s always on option too – click here to find out more.