Previously, I submitted the first part of “3 Ingredient of Your School’s Social Strategy” (click to read Part One). The first two ingredients mentioned in that article, having good “integration” and being “interconnected,” are crucial pieces in a school’s social media strategy. The third ingredient—the special sauce, mentioned in this article—is the strategic effort of making a solid plan.
This is the 2nd part of an article I wrote for EdSocialMedia – a national forum discussing the role of social media in education.
Recently, I was given the opportunity to contribute a unique article for EdSocialMedia, a national forum discussing the role of social media in education.
Your school’s social media strategy must have a solid foundation before getting bogged down in the tactical choices. While there is a bit of a buzz about Pinterest, a curiosity about Google+, and a (bored) familiarity with the functionality of Facebook, the tools won’t make any difference unless your social media plan is strategic. It must act as your recipe as to “what-when-where-to-post” to ensure anybody pays attention to what you’re whipping up for them to consume.
*UPDATE – here’s a link to “Part 2 – 3 Ingredients of Your School’s Social Strategy“
NOTE: If you missed any of the posts in this 3-part series, click here.
In the final post of this 3-part series, we look at some ideas and realities of referral and word-of-mouth marketing! As we discussed in part 2 of this series on private school retention strategies, I want to remind you of the term “LOYAL AMBASSADORS.”
Loyalty speaks of the extent to which your families are not just re-enrolling out of a lackluster attitude of “aw shucks, I guess we’ll stay put.” This lukewarmness will never produce a quality referral. Loyalty is retaining families who would do whatever it takes to have the opportunity to continue another year. And they are not swayed by another school’s tuition rate or even extra-curricular offering. Fierce allegiance is earned and is intentionally cultivated.
In the same way, ambassadors speak with boldness and clarity. Just as the United States Ambassador to Benin speaks on behalf of the President, your school will struggle or thrive based on how many ambassadors you nurture. (By the way, read a little more about why I lived in this French-speaking West African nation.) From a biblical standpoint, 2 Corinthians 5 speaks to believers as being
“ambassadors” as though God were “making his appeal through us.” Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the one who appoints them and they represents the interests to those to whom they are sent. Does your school’s leadership “appoint” your families as ambassadors? Do you place expectations on families to “make appeals” to their friends? Probably one of the sins (am I sounding preachy?) committed by any school is the omission of asking for referrals . . . better yet, asking your families to make them for you!
There’s an old adage in business marketing: the referred lead is easier to close and costs less to obtain. In lieu of spending thousands and thousands of dollars strictly on advertising only to generate a few clicks, an ambassador’s referral optimizes the leverage of their friendship to validate the lead. In other words, you are going to listen to and trust suggestions from your friends more than you’ll believe bullet points from a slick brochure. And when I ask schools, most of the time, they admit that referrals are by far the best source of new students. So why are you still having trouble filling seats year after year?
3 of the most common reasons why referrals are not made: (more…)
Karen Klein’s terrible harassment at the hands of some teenagers made world news this summer. Viral videos with millions of hits and over $600,000 raised on her behalf through social media made this one of the summer’s hottest topics.
The problem: it’s summer – and no one is at your school to talk about it.
While I’m certain some administrators may react with “that doesn’t happen at our school” or “families often misuse that term“, the reality is that it is an issue on the minds of families. And news stories like Klein’s only make parents feel more concerned for their children while at school (and the target of this bullying was an adult).
This is why bullying is a marketing issue. Families are exploring where they can send their children for a quality education in a safe environment. In terms of “bullying”, here are 5 things your marketing team should address as school begins next month: (more…)
When it comes to your school’s website, is it:
- all about YOU?
- all about THEM?
It’s easy to try and imagine every bit of information you think a prospective family might want to know about your school. The only problem is that (more…)
