If you’re a pre-college private school educator, you likely know the challenge of getting and retaining students.
I’ve learned a few things since I began helping private school educators with their social media marketing. It’s my pleasure to share them with you here.
1. Create content for parents
Sure, you could use words like “cool” in your digital marketing content. You could write directly to the students by saying something like, “You’ll have a lot of fun here!”
But there’s one problem: The parents are the ones paying for tuition.
Note
I’m including all legal guardians when I say “parents.”
So, write to the parents. Don’t be afraid to use advanced vocabulary (as long as it makes sense).
When you use the terms “you” and “your” in your social media posts or on your site, make sure you are addressing the parents.
2. Get your school on LinkedIn
I think a lot of educational institutions, especially ones that serve children, are missing out by not being on LinkedIn. This channel is another point of contact for parents considering your school.
You may be avoiding LinkedIn because your target audience is stay-at-home moms.
Consider this: LinkedIn recently added “stay-at-home mom” as one of the occupations mothers can choose.
As of 2021, 43.1% of LinkedIn’s 774 million users are women. This means there are a more than 333 million women who use LinkedIn, many of whom are mothers. And a portion of this number are stay-at-home moms.
Don’t make the mistake of not reaching these mothers on a platform that so many are on.
3. Don’t just emphasize the academics
You want to show how your school offers opportunities to grow beyond the classroom (i.e., extracurricular activities).
When you showcase these activities, don’t just focus on athletics. Parents will likely love hearing about any artistic endeavors your students are undertaking.
One more thing: Don’t forget to post plenty of pictures. Social media posts with photos tend to get much better engagement.
The point of this is to show that your school is well-rounded. Highlight the fun stuff your students get to do throughout the year.
4. Don’t just emphasize the fun stuff
Your students may have fun at your school, but don’t forget to emphasize that they are there to learn. To do this, I recommend posting answers to questions like:
- Is there an academic assignment students found particularly interesting?
- Are you teaching any unique courses at your school?
- Have you seen an uptick in graduations or SAT scores? If so, by how much?
- How are your students doing academically when compared to nation- or state-wide schools?
