When it comes to enrollment marketing, choosing WHERE you share your information is just as important as what you say! You want your message to be seen where people are already spending time, but how do you know where your prospective parents are? That’s where social media comes in.
Did you know that more than 83% of US parents use social media? Or that the average adult spends 2 hours and 24 minutes a day scrolling on social media?
So if you’re looking to get the word out about your school, social media is one of the best tools you have to do it! So get ready to create connections, tell your school’s story, and increase your community engagement with social media!
By the way, to receive more free, helpful insights like this approximately every two weeks, sign up for our enrollment-focused newsletter, the SchoolMint Insider!
What Should My School’s Social Media Strategy Be?
To make the most of social media for school marketing and storytelling, a well-crafted strategy is essential. Here are the things you’ll want to think about when developing your school’s social media strategy.
1. Define Your Audience
Understand your target audience. Are you wanting to use social media for announcements to current families, marketing to prospective families, or as a wider community engagement platform?
Whatever you choose, having an end user in mind can be really helpful for creating and sharing content that resonates with your target audience.
In SchoolMint Enrollment Academy, we have this handy parent persona template that can help you define whom that target audience is! Sign up for the academy, and go to the parent persona template (right) under Marketing Resources:
Not sure what a parent persona is? Read our article Building Customer Personas for Your School.
2. Set Goals
How do you know if your social media methods are impactful if you aren’t measuring it? Determine your objectives, whether it’s increasing awareness, driving engagement, or boosting enrollment. Don’t forget to check out our training on setting SMART goals if you haven’t yet!
Also in SchoolMint Enrollment Academy are two helpful resources for SMART goals — our SMART goals training video and a SMART goals template below Organizational Management resources:
3. Choose Social Media Platforms Wisely
Prioritize your efforts on the right social media platforms! If you want to reach prospective families, Instagram and Facebook are the best choice.
If staff recruitment is your big concern, try LinkedIn too!
4. Develop Content Strategy
Plan your content types, frequency, and themes in alignment with your school’s values and brand.
Take a look at our downloadable 12-month social media calendar with all the key dates you should make sure to celebrate — like Teacher Appreciation, Read Across America Day, and more.
You can download the full checklist as well as some other ultra-helpful social media resources through SchoolMint Enrollment Academy! 
5. Encourage Engagement
Interact with your audience by responding to comments, asking questions, and inviting them to like your page! Engagement is one of those things that builds on itself over time, so don’t let the initial period of low engagement frustrate you.
Focus on developing content that inspires people to comment or share, and then build from there! Pretty soon your page will be full of comments, likes, and shares!
You can get some more specific tips and ideas for engagement in our article 20 Tips for School Social Media.
6. Measure Success
Use Meta Business Suite’s data and insights to track your metrics and monitor your online community’s growth. This can be a great way for you to easily figure out what type of content and posting schedule works best for your school!
7. Consistent Online Presence
Consistency is key in maintaining an effective social media presence. Regular posting — coupled with a cohesive tone, style, and aesthetic — fosters a recognizable brand identity and enhances your credibility.
Wondering how to do this? Canva is a great place to start building your brand so that you can quickly and easily create templates in your school’s colors, fonts, and styles!
- Additional reading: 5 Cool Things School Can Do in Canva
Check out our video on how to create your own brand kit in Canva in our FREE enrollment academy:
8. Streamline Messaging with Automation
Streamline communication and save time with automated messaging. Use features like Facebook’s Automated Responses and Instagram’s Quick Replies to provide instant answers to common queries and manage incoming messages efficiently.
If you’re not sure how to do this, well, you guessed it — we’ve got you covered on how to set up Facebook automated messenger with ANOTHER free training video in our enrollment academy!
9. Leverage Social Media Advertising
Paid advertising on social media amplifies your reach and engagement.
Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn offer targeted advertising options, allowing schools to reach people where they are already spending time online. You can target zip codes, interests, and more!
- Additional reading: Using School Social Media Ads to Improve Student Enrollment
Social media advertising is easy to get started with but hard to master, so if you want a little help making sure that you get the best bang for your marketing buck, don’t forget that the amazing ads team at SchoolMint can design, create, and optimize ads for you on all of your social accounts!
Here is a school ad example from our partners at Maria Saucedo Scholastic Academy (via Chicago Public Schools), whom we helped enroll 175 new students this past school year!
- Read the full case study: Maria Saucedo Scholastic Academy
- Additional case study: Baltimore International Academy East
Ready to get started? Great! Learn more about our social media advertising service!
Social media isn’t just a great tool for recruitment; it empowers schools to share the REAL behind the scenes stuff parents just don’t get to see day to day. It also helps connect schools to their communities in a low-barrier, authentic way.
With a strategic approach and consistent effort, schools can leverage social media to bolster their credibility, showcase their strengths, and forge meaningful connections.
Remember, the key to success lies in consistency and engagement...and maybe a little help from SchoolMint!
Sign up for SchoolMint Enrollment Academy, where you’ll get free, unlimited access to all the templates, training videos, and more I mentioned above — as well as many, many more I didn’t.
There’s guaranteed to be something in there that’ll make your job easier!
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