Four Steps to Fresh Facebook Marketing for Schools and Colleges

Your school’s website is vitally important, as it is the public face of your institution.  Your school or college most likely already has a great website with varied content.  Your total web presence not only needs to be visually appealing; it is also imperative that it be dynamic and supply valuable information to potential students and their families on a variety of platforms.  Are you looking for an additional approach to increase enrollment?  A powerful and influential way to reach out to future applicants, their parents and your local community is social network marketing through Facebook.
Facebook is one of the most highly trafficked websites in the world, and it is no secret that young people spend a good deal of time socializing and gathering new information on the site. 

According to Alexa, approximately 45% of global internet users visit Facebook daily, and Facebook users spend an average of 23 minutes a day on the site.  With traffic and usage rates like these, social network marketing for schools on Facebook is a powerful and highly effective strategy to reach your enrollment goals for next fall.
More and more schools are establishing a presence on social networks, like Facebook and Twitter, because social networks offer a direct line of connection and communication to interested individuals.  Facebook is also an effective medium to market your curriculum offerings and share news as well as important information with your study body and their families.  Being plugged into social media in education is valuable, because it will keep you updated on local happenings and the activities of your scholastic competitors.  Being competitive in the current academic marketplace means always being in the know.
Cultivating and sharing high-quality, informative and engaging content with your academic community, your applicant pool and their parents should be your major aim on Facebook.  Exciting educational content will generate buzz about your school and kindle positive word-of-mouth marketing, which will garner you more enrollment leads.  Through the use of targeted online marketing, you are able to reach the very people most interested in learning more about your school.
4 Steps to Create a Great Facebook Page for Your School

1. Content  Content is the crown jewel—the most important aspect of your school’s Facebook page.  Potential students have varied interests and concerns, so your content needs to be relevant and varied in order to address these various interests and concerns. 
2.  Consider adding video content, as images are more salient than text. Your school should also have a blog, which is updated frequently.  Share all your blog posts on Facebook.
3. Identity  Do visitors to your page get a sense of the atmosphere at your school?  Are you effectively sharing your school’s history?  Your Facebook page should be a unique learning portal, where prospective students can learn about your school’s academic courses of study, athletic programs, extracurricular activities as well as the general spirit of your institution.
4. Networking  Expand your network of connections.  Facebook allows a maximum of 5,000 friends.  Over time, it is advantageous to make as many Facebook friends as possible; let 5,000 be your long-range networking goal.  Seek out new friends in the following categories:  influential people in the educational industry, successful alumni, current students, potential applicants, media contacts, test prep companies, and admirable individuals and organizations.  Use Facebook Friend Finder for a number of ways to search for new people to add.  Invite friends and colleagues by email, join relevant Facebook groups and “like” applicable Facebook pages.  When you send friend requests, always add a friendly, personalized message.
5. Promotion and Engagement  After you have created your Facebook page, you need to ensure that the right people will get to experience it.  Add a Facebook button to your institution’s website, and ask your web visitors to “like” your school’s page on Facebook.  Get involved in relevant groups and generate discussion.  An inbound marketing agency can help you get the most from your total web presence, including social media, search engine optimization, enrollment lead generation and resulting student matriculation.

Your Facebook page needs to be closely monitored and actively moderated.  If you are too busy to consistently tend to your school’s Facebook page, delegate this task to an inbound marketing agency.  Ensure that questions and comments receive prompt and enthusiastic responses.  A personable tone should be used in all communications.  You want your Facebook page to be an informational resource for your school—providing real value to your academic community and applicant pool.  Updating and enhancing your school’s virtual presence can make all the difference in attracting quality applicants and reaching your enrollment goals.


By Kevin Jorgensen
http://www.business2community.com/