What You Should Know About Social Media

Reaching people online is a must in today’s world, especially in the education industry. Social media is one means to that end, whether you’re a higher educational institution, tutoring business, or another type of education-focused business.

Online communities — and why they matter

Reaching consumers via social media is a necessity today. That’s because the average person no longer spends all their time with mass media such as radio or television. They may still spend some time there, but they also spend time on apps, social media, streaming devices, etc. So, if you want to reach people, you need to be where the audience spends their time. For many people, that is social media.

And that isn’t just for memes and cat videos. So many people get their local news from Facebook and industry tips from people they follow on TikTok, and how-to information from YouTube. In other words, social media is so intertwined with many aspects of our life these days. It makes sense that the schools and other education businesses need to be there to communicate messaging to them there as well.

Know your audience

Before you get fixated on the messaging, however, you need to give some thought to who exactly you’re trying to reach. This audience could be prospective students and parents, current students and parents, alumni and donors, community members, and even fans of your sports teams. Always have your audiences identified and create your social media content to address one or more of those audiences.

Algorithms in action

That brings us to another key point: algorithms. In addition to determining who sees each post (since we don’t get to see every post from every person or brand we follow), algorithms also take into account when you post, how often you post it and the nature of the content. Each algorithm looks at hundreds of data points, including whether your post is an image, video, or link as well as how many people click or comment on your social media post. Each platform has an algorithm that’s slightly different. Working to understand what content works (and what doesn’t) will help drive your success.

C’mon, get social

The third key point is that social media was designed to be social. Typically, the brands that encourage conversation and engagement will have their posts seen by the most people. Look for ways you can engage the audience and get them to comment, like, and even share your posts. When the audience does engage with you, be sure to respond in a timely fashion.

Social (media) faux pas

Aside from not having a strategy in place, the biggest mistakes that education businesses make when it comes to social media accounts are ignoring video, not posting frequently, assuming that current efforts have little to no impact, and not responding to engagement.

Additionally, social media can take a long time to build an audience. Sticking to your strategy can be a challenge and can be frustrating. You may feel like it isn’t having an immediate impact (or any impact at all). However, it is important to remember that social media channels can be viewed by prospects in addition to followers. Your active social accounts, even without strong engagement, can add credibility for a prospect that has not yet contacted you. If your social media accounts haven’t posted in two years or you never respond to engagement and confront negative comments, then your brand looks like it doesn’t care about its customers. This can negatively affect prospects considering your business.

Embrace novelty

The explosion of TikTok is definitely a trend. Most people don’t realize it has grown well beyond being a teen app or a dance video app. There are TikTok channels for every interest from parenting to cooking to motivation.

For education brands, it’s key to realize how much time people are spending on this app, which means it is a place to be communicating to your audiences. It’s also an opportunity to be creative with the content you put together. Look at how other successful brands communicate and see if you can create content that makes sense for your audience.

Call in the experts

Also, know that you don’t have to go it alone. Asher understands what it takes to make an education brand relevant in today’s competitive education marketplace across many different audiences, all of whom have different preferences and habits on how they interact with your institution. Perhaps most importantly, we empower our client partners to build meaningful, impactful and relevant connections with consumers.

Let us help you create campaigns that effectively communicate to each of your target audiences. We have experience and expertise in providing the strategies, solutions and stories that resonate with today’s socially savvy consumer. Reach out to Asher today.