Having a Montessori social media strategy in place and implemented can add significant value for your school. Social media can be a great tool for increasing awareness of your school, engaging parents, and driving people to your website. But simply being present on social media platforms will not improve your school’s visibility. Read on to learn 7 tips for how to best use social media to your advantage for your Montessori School.
1. Define your target audience
The first step in any marketing effort, including social media, is to determine who you are trying to reach. As a Montessori school, your target audience may seem as simple as your potential and current families. But it’s important to go into a little more depth than that.
- Where do they live?
- How old are their children?
- What do they care about?
- Why is the Montessori Method important to them?
- What are their priorities?
- What are their obstacles?
Knowing the answers to these and other relevant demographic questions helps you to create social media content that will connect with them.
2. Focus on their favorite social media platforms
Not sure how you are going to be present and engage on all the social media platforms? The good news is, you don’t have to. Simply focus your efforts on the platforms your target audience uses most frequently (hint: it’s Facebook and Instagram).
It is important to be strategic with your platforms because keeping social media accounts that you don’t update regularly can actually hurt people’s perception of your school. You can leverage automation to easily share content across multiple platforms. For example, your Instagram account could automatically share to your Facebook page and your Facebook page could automatically share that content to your school’s Twitter account.
3. Optimize your business pages
This is most relevant to your school’s Facebook page. When a person reads through your profile on any platform, they should come away with all the information they need to know about your school: your location, mission, website, how to contact you, and what sets your school apart. Your profile photo is important too. It should be consistent across the platforms and is a great opportunity to use your logo and raise brand awareness.
4. Use the Montessori method
Most Montessorians are always looking for ways to extend the Montessori method beyond the classroom. Think of social media as another opportunity! Observe the topics that engage your followers and offer great content that matches their interests. Social media users, and your Montessori families, find value in relevant, informative content. Use these platforms to connect your families around the topics that matter to them.
5. Leverage your existing content
You don’t have to start from scratch creating content to post on with your Montessori social media strategy. If you have an onsite blog or newsletter archive that is gathering dust, social media can give it new life. Comb through and sort the content you’ve already created by topic and create a posting schedule. Don’t forget to write engaging captions that encourage discussion for each post and link back to your website.
6. Share other’s relevant content
In general, it’s a good practice to post once a day on each platform. This doesn’t mean you need to create original content daily to stay in the game. Instead, you can curate and share great content from other sources. Popular Montessori blogs, trending topics, and even your own Montessori families are great resources for re-postable content. Just create a caption that reflects on its relevance to your school.
American Montessori Society has great videos that could be useful to your school’s social media audiences.
7. Assess what’s working
After you’ve been actively using social media for a little while, it’s time to take a step back and assess the results. Do you have the followers you want to connect with? What sort of content is engaging them? Which platforms are leading to visits to your website? Plan to check in on your social media analytics at regular intervals to see what is working and what isn’t so you can adjust your social media strategy accordingly.
For more helpful information about leveraging social media to help grow your school’s enrollment see our blog post, Part 2: Tips for Increasing Enrollment at your Montessori school.
WSI Connect has extensive experience working with Montessori schools to help them improve enrollment. Contact us today to learn more about our digital marketing strategies, including our Montessori social media strategies.
