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Ever wondered how social media could be a driving force behind boosting school lettings? In this blog, you’ll learn where and how to get started, including advice on what each social platform offers and how to best optimise them.
With a variety of platforms on offer, you may be questioning where to start and which platforms you should utilise to reach your target audience. We would recommend being present on a mix, as this will provide the best exposure and engagement. Let’s explore the most popular social media channels and how they can benefit you:
Instagram – the visual platform which supports image-only content. Great for creating fun and engaging content that is quick to create and can be easily shared by users, maximising your exposure. Ideal for showcasing your facilities and activities by sharing photos and videos of your spaces and from events taking place on site. Instagram has a ‘Story’ feature which allows you to share content that is only available for 24 hours, therefore ideal for timely updates you may need to provide to your community such as current opening times, late availability, or today’s What’s On. The average age of users on Instagram is 25-35 years old – so tailor your content for a younger audience.
‘The average UK user spends 1 hour and 42 minutes on social media per day’
Twitter – the ‘wordy’ platform where users tend to be more of a business nature. Twitter can be used to target potential hirers, partnerships and create local support for your school. Many franchisees, sports governing bodies and local businesses will access this platform so use it to let them know what your school can do for them. Remember, Twitter is fast-paced and ideal for sharing short, concise updates to your community – you only have 280 characters to use after all. Posts could include testimonials and feedback about users’ experiences on site, and because the platform is popular with businesses, the kinds of activities and programmes you are looking to offer at your venue.
‘74% of Facebook users check the site at least once a day’
Facebook – akin to Instagram, Facebook is a visual platform that supports a range of content types such as images, video, text and polls. As Facebook has community at its heart, it is an ideal platform for creating a local network of people who may want to use your facilities or attend groups and activities at your school. It can also be used to share content from your hirers about the sorts of activities that are on offer to the community – save time by sharing posts directly from your hirers’ pages, onto your account, repurposing content that has already been created.
‘Almost half of the UK population is active on LinkedIn’
LinkedIn – the professional social media platform. This is where you can target hirers but also send out messages about your school’s lettings objectives, key achievements (number of activities taking place, income derived from lettings, diversity targets etc.) and how this will benefit your students. The platform is particularly useful for networking with others within the education industry and allows potential for reaching new clients, participating in relevant forums and to create targeted advertising.
Our top tip: Set up all of your social media accounts as ‘lettings’ accounts, which are separate from your main school accounts. This will ensure your messages reach the right target audiences and help to encourage more engagement.
Interested in working together? Get in touch with Domenico Forgione, Business Development Manager, to discuss your specific lettings needs, find out about our marketing offer or any of our other lettings services.
