The halls are empty, the classrooms are bare, and the faculty are now enjoying their well-earned rest. The “good-old days” when admission offices were finished in June and then spent the lazy days of summer enjoying their favorite cocktail on a porch have been replaced with hard work in the summer looking for those last few remaining students to meet budget.
In spite of all the work in the trenches you are doing this summer, please take time to step back and assess your admission efforts. In my opinion you owe it to yourself to take some time to recharge and learn a new skill or study about some new development in the admission field. To that end I ask — what is your social media summer project?
Below are a list of my suggested social media summer projects for you to think about — I’ve also included resources to help you with each topic:
Inbound Marketing
If you are looking to learn more about inbound marketing I encourage you to pick up my favorite book on the subject: Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs.
One of my favorite books about using Facebook more effectively for your school is Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook (And Other Social Networks). Author Dave Kerpen does a great job of blending theory and actionable items to help you use Facebook for your school.
I’m a huge proponent of using Twitter to market your school and offer a few of my past blog posts to help you get started using Twitter for your school:
- HOWTO: Start Using Twitter For Your School
- Tweet For Your School Using the 75/25/1 Rule
- 21 Ways Independent Schools Can Use Twitter
I’ve been really interested in Pinterest lately simply because it’s the first social network that is dominated by women and mother’s consistently make the schooling decisions for their children — hence the potential importance of pinterest for schools.
Landing PagesLanding pages are a serious marketing tool that most school’s fail to utilize. I think landing pages have been instrumental in helping us increase our inquiries and you owe it to yourself to learn more about landing pages.
- What Is A Landing Page And Why You Need One
- Take Your First Step Toward Inbound Marketing By Using A Landing Page
- 6 Reasons Why iLove Unbounce
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)Search Engine Optimization is the basis of inbound marketing and is the ability to help you get found on Google. If you are not familiar with SEO you really should be:
- Where Should I Start With Inbound Marketing For My School?
- 5 SEO Tips To Improve Your School’s Search Engine Rankings
- The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to Use Social Media, Online Video, Mobile Applications, Blogs, News Releases, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly
- Do You Suffer From The Curse Of Knowledge?
- What Is a Long Tail Keyword And Why You Should Care
Social Media Management SystemOne of the ways that I manage all of the social media channels for my school is by using Hootsuite. I encourage you to check it out.
While there are so many different topics within social media and so many different ways to use social media for your school I think the topics above are a great place to begin. Good luck and I hope you have a great summer!
Thanks for recommending our humble dashboard Brendan!
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