Social Media - Enrollment Management for Schools

Are You Navigating the Double-Edged Sword of Third-Party Sites?

Third-party sites can be a powerful ally or a formidable adversary when it comes to positioning your school’s brand. On one side, it offers a remarkable platform to showcase your school’s expertise and program excellence, enabling positive testimonials and immediate feedback. This feedback can provide valuable insights into what works well and what needs improvement. However, the other side of the third-party site’s sword is its potential to be a platform for spreading opinions about your school’s flaws and inadequacies. This aspect, particularly when the criticisms are unfounded, can be counterproductive and damaging to your school’s reputation. Understanding the Critique-Sphere Cheri Cross, former Director of Marketing and Communications at Northfield Mount Hermon, introduced the concept of the “critique-sphere.” This term encapsulates the environment where everyone can freely critique any product or service, including your school. This critique-sphere allows individuals to voice their opinions directly on platforms where prospective families are most engaged with your school, giving these opinions enormous potential to influence your brand perception. Within this critique-sphere, parents and students provide countless opinions on your school’s policies, events, procedures, faculty, and students. Unfortunately, many prospective parents and students do not critically assess this information or evaluate their child’s side of the formula, especially if it is endorsed by their peers. Who is correct and who isn’t ends up not mattering. In the fast-paced decision-making process, families often rely on these readily available opinions to form their judgments. Leveraging the Critique-Sphere Despite its challenges, the critique-sphere offers a significant opportunity for schools to bolster their brand by providing evidence that supports and promotes their premier educational offerings. Schools can engage with this critique-sphere either offensively and defensively: Offensive Strategy: Empower your stakeholder to actively contribute to third-party websites such as Great Schools, College Confidential-Prep Schools, Niche, or Boarding School Review. Share success stories, highlight unique programs, and showcase student achievements. By doing so, you can fill the narrative with your allies and position your school as a leader in education. Defensive Strategy: Monitor these platforms for negative feedback and address concerns promptly and professionally as you are able. Engage with critics constructively, offering solutions or clarifications. This approach not only mitigates potential damage but also demonstrates your school’s commitment to transparency and improvement. Building a Stronger Brand Investing time in managing your presence within the critique-sphere can significantly enhance your school’s brand position. Here are some steps to consider: Develop a Content Strategy: Regularly update your profiles on third-party websites with fresh content that highlights your school’s strengths and successes. Engage with Your Audience: Respond to reviews and comments, showing that you value feedback and are committed to addressing any concerns. Encourage Positive Reviews: Motivate satisfied parents, students, alumni, and teachers to share their positive experiences online. Educate Your Community: Inform your school community about the importance of critically evaluating online information and encourage them to contribute constructively to the critique-sphere. PeerPal – Part of the Arsenal Consider PeerPal as an offensive action. PeerPal is an excellent platform that allows students, parents, alumni, and teachers to make themselves available to speak with prospective parents. By strategically selecting and focusing on these individuals, you can create an immediate influencer group for your school. From this point, you can take this same group of disciples and ask them to post on third-party websites. If there are other groups like this one, please let us know in the comment section. Conclusion The internet’s double-edged sword presents both challenges and opportunities in positioning your school’s brand. By strategically engaging with the critique-sphere, schools can transform potential vulnerabilities into strengths, thereby securing a robust and positive brand image. As deans of enrollment management and heads of schools, leveraging these strategies can ensure your institution stands out as a beacon of educational excellence in the digital age.

How Can You Keep Your School’s Social Media Engaging Over the Summer?

Leave a Comment / Blog, Marketing, Social Media / Claude

Summer can be a tough time to keep social media active at your school. Are you one of those schools posting about lobsterfest for alumni, generic 4th of July greetings, weather announcements, or unremarkable photos? These posts often waste 10 weeks without advancing your brand. It’s a tough situation. The students are gone for the summer and you may be at a loss on what to put on your social media to keep engagement going. Below are some ideas that might help you create a more brand-contributing summer social media campaign. Faculty Spotlights Feature different faculty members, sharing their backgrounds, teaching philosophies, and what they love about the school. This humanizes the school by putting faces to the names, showing the expertise and passion of the teaching staff. It can also bolster excitement among your newly accepted students. Throwback Thursdays If it’s good, it has to have a name. On Throwback Thursday, post nostalgic photos and stories from past school events, performances, or milestones. This effort builds a sense of tradition and community, fostering a connection with alumni and prospective families who value heritage and continuity. Behind-the-Scenes Show behind-the-scenes looks at how the school is preparing for the upcoming school year, including maintenance work, classroom setups, and curriculum planning. This provides transparency and shows the hard work that goes into maintaining high standards, which can build trust and confidence in the school’s operations. It can also build belief in your financial strength. Summer Learning Tips Provide educational tips and activities that parents can do with their children at home during the summer. Throughout the year, you want to position the school as a partner in education beyond the classroom, demonstrating a commitment to student success year-round, which is attractive to proactive parents. Student Artwork and Projects You might have to plan this ahead of the summer, but share photos and videos of student artwork, science projects, and other notable work from the past school year. Depending on what work you are showing, give it a name like Project Proud or Innovation Gallery. Showcasing the students’ creativity and academic excellence gets prospective and new students excited about what could lie ahead. It also makes returning students and parents feel validated for their investment. Community Involvement Highlight how the students are staying involved in the community over the summer, such as through volunteer activities. This demonstrates the school’s effort in getting students to go out in the world and make a difference now. This will appeal to parents who value civic engagement and make teachers feel good that they are influencing an affluent group who is using their talents for good and not just summering in a camp program in Europe. Teacher Training and Workshops Most schools have their teachers participate in professional development. Describe the experience and get quotes from teachers who are excited about bringing what they’ve learned back to your school. This demonstrates the school’s dedication to professional development, ensuring high-quality education which can reassure prospective families of the school’s commitment to excellence. Summer Reading Lists Admittedly, this recommendation is chancy. Post recommended reading lists for different age groups and share student and teacher book reviews. However, you need to include how you’re going to use the materials because students may have read them a year ago. It’s not only the particular book but how you use it that makes it excellent. When articulated well, it can highlight the school’s commitment to continuous learning and intellectual development, appealing to parents who prioritize academic rigor. Parent Testimonials This may require some advanced planning. Collect testimonials from parents about their experiences with the school and the positive impact it has had on their children. This provides authentic endorsements from current families, which can be highly persuasive for prospective families considering enrollment. Creative Challenges Engage current and prospective students and families with fun challenges, such as art contests, writing prompts, or science experiments they can do at home. Highlight the best of the week and give this program a name too. This demonstrates to all families the school’s emphasis on creativity and active learning. By implementing these strategies, but doing it well, marketing, communication, and admission professionals can effectively maintain and even enhance their school’s social media presence during the summer months. These posts not only keep the community engaged but also contribute to building a stronger, more positive brand image that can attract new families and retain current ones. Engaging content that showcases the school’s strengths, values, and achievements can make a significant impact on your school’s reputation and appeal

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ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT FOR SCHOOLS