How does your school compare?
For school Heads, social media can either be a great tool in your communications toolbox or it can be a source of pain and wastage without appropriate management or strategy.
The results of the third School Marketing and Social Media Survey provide answers to key questions such as: are you the only school not on TikTok? Do you engage leads on Facebook Messenger or do you think that’s too risky? Has your social media strategy worked?
With social media no longer an afterthought for school marketers, the question around strategy and planning becomes a primary focus. When asked if schools had a social media content strategy, 64% of respondents stated that they had a plan in place. Worryingly, 36% reported either not having a strategy or not knowing if their school had one. However, this lack of direction and confidence is to be empathised with. The social media landscape can change in an instant. With platforms in a constant race to improve features and functions, it’s no surprise that school marketers report a lack of knowledge (17%) or a lack of confidence (8%) as their biggest frustrations.
If social media in 2020 will be remembered for one thing, it will be TikTok. A small brave group of school marketers (3%) reported experimenting with the platform, however school marketers remain largely cautious and sceptical when faced with new social media platforms (58%), which is understandable given the sensitive nature of school brands.
In our 2020 survey, respondents were asked for the first time not just whether they analysed their social media activity, but specifically which insights they found the most valuable. The majority (76%) reported to regularly checking the results of their activity, with the metric of reach (40%) the clear favourite amongst school marketers. This suggests they are still primarily measuring success based on how many people their communications are getting to, rather than whether they are actually engaging with their communities. For school marketers interested in engagement, likes (11%), comments (8%) and shares (9%) were the preferred measuring metrics.
The full survey results are available here.
