Many businesses and individuals have one social media channel or another, that they use to connect to other like minded people across the world. These include; FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram…etc! But one major platform that has really taken over the digital world is “LinkedIn”. A networking platform for professionals, LinkedIn is in fact, the World’s largest professional networking site with over 300 million users.
It is a very popular platform with many businesses, and that should be no different with independent schools, which technically, are businesses too.
So why should independent Schools use LinkedIn?
Well, with LinkedIn, Schools marketing strategy to potential parents and students will be redefined by offering them a brand new way of contacting and engaging the parents as well as a different way to present the school to the public.
Below, we provide you with some tips on how your school can use LinkedIn to function as a business. See what you think.
Think like a School, run like a Business:
We appreciate that schools are educational establishments and not necessarily thought of consciously, as a business, however, we know that for schools to be successful and achieve longevity, they have to run like one. To that effect, it will be most absurd not to have your school represented on LinkedIn like the professional institution that it is (or should be). As a platform for professionals used by millions, do you not think that your school will benefit from more exposure on such a large scale? Independent schools should start thinking of themselves as a business and the potential parents/students as their customers and on that basis, device a strategic LinkedIn profile to draw them in. Businesses do this all the time. So maximise every opportunity and create more awareness for your school.
Showcase Pages
LinkedIn have made things even better, especially for businesses, by adding a ‘Showcase Page’. This feature allows businesses/companies, to show different aspects of what they do or the services that they offer. Independent schools can also use this feature to highlight the many different departments or faculty that they have. By using dynamic content like video and pictures, the showcase page could attract more interest and awareness to your school’s many attributes. It will also make it easy for potential parents to see what your school have to offer at a glance.
Create profiles for key staff
Having staff members create personal accounts which are then modified to say that they work at your school is another great way to encourage exposure, create awareness and possibly, build an online community of employees. Creating key staff accounts is also a chance for potential parents to know your staff on something that is akin to a ‘one-on-one’ basis, thereby giving the impression of a close-knit family.
Join groups. Contribute to conversations.
One of LinkedIn many superior features, is the ability for members to form ‘groups’. This could be a group formed for a particular interest or the discussion of a subject area. Your school should find a group (or invite other members and create one) whose subject matter and discussion content is relevant to education or schools. Once you identify and join a group, start commenting or contributing dynamically to their discussions. The more you contribute, the more your school’s awareness and popularity grows.
Maximise LinkedIn Pay Per Click (PPC) option.
Many social media platforms today, now have paid advertisement on offer to its users, and LinkedIn is no different. However, the ‘stand-apart’ element in LinkedIn’s case, is that it is probably the best one out there. I say this because LinkedIn give marketers the option to be “highly target specific”. That is to say that with LinkedIn PPC programmes, marketers can decide ‘who’ their advertising targets by their job title, industry, gender, age, geographical location, company size and basically, any user information that can help them narrow down their target audience and although PPC’s can be expensive, it is worth it in the end because you are most likely have a higher conversion rate from your adverts by targeting very specific audience or users.
So if you are an independent School on LinkedIn and are not making use of it’s many opportunities and features, we suggest that you get on board and up your game NOW, because with LinkedIn, there is a world of opportunities just waiting for you!
Written by Gayle Thompson @SwoopStudios
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