Written by Martin Spriggs

In part three of this series on prospect management, we examined the different ways data could be stored and then accessed to manage prospect interactions and communications. Now in the final article of our series, we will deal with perhaps the most effective prospect identification and nurture tool schools have ever had available to them: social networks.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat are a suite of tools useful as a platform for school promotion, but also a channel through which school ambassadors can connect with potential school parents. These digital watercoolers have become fertile ground for meaningful conversations around education and the things that set our Christian schools apart from others.

The first question asked in conversations about schools and the use of social networks is “Should our school have a Facebook page?” The answer is yes, but perhaps for different reasons than you might expect.

Many school administrators still think of Facebook as an outreach tool similar to their web page. It is a place where people can come to find out more about your school, perhaps ask a question, and then decide to visit. However, the relationship between an organization and a person is very different than a person-to-person connection. Social networks work best as “networks” between real people. When organizations use social networks they, at best, can confirm their existence but will not in any meaningful way build a relationship. Those happen between people.

So why then would it be wise for a school to have a Facebook page at all? Two reasons: 1) as an internal communications channel to their own parents and families and 2) to provide resources for their ambassadors to share with others. Tools like Facebook make “networking” very easy and fun. With things like “likes,” emojis, comments, and sharing, word can spread quickly across the network, especially ones where everybody pretty much already knows everybody else. This would likely be the case in most of our schools.

This works even better than publishing content on a website, which requires interested parties to remember to visit the site regularly. Facebook’s “News Feed” is perused by its users regularly, and your content will be delivered to them with everything else. School news and the like appear in the “life stream” of the parent. They need do nothing more than they always do to receive what you have to say – a very natural communications flow.

When trying to reach out to prospective parents over social networks like Facebook, they are likely not going to “follow” your school’s Facebook page, at least not initially. However, they may already be networked with existing school parents or other church families. Now Facebook can become a potential “recommendation engine” if those school parents are provided with resources, messaging, and other “shareable” content that might help a prospect to better understand the value of your school and how it has made a difference in the lives of its students. This sharing is more meaningful since it comes from a current “satisfied customer.”

Last year Martin Luther College asked Justin Ware, a social media and marketing consultant, to speak to them about promoting MLC Day. He suggested that an important part of a school’s social media strategy would be to identify “ambassadors.” Ambassadors are members or friends of your organization who have an affinity for connecting with people over tools like Facebook and as a result have significant networks. As the school identifies their ambassadors, they can enlist them to take their message about the school into their large networks. Of course, to make this work the school must create shareable content. Here are some categories of content to consider:

• Images or videos of school events (plays, sporting events, presentations)
• News of awards received or other student recognitions
• Faculty achievements or professional growth
• Weekly chapel video
• Invitations to science fairs, forensic meets, or math meets
• Articles on parenting or other educational concepts/techniques of interest to parents

Ambassadors equipped with a steady stream of shareable content can quickly get the word out about the school and hopefully engage in conversations with prospective parents, grandparents, or others who are in your target audience. The WELSTech Podcast, a weekly show discussing tech-in-ministry topics, sat down with Justin Ware to talk about these ambassadors. You can view the interview at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlNUYBPD4rw.

Be aware that creating and publishing this kind of content with the necessary frequency requires time and resources. You may want to consider creating a content schedule. Simply draw out a chart that lists the days of the week down the left hand column and then the different categories of content across the top. You then populate the grid with content that you will need to create and publish. You will have to determine the frequency for yourself based on the organization’s ability to produce it, but a good starting point would be to try and publish something each week. As you schedule the content, be sure to identify the channel (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc.) you will use to publish it and the day/time it will be available. Consider working ahead 90 days at a time. Tools like HootSuite can help you to schedule content for release days, weeks, or even months in advance. You will also want to build a team of people responsible for this.

As your ambassadors and school parents begin to reach out to their Facebook friends, be sure they are trained to share relevant information with the school office so your prospect database can be updated. It would be helpful to note how the connections were made and through whom. The more information you collect, the more informed your outreach efforts to those families will be.

God bless your outreach efforts and your desire to share God’s Word with the children and parents in your community!

To read the other articles in this series:

Prospect Management for Schools – Part One

Prospect Management for Schools – Part Two: Filling Your Database

Prospect Management for Schools – Part Three: Data Use

Martin Spriggs is chief technology officer for WELS. He also produces a weekly podcast called the WELSTech Podcast with his co-host, Sallie Draper. They discuss all things technology, especially as they relate to their usefulness for ministry.