{"id":902,"date":"2016-04-28T15:00:36","date_gmt":"2016-04-28T20:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/wels-educator\/?p=902"},"modified":"2016-05-10T13:42:37","modified_gmt":"2016-05-10T18:42:37","slug":"prospect-management-for-schools-part-four-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/wels-educator\/2016\/04\/28\/prospect-management-for-schools-part-four-social-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Prospect Management for Schools — Part Four: Social Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Martin Spriggs<\/em><\/p>\n

In part three of this series<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The first question asked in conversations about schools and the use of social networks is \u201cShould our school have a Facebook page?\u201d The answer is yes, but perhaps for different reasons than you might expect.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cnetworks\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cnetworking\u201d very easy and fun. With things like \u201clikes,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

This works even better than publishing content on a website, which requires interested parties to remember to visit the site regularly. Facebook\u2019s \u201cNews Feed\u201d 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 \u201clife stream\u201d of the parent. They need do nothing more than they always do to receive what you have to say \u2013 a very natural communications flow.<\/p>\n

When trying to reach out to prospective parents over social networks like Facebook, they are likely not going to \u201cfollow\u201d your school\u2019s 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 \u201crecommendation engine\u201d if those school parents are provided with resources, messaging, and other \u201cshareable\u201d 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 \u201csatisfied customer.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s social media strategy would be to identify \u201cambassadors.\u201d 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:<\/p>\n