10 Tips for Using Facebook as a Tool for Your School By Belinda Henson Principal Destiny Christian Academy
P
eter F. Drucker said, “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.” In the age of fast paced, get-quick information and moment-bymoment decision making, marketing for our schools has to follow accordingly. How do we do this when our budgets for marketing are so small? Purchasing addresses and snail mailing cards are expensive and even their salespeople will tell you to purchase less names and send at least three times, instead of purchasing lots of names and sending only once. Email lists are worse. The best quotes I found were 4,500 names for $800, and then you get put into that “spam” category. So our solution has been Facebook. It is not only great for marketing, but also for school morale and upto-date information. Here are ten ways we use Facebook to promote our school. If you are interested in using Facebook to promote your school, go to www.facebook.com/adsmarketing. It will walk you through the process step by step.
Information – The information tab details our mission statement and general information. It shows times we are open and is an excellent preview of what our website has to offer.
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Events – By creating events (field trip days or important school events), families can RSVP and administrators have a quick and accurate way to prepare.
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Photos – On our school application, parents must sign whether or not they will let their children’s pictures be used for school functions. Photos allow parents and grandparents to capture the pictures for their own needs. They also show potential families how much fun we have learning!
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Announcements – We use it for announcements like school closings or parental reminders. We also announce new class openings, job openings and new faculty!
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www.umsjournal.com
Parents – Our parents are able to log on and have an immediate voice! Their comments encourage other parents, as well as provide authentic marketing to potential families.
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March-April 2011