How to Improve Your School Marketing with 8 Easy Techniques [Part 1]

Is your district putting more emphasis on marketing this year?

Are you feeling the pressure from private and charter schools in your area?

School marketing is becoming more important as competition is increasing for public schools across the country. It is time for school districts to embrace marketing and think of it as an investment to increase brand awareness and increase enrollment.

Podcast for this Article can be found here: Podcast Link

In this article, you’ll discover simple tips to improve your school marketing.

 

 

What is Marketing?

School Marketing is about using tools to get more parents to enroll their children in your schools and keep them there. School Marketing is also about getting more community members to support your schools more often so your school district succeeds.

Knowing our goal of marketing, let’s look at eight simple techniques to improve your school marketing. Look for Part 2 coming soon.

1. Using Live Video for Marketing

You read it everywhere; video is the new “King of Engagement”. Two years ago Meerkat and Periscope burst onto the scene making live streaming a reality for amateur smartphone videographers. A year later, those clunky platforms laid a path for the debut of the highly engaging Facebook Live.

If your district is not using Facebook Live, you better get started. Research shows that Facebook Live broadcasts create three times more engagement than the standard Facebook news feed post.

It is very simple to broadcast from Facebook using your smartphone. There are also software programs and hardware that allows broadcasts using multiple cameras.

My district (CFBISD) used the platform to hold a live question and answer with expert kindergarten teachers for interested parents. The broadcast reached 30,000 viewers and drove many parents to our kindergarten website. It was a huge success.

Here are some additional ideas for using Facebook Live:

12 Easy Facebook Live Ideas for Your District

39 More AwesomeFacebook Live Ideas for Your District 

2. Use Google Analytics to Create Successful Campaigns

Smart marketing is all about data. If you are not tracking your marketing campaigns, website and social media analytics your marketing is going to suffer. You have to successfully combine art and science when creating your district’s marketing campaigns and strategies. Analytics helps with this science.

“Like a scientist, I collect data, I look at it, and then I change my activities to reflect what I’ve learned” – Sergio Zyman, Former CMO of Coca Cola

Installing Google Analytics on your district and school websites is pretty simple. Here is a step-by-step guide created by Google to get started:

Get started with Analytics

Google Analytics allows districts to track such things as visitor page views, time on site, traffic sources, location of visitors, demographics of visitors and much, much more.

By tracking these statistics, your district has a better idea of which campaigns are truly working. Waiting three to six months to determine a campaigns success is a thing of the past. Now we can use real time statistics, which gives us the ability to adjust our campaigns on the fly. Marketers can use analytics to determine what is working and what is not working during important campaigns.

Here are some awesome articles about what stats to look at first:

7 Essential Google Analytics Reports Every Marketer Must Know 

6 Custom GoogleAnalytics Reports You Should Use for Every CRO Project

3. Marketing Success with Facebook Ads

Your districts Facebook Fan Page is not organically performing as well as it use to. Facebook is throttling engagement with algorithms that change daily. Always remember that Facebook is a business. Sometimes you have to pay to play.

In my opinion, Facebook ads are the best paid marketing a school district can do right now. They are fairly inexpensive, and drive nice engagement from highly targeted audiences. No other marketing campaign has the ability to target specific groups, and then provide very specific analytics on the success of your campaign.

My district has been using Facebook ads for our  Open Enrollment Campaign and we have seen awesome results. We are able to target parents in certain zip codes that have expressed interest in making a change in school districts. 

  

Our ads have driven thousands of visitors to our Open Enrollment Landing Page, with hundreds of people enrolling in our district who live outside our district boundaries.

Our advertisements target very niche audiences, which is very hard to do using traditional advertising. Especially at the cost we are paying for Facebook ads. For as little as $25, we can engage with 2,000 parents with very specific needs. The Return on Investment using Facebook ads is phenomenal.

Before you start, here is an informative article about Facebook ads:

How to Set Up an Effective Facebook Ad Campaign

4. Using the Facebook Pixel

According to Shopfiy.com, a Facebook Pixel is used to drop a cookie that will track visitors on your website so you can advertise to them later. This is commonly called retargeting.

Retargeting is a very powerful technique to target audiences that have shown interests in your district, schools or specific programs that you offer.

For example, you can use a Facebook Pixel to target audiences who have visited a program page, but have not applied to join the program. Much like Google Analytics, the Facebook pixel tracks the movement of Facebook users on your website. It use this data to help you create a more powerful Facebook ad.

Installing a pixel on your website is simple, and is hidden within the code; not visible to your audience.  

Below is Facebook’s installation guide:

Facebook Pixel Implementation Guide

After your pixel is installed, you can use retargeting through Facebook ads to narrow your audience to create higher performing campaigns.  

Conclusion

All school districts should start thinking about school marketing. It's an investment that all districts will need sooner than later.

With increased competition from all types of educational establishments, it is better to start now to be ahead of the game. Remember, you are investing in the future of your school district.

What do you think? Will you try these school marketing techniques? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

39 More Awesome Facebook Live Ideas for Your District

It is time for your district to invest in video. Especially live, streaming video.

But do you know where to start?  Are you scared you don't know what to do?

In this article, you'll get 39 more awesome ideas to use Facebook Live to market your district and drive audience engagement.

I think you have read about all the great advantages video marketing can bring to your district. Sometimes it is hard to start rolling the camera.  The great thing about Facebook Live, is all you need is a smartphone and an idea.

Here are 39 simple ideas to help you launch a Facebook Live campaign:

1. Pep Rally

2. Graduation

3. Sporting Events

4. Athlete Signings

5. Homework Help

6. Virtual PTA Meetings

7. SAT Prep Classes

8. Community Donations to Schools

9. Principal Q&A

10. Bad Weather Announcements

11. Honor Roll Announcements

12. Cafeteria Menu Announcements

13. Story time – Teacher Reading Books

14. Inside Tour of Classroom

15. Virtual Field trips to Schools

16. Community School Tours

17. Construction Updates

18. College Acceptance Announcements

19. Faculty Talent Show

20. District Wide Professional Development

21. Student Roundtables

22. Community Parades

23. Homecoming Queen Reveal

24. Employee Fitness Classes

25. District Hot Topic Q&A

26. District VIP Announcements

27. Honor Retirees

28. Alumni Interviews

29. Fundraising Drives

30. Meet the Teacher Nights

31. Behind the Scenes of Jobs in District

32. New School Year Kick-Off

33. Live District New Show w/ Student Anchors

34. New School Ribbon Cutting

35. 100th Day of School Celebration

36. Science Fair Demonstrations

37. Student Registration Q&A

38. National Merit Reveals

39. Halftime Shows

Do you have other ideas for Facebook Live? Leave them in the comment section below.

School Marketing Trends to Own in 2017 [2]

With the first semester coming to a close, it is time to start thinking about what strategy we will have in place for 2017.  

Last year saw quite a few changes in the why and the how school districts are marketing to their parents, students, employees and community. Marketing is an investment all of education will have to adopt going into the new year.

 

 

This is part two of two focusing on the first five trending areas. 

 

Part 1 Can Be Found Here

Here are my next five thoughts of where school districts should concentrate their marketing in 2017:

 

6. Customer Service is Marketing

In the era of chatbots and automated marketing techniques, personal interaction may be the last thing on your mind for your 2017 marketing strategy.  However, as 2017 quickly approaches, customer service will be extremely important.

Use your social media platforms to answer your parent’s concerns. Train your frontline staff the importance of making a good impression every time they greet visitors or answer the phone.

Advertising great David Ogilvy’s famous quote is very relevant, “The consumer is not a moron, she’s your wife” Or better yet… your parents, students, and voters.

7. Interactive Content is Cool

People don’t want to be sold too.  They want to be entertained. They want to be engaged.  Your content needs to be engaging.

Storytelling is always key in engaging your audience.  People are captivated by an emotional story that relates to their life, but that does not mean you have to tell a story all the time.  Sometimes you can just have fun.

How to Create an Interactive Tweet that will Drive Engagement for Your Company

 

Build polls in Twitter, create quizzes that relate to programs in your district, or have contests with User Generated Content.  The key is to have fun with your audience and make them part of the experience.  The more they interact with your content, the longer they are going to stay on your site.

Here is an article that might help with interactive content:

4 Tools to Create Interactive Content in Minutes

8. Don’t Forget the Millennials and Gen Z

Can you believe it? Millennials are now your parents. And they can not be treated the same way you treat your normal audience.

According to AdWeek’s article entitled “Marketing toMillennials and the Necessity of Social Brand Advocacy” Millenials don’t trust advertising.  In fact, the only people they do trust are the people they know.

Here is an article I wrote to help gain trust from your younger audience:

Students Hate Your Marketing… Here are 4 Ideas to Gain Their Trust

9. Focus on Native Advertising

Print is almost dead. Unless you are trying to build brand awareness, putting an ad in your local newspaper is going to be a bust. There is little return on your investment. However, there might be a way to squeeze a little life out of newspapers… especially online.

In 20 Years… A School District Will Buy a Local Newspaper

Native advertising might be your best bet when it comes to newspapers.  Native advertising according to sharethrough.com is a form of paid media where the ad experience follows the natural form and function of the user experience in which it is placed. Meaning you could write a story about your district and pay for it to be in a newspaper.

There are several other opportunities with native advertising. 

Here are some examples from Copy Blogger:

12 Examples of Native Ads (And Why They Work)

10. The Rebirth of Email

You read any marketing book or blog and you are going to read about the importance of building your email list. The problem with education is that we think asking for parent email addresses and sending a blanket email to the entire district is best practice. It is not. Niche lists are key.

Building niche lists from a specific audience is easier than you think. We know our students have thousands of different interests, and we know their parents want to know how their children can pursue these interests. This is how you capture their email for specific lists.

Landing pages will play an important role in building your lists. And with landing pages, you will need some form of a lead magnet to entice them to sign-up for your list.

You can learn more about landing pages and lead magnets here:

16 of the Best Landing Page Design Examples You Need to See

Leadpages.net

Once you have their emails you can target them with specific messages and engaging content. It is a great way to sell your programs and target specific interests.

Have a safe and relaxing winter break. 

Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

School Marketing Trends to Own in 2017

With the first semester coming to a close, it is time to start thinking about what strategy we will have in place for 2017.  

Last year saw quite a few changes in the why and the how school districts are marketing to their parents, students, employees and community. Marketing is an investment all of education will have to adopt going into the new year.

This is part one of two focusing on the first five trending areas.

Part Two Can Be Found Here

Here are my first five thoughts of where school districts should concentrate their marketing in 2017:

1. Tell Your District Stories

You have to stand out.  You have to differentiate.  What makes you stand out from all the other school districts, charter schools, and private schools are your stories.

Your audience wants to feel an emotional connection to the content you’re publishing.  Since the dawn of time, people have communicated with stories.  People remember a good story.  People remember stories that make a connection or they can relate to. This is why it is important to treat your department like a newsroom.

Read my post: In 20 Years... A School District Will Buy a Local Newspaper

Your team must track down the emotional stories that will make your district rise above the rest.  And when you do find these impactful stories, you will see engagement with your content go through the roof. 

Read my post: Visual Storytelling: Part 3 - Tell a Story

2. Unlock Your Education Influencers

Your department is no longer the public relations department or the District Communications Department. Your department is the whole district.  Use the experts in your district to tell your stories and create your content.

We are not all experts of everything in education, but I do know there is someone in your district that can make you look like you are. Influencers are a huge talking point for the future of marketing.  Lucky for us we have a whole district full of them.

We have educators, administrators, parents, senior citizens, students, voters, and many different community members that can tell a much better story about their niche than we can.  Use them… and don’t hide that you are using them. People tend to trust outsiders rather than listen to a paid spokesperson.

Make a list of all of you influencers and start tapping into their expertise.  Have them write a blog post, or maybe give a testimonial.  Utilize their power to make your district standout.  

3. Paid Social to Engage

The dreaded algorithm… Facebook has it. Instagram has it.  Twitter is developing one.  Sooner than later we are not going to be able to reach everyone we want to reach. It is going to eventually lead us to paying to play on social media.

Yes, you are going to have your moments of a stellar organic vial post, but that is not the norm anymore.  Social media advertising is going to be key in reaching what we want to reach.

The beauty of social media advertising is that can pinpoint a niche that we want to target with our promotions or ads.  Did you know on Facebook you could send an ad to mothers who have two kids that have researched private schools in a certain zip code? You can even narrow it down to if they watch General Hospital in the last week. Niche targeting is a very powerful tool.  Use it to your advantage.

Watch a video on my thoughts of Social Media in School District

4. You Must Have Video

Video is a must! What was once a nice to have in school districts due to the large cost and massive undertaking is now vital tool to communicate with your community.

Video does not have to be a Hollywood production. Your smartphone is a powerful tool that allows you to plan, film, edit, and publish your video masterpiece.  Story is key, with good sound quality a close second. You image is not as important as you might think. 

Read my post: Camera Basics to Tell a Better Story

So many people are use to smart phone videos that having an expensive camera for your productions is a thing of the past. Nobody cares if you are Steven Spielberg, as long as you tell a compelling story they can understand and hear.

Live streaming video on your social platforms is a must in 2017.  Facebook, Twitter, and now Instagram all have some form of a live video component.  Live video is becoming so important that for the first time, Facebook has invested millions in television commercials to promote Facebook Live.

Read my post: 12 Easy Facebook Live for Your District 

5. Develop a Strategy Around Your Analytics

There is no excuse not to study your analytics while making decisions about your school district’s marketing. There are so many powerful tools that are free and easy to use. Data is a very powerful mechanism that should drive your strategy.

Your districts first step is to make sure your website is connected with Google Analytics. It does not matter if you did not create your own website. Apply this free tool from Google on all of your sites.

Your second task is to make sure you are using your insights and analytics within your social media platforms. It is vital that you know which posts and tweets are having the biggest impact with your followers.

Once you have mastered some of the free analytic reports, it might be a good idea to use some pay services that dig deeper into your data. Sprout Social, HootSuite and Buffer are some tools you might consider. The key is not to be afraid of data, but embrace your data.

Read my post: My 6 Job title Predictions for School PR 

Part Two Coming Soon

These are my first five trends in school marketing for 2017.  Make sure to check back next week when I reveal my next five trends. Have a safe and relaxing winter break. 

Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

My Top 5 Books I Read in 2016

For as long as I can remember I always preferred non-fiction, business books to fiction novels.  I always had a thirst for knowledge.  This year was no exception as my favorite books I read this year are all marketing books.

I read many books for my job that deal with education, but my true passion is marketing. My top five books for 2016 concentrate on content marketing, digital marketing and analytics.  One of the top five books was even written by a graduate of the very district I work for.

So without further delay, in no order, here are my top five books of 2016:

1. Welcome to the Funnel by Jason Miller

I got to here Jason speak at Social Media Marketing World 2016 and really enjoyed his passion for marketing and rock and roll.  While I was at the conference, I picked up his book and had it read before I left San Diego. Very nice ideas about content marketing and social media.

Buy the Book Here: Welcome to the Funnel

From Amazon.com

Raising brand awareness, building trust, establishing credibility, and ultimately driving revenue, that’s what the top of the funnel is all about. It can be a marketer’s “Paradise City”, but without focus, it can quickly become overwhelming. The one-two punch of social media and content marketing is a vital part of any successfully integrated marketing approach. If you are not pairing these two powerhouses together then you are simply missing opportunities to grow your business. The tactics and strategies in this book have come together through a tremendous amount of research, trial and error, expert input, and real world applications. 

From startups to enterprise—what’s included here works across the board and can very quickly make an impact. Just like your favorite double album, this book is separated into four sides, each one addressing a different aspect of Content and Social Media.

2. Momentum by Shama Hyder

I have been a fan of Shama since her first book The Zen of Social Media Marketing. Like her bio says, she is one of the top voices in marketing and social. She is also a graduate of the district I currently work in. Her book is chock full of great digital marketing examples to use in your own business or school district.

Buy the Book Here: Momentum

From Amazon.com

Today's online ecosystem can be summed up in one word: overwhelming. With new social media platforms popping up all the time and new technologies disrupting even the most “reliable” marketing strategies, business and nonprofit leaders and marketers are faced with the challenge of getting ahead in an environment that makes it seem impossible to keep up.

Momentum: How to Propel Your Marketing and Transform Your Brand in the Digital Age will help you figure out what’s important and what can safely be set aside. No matter your industry, if want to gain momentum for your marketing efforts—along with the just rewards—Momentum is the resource you’ve been waiting for. Based on her experience as CEO of The Marketing ZenGroup and her work with clients ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies, Shama Hyder cuts through the complexity and explains the five essential principles required to develop a successful marketing plan that will withstand the digital world’s constant changes and result in real ROI.

3. Content Inc. by Joe Pulizzi  

When I first fell in love the with the strategy of Content Marketing it was because of Joe Pulizzi and his book, Epic Content Marketing. He is the go to source for all things content marketing. I also highly recommend his podcasts called Content Inc. and This Old Marketing.

Buy the Book Here: Content Inc.

From Amazon.com

In Content Inc., one of today's most sought-after content-marketing strategists reveals a new model for entrepreneurial success. Simply put, it's about developing valuable content, building an audience around that content, and then creating a product for that audience.
Notice a shift?
 
Author Joe Pulizzi flips the traditional entrepreneurial approach of first creating a product and then trying to find customers. It's a brilliant reverse-engineering of a model that rarely succeeds.
 
The radical six-step business-building process revealed in this book is smart, simple, practical, and cost-effective. And best of all, it works. It's a strategy Pulizzi used to build his own successful company, Content Marketing Institute, which has landed on Inc. magazine's list of fastest growing private companies for three years straight. It's also a strategy countless other entrepreneurs use to build their own multi-million dollar companies. Build an audience and you'll be able to sell pretty much anything you want. 

4. The Analytical Marketer by Adele Sweetwood 

My professional goal for the year was to heighten my knowledge on analytics. I use Google Analytics, but I needed better background to really drive our districts strategies. This book not only discusses analytics, but it also explains how to build an organization around the concept. It is a great book for anyone wanting to expand their knowledge on the subject.

Buy the Book Here: The Analytical Marketer 

From Amazon.com

Analytics are driving big changes, not only in what marketing departments do but in how they are organized, staffed, led, and run. Leaders are grappling with issues that range from building an analytically driven marketing organization and determining the kinds of structure and talent that are needed to leading interactions with IT, finance, and sales and creating a unified view of the customer. The Analytical Marketer provides critical insight into the changing marketing organization—digital, agile, and analytical—and the tools for reinventing it.

Written by the head of global marketing for SAS, The Analytical Marketer is based on the author’s firsthand experience of transforming a marketing organization from “art” to “art and science.” Challenged and inspired by their company’s own analytics products, the SAS marketing team was forced to rethink itself in order to take advantage of the new capabilities that those tools offer the modern marketer. Key marketers and managers at SAS tell their stories alongside the author’s candid lessons learned as she led the marketing organization’s transformation. With additional examples from other leading companies, this book is a practical guide and set of best practices for creating a new marketing culture that thrives on and adds value through data and analytics.

5. #AskGaryVee by Gary Vaynerchuk

What's not to love about the fouled-mouth marketer from New York? Gary tells it how it is and what he is saying is always spot-on. His fast-growing Vayner Media is on of the fastest growing digital agencies in the country. His short burst of insights in his book are a great resource for any entrepreneur and marketer who wants to take the digital age by storm.

Buy the book Here: #AskGaryVee

From Amazon.com 

The New York Times bestselling author draws from his popular show #AskGaryVee to offer surprising, often outrageous, and imminently useful and honest answers to everything you’ve ever wanted to know—and more—about navigating the new world.

Gary Vaynerchuk—the inspiring and unconventional entrepreneur who introduced us to the concept of crush it—knows how to get things done, have fun, and be massively successful. A marketing and business genius, Gary had the foresight to go beyond traditional methods and use social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to reach an untapped audience that continues to grow.

#AskGaryVee showcases the most useful and interesting questions Gary has addressed on his popular show. Distilling and expanding on the podcast’s most urgent and evergreen themes, Gary presents practical, timely, and timeless advice on marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and everything else you’ve been afraid to ask but are dying to know. Gary gives you the insights and information you need on everything from effectively using Twitter to launching a small business, hiring superstars to creating a personal brand, launching products effectively to staying healthy—and even buying wine.

Whether you’re planning to start your own company, working in digital media, or have landed your first job in a traditional company, #AskGaryVee is your essential guide to making things happen in a big way.

What are your top choices for books in 2016? Leave your list in the comment section below or let me know on Twitter at @wheelercfb