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Promote a Positive School Image with Social Media Marketing for Admissions

January 11, 2023 | read
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These days, students and families aren’t simply inquiring at schools to decide if it’s the right fit—they are also looking for social proof. This means they are looking for input from existing students and families about their experience with your school.  

Social media can help your school provide positive social proof and act as an effective year-round admissions tool. Maintaining a presence on channels like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram is an excellent way to create connections with prospective families and give them insight into what it is like to be a part of your school community. Plus, you can repurpose social media content across multiple marketing channels. Did we mention it’s also free? 

Read on for tips and tricks to begin incorporating social media or improve upon your existing social media strategy to boost admissions.  

Social Media Channels and How to Use Them 

Determine what social media channels to use based on your target audience. For example, are you aiming to attract younger generations of families to apply at your school? If so, incorporating Instagram or TikTok into your social media strategy might be the right fit. Remember, it’s better to choose a few social media channels to post on consistently rather than trying to tackle all of them.  

Here is how you can use each channel: 

  •  Facebook: Share posts to your feed or stories, create and promote events, and engage with families via comments or direct messages (a great alternative to email for answering parent questions).  
  •  Instagram: Share photo or video content that showcases your school culture through posts to your feed or stories. Since Instagram is owned by Facebook, you can link both accounts and share Instagram stories and posts to Facebook too.  
  •  Twitter: Perfect for quick text-based updates, such as sharing admissions information and deadlines.  
  •  YouTube: Create long-form video content and easily repurpose it for various channels; embed the videos on your website and cut shorter clips for Facebook or Instagram posts. You can also optimize YouTube video titles and descriptions to include SEO keywords to boost awareness and reach.  
  •  TikTok: Showcase short-form videos like a tour of campus, student activities, or a day in the life of a student, and have students and staff answer common questions or give their opinion.  

Best Practice Tip: For all social media profiles, include a link to your school website or directly to your admissions information page in your bio. 

How to Use Social Media for Admissions 

Incorporate admissions social media content throughout the year to raise awareness and build a relationship with prospective families. As admissions season approaches, increase the promotion of admissions-focused resources on social media, like important deadlines, the application process, and answering common questions.  

We’ve compiled creative ideas that you can use to shape admissions social media content throughout the year.  

Get students involved! Most of your students likely have social media profiles of their own and are up to date with current social trends. Make the most of their knowledge by inviting them to get involved with creating content for the school’s social media pages. You may consider turning it into a student club or incorporating it into the student government!   

Create a school hashtag that can be used to share posts related to your school to promote brand recognition. Display the hashtag on your school website and in social media bios.  

Gather and feature testimonials on social media channels to provide social proof. These can be in the form of video testimonials or written quotes.  

Experiment with paid social, especially during admissions season. Look at what organic posts performed well and pay to boost them or create a similar post in a different format. Paid social media offers the opportunity to include a call to action (CTA) button, which you can use to drive traffic directly to your admissions website page. 

Showcase existing students, families, and staff and their perspectives on school culture, curriculum, and activities. You could turn this concept into a series that offers insight into what it’s like to attend your school. 

Re-purpose long-form content into social media posts. If you have a school blog, newsletter, or YouTube channel, take snippets of these assets to use as social media posts. This maximizes the effort you put into creating long-form content and drives traffic to multiple channels. For admissions, consider rounding up all existing admissions content—questions and answers, the application process, etc.— into a social media campaign.  

Integrate social media feeds on your website for an easy way for prospective families to find your social accounts and feature your students and staff on your website. You may also consider adding your social media channels to your staff’s email signatures and in other school communications, like a newsletter.  

Marketing for Admissions  

Whether you are looking to improve your social media strategy or implement other marketing tactics, Ravenna ADMIT is your partner in maximizing your marketing efforts to boost admissions. Looking for more school marketing tips? Read our guide to creating a successful admissions marketing plan

Linda Marquez

Linda Marquez

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