Last year (2018), data protection became one of world’s most discussed topics, hitting headlines as technology leaders were held to account about the issue in the US. Luckily for us this side of the pond, 2018 saw new legislation that helps protect our user data and privacy - the General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR.

We cared about it so much that “What is GDPR?” became one of top Google searches in the UK last year. To give a simple overview, under GDPR law, anyone holding personal data must be clear in what data they hold, and what they do with it - this includes names, email addresses and any other data that is considered to be personal. It also gives consumers power to request all data that a company holds on them and also the right to be removed from databases - no questions asked.

There’s been a lot of information about GDPR - but what does it mean specifically for school marketing? Just before GDPR came into legislation, we published 7 priorities to make your #SchoolWebsite GDPR compliant, but now that GDPR has been in legislation for a while, here are a few trends we’ve noticed that may have affected you:

Your #SchoolWebsite became secure

Why have an open day?

When planning any event we have to consider the purpose of the event. One question that we encourage schools to ask themselves is:

If we were a company, what would our product be, and how would we market it?

An open day is an opportunity to show off what you have to offer and provide guests with something tangible to take away from it. There are around 2600 independent schools in the UK, so how can yours stand out? Open days are a chance to portray the school brand, after all. School open days create “a first impression that can last a lifetime”.

It is important to make an open day a personalised experience. One way to achieve this is by creating an immersive open day experience - bearing in mind the different objectives you wish to reach. For instance, a prospective parent will be interested in the nitty-gritty questions whereas a prospective student will want an experience to be able to fall in love with the school and their #SchoolStories.

How to make your open day extra special

[1] Creative Concept:

Each of our #InspiringSchools has their own creative concept which should be promoted at open days. For instance, James Allen Girls’ School use portraits as their creative concept. At their open day, they used large photo frames at the entrances to encourage parents and prospective students to take photos and personalise the concept.

Here is a creative print that was used by JESS Dubai at their open day.

So, What is Instagram?

Instagram is a social media platform that typically focuses on media and videos and has a square image format. Similar to Facebook and Twitter, on Instagram you have something called a ‘feed’ where you can follow, like, and comment on content and media that you find engaging. Much like on twitter, you can follow people that you don’t know, as well as celebrities and influencers.

Instagram is one of the most popular platforms that is used today, especially amongst Millennials (people born between 1981 and 1996). It is also a platform where you can showcase photography, art, music and even try your hand at food blogging. As part of our social media strategy at ‘Interactive Schools’, we encourage our clients and schools to use this platform to their advantage by uploading pictures and #SchoolStories in a creative and effective way - the purpose is to use Instagram as more of a highlight reel and best bits. Art and photography can be showcased here, anything that is visually appealing, highlighting creativity and inspiration will work well here.

Stories:

There are so many ways to utilise Instagram stories to promote your school, these ‘stories’ only last 24 hours max. However, if there is something that you would like to highlight, you can still save these stories onto your profile.

Hashtags:

You can tag your post with a #hashtag (much like on Twitter), you'll be able to tap the hashtag to see a page that shows all photos and videos people have uploaded with that hashtag. Keep in mind that when people with private profiles tag posts, they won't appear publicly on hashtag pages.

Showcases:

January is a great month to not only look ahead to the coming year, but to also reflect on the year that has gone by. What impacts did it have? What can we learn from it?

Let’s begin with our 2018 #SchoolMarketing Trends & Predictions.

[1] Chatbots

Chatbots had been widely used in a variety of industries - but are yet to filter through to schools.

We have been testing chatbot experiences for schools, whether that’s for current parents or prospective parents.

Here’s a couple of examples that can be integrated into your website and messaging platforms (e.g. Facebook Messenger)

• Current Parents - “When is the next half term break?”

• Prospective Families - “Do you have bursary options?”

The key is to make people aware they are in conversation with a bot - and not a human.

[2] Voice Assistants

Amazon say over 100 million Alexa devices have been sold so far (wow!). Alexa is being installed into almost every type of home product - cars, fridges, mirrors, decorations, chairs, toilets (yes, really).

The number of Voice Assistants had certainly proliferated in 2018, and we expect this to continue into 2019 too,

[3] New Video Formats

Vertical video exploded in 2018 with many publishers adopting mobile-first content creations.

Other video ‘tactics’ cemented themselves too, including meme bars and caption overlays.

We also witnessed more schools harness the power of 360 VR experiences, and live streaming.

[4] Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality

Consumer AR/VR continued to grow in the last 12 months, with more devices and content being release. The highly anticipated Magic Leap was released following $2.3 billion in investment.

Want to see how AR/VR is being used in the classroom? Take a look at the thread on Twitter #ARVRinEDU

With any new consumption device, there needs to be compelling content available. Fortunately, this is being produced - particularly in education.

[5] Internet of Things

2018 was the year of smart devices. Amazon claim there are 28,000 smart home devices that work with Alexa.

That’s going to continue into 2019 and beyond - and you can view more about smart tech in the trends/predictions below.

[6] #SchoolMarketing Automation

We’ve seen schools adopt more automation as part of their admissions and parent engagement process. Whether that’s through Mailchimp, Hubspot, or any other CRM/Email platform.

Many of our schools have stripped the time taken to produce newsletters from 8+ hours per week to just a 5 minute process.

This is also true of wider integrations with your MIS, calendar, fixtures, payments, and other school systems.

[7] Messaging vs. Social Media

Social media engagement has transitioned into private messaging - through Instagram/Twitter DMs, WhatsApp, FB Messenger.

Has your school tried WhatsApp Broadcasts yet? Read on for more…

2019 Predictions & Trends

[1] Podcasts

Podcasts have been on a growth trajectory for the last few years - but are still not a staple in every company’s #ContentStrategy. This is surprising considering almost 50% of the US population listen to podcasts.

We suspect this will change in 2019.

Ideas for your school:

• Students reading news articles (maybe in different languages, if you have an international community)

• Advice and insights for parents

• Teacher insights and ideas

• Leadership episodes for deputies, assistants, Heads.

[2] Newsletters

Who’d have thought email would make a come-back? Although we get bombarded with emails, there is a still a market for niche-newsletters that serve a specific need.

In the #SchoolMarketing world, we find newsletters being one of the top ways to engage with current parents and prospective families. Our client newsletters frequently receive 70+% engagement rates.

[3] Micro Influencers

It’s rare to go on to Instagram without seeing your favourite influencer posing with a protein shake, latest camera gear, a new bag, recommendations on airlines - and just about anything to advertise!

The influencer marketing world has opened up a world of possibilities for marketers and content-creators. The Instagram influencer industry alone is valued at $1.6 billion.

We expect companies/agencies to reallocate money from mainstream influencers to those with 1-10k followers (micro-influencers who have a smaller but highly engaged community).

[4] Privacy (DuckDuckGo etc.)

An interesting year for Facebook, right…?

As more people become concerned about their privacy and what large tech companies do with their data, we suspect more privacy-based platforms to emerge and grow.

DuckDuckGo (a privacy focussed search engine) has seen its traffic grow 10x in the last 5 years.

Whilst still accounting for a small percentage of school website traffic, it’s still important to be aware of these channels and the presence that your school website has.

When was the last time your searched for your school on DuckDuckGo?

[5] Smart Everything…

It’s rare to see a day go by without a NEW smart device for your home.

In the first few days on 2019, we have seen:

• Smart Toilet - Kohler release a smart toilet that promises a ‘fully immersive experience’

• Smart Plank of Wood - Hands on with Mui

• Smart Ring - Motiv’s Fitness Ring

• Smart Oven - Smart counter-top oven identifies food and cooks it for you

We’re already building experiences upon the leading IoT platforms/assistants to connect with parents in the channel of choice.

Have you thought about integrating your website with smart devices?

[6] Emerging Content Channels

We’ve had many of years of the usual suspects - Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat - and a lack of breakout apps recently.

Below are a list of emerging platforms to check out:

• Twitch (Gaming)

• TikTok (Previously Musical.ly)

• Byte (NEW in 2019) a new looping video app from the creator of Vine

As ever, we will continue to keep your school up to date with new apps/platforms through our #SchoolBytes newsletter.

We recommend understanding emerging channels. If they break out, then you will have a head start in the tactics and language that works - and even if they do not, some of the attributes may end up in more popular apps (e.g. Stories originally from Snapchat).

Your school should also reserve its URL/handle. Even if you do not end up using it, you still own your brand name.

#SchoolMarketing Trends & Predictions

[1] Greater Insights & Real-Time Reporting

With a plethora of data out there, it’s easy to get lost in the noise.

We believe schools will harness data discovery to make more informed decisions and to increase conversions.

Every #SchoolMarketer should have a second screen for monitoring and real-time reporting. Add it to your budget for your Bursar ;-)

[2] Focus on Creative, Narrative, & Experiences

Every school says ‘we are different!’ - yet look and sound exactly the same as every other school.

Since we launched our dedicated creative studio to craft UX design magic, we have witnessed increases in admissions enquiries and student numbers with our clients.

How can you increase student numbers? Craft in inspiring narrative that captures the essence of your school - and tell that story consistently across every touch point you have with a prospective family.

It’s no longer just about a website - but the whole experience at every stage of the prospective journey.

[3] WhatsApp Broadcasts

With more and more parents using WhatsApp (we’re sure you have parents in private groups!), schools will start to add this to their parent comms mix more in 2019 and beyond.

WhatsApp Broadcasts are lists of recipients you can send regular (broadcast) messages to.

While this may seem similar to a WhatsApp Group, the major difference is that people cannot see other people in the same Broadcast List (making it far more private and secure).

This can be useful for the whole school, specific year groups, or boarding houses.

Find out more about WhatsApp Broadcasts for schools.

[4] Voice

We’ve spent the last 18 months working on voice strategies with a selection of our clients. 12 months ago, we launched our Amazon Alexa Skill that allows parents to interact with the school via their Alexa-enabled device.

“Alexa, what time is the school concert tonight?”

With 40% of adults using voice search each day, it’s essential to add voice to your SEO strategy.

What does Siri, Alexa, Cortana, Google Assistant already know about your school?

Social media is a vital tool that schools should be making the most of these days! The ability to reach large audiences, both within and external to your community, is a core facet of your school's marketing efforts.

Being active on social media is key. In our #SocialAdvent challenges, we aim to encourage schools to try out all kinds of social devices, hopefully inspiring them to find a few favourites and keep experimenting with them throughout next year.

Yes, #SocialAdvent is back for 2018… And it's bigger and better than ever before! 

For 25 days, we set a different challenge each day. These challenges will help guide you in new ways to create content or use different areas of social media more effectively. The idea is that you will be able to share content that your community will be interested in.

You’ve likely heard of (and perhaps even using) WhatsApp, a popular messaging app that allows you to you easily communicate with people. It’s a free app that works in a similar way to Instant Messenger. You can chat with friends, clients, business partners - and even create ‘groups’ so you can message multiple people at once. All you need is a mobile device or tablet with an internet connection and you’re golden!

With mobile tech, we have so many tools readily available at our fingertips to connect with people all over the world.

WhatsApp Broadcast

Even though you may use WhatsApp all the time, you may not be aware that you can create something called a WhatsApp Broadcast. And before we begin, this does not have to be a message sent to all of your contacts that starts of with, “If you don’t pass this on it will bring you 7 years bad luck”

For the marketing department in a school, the new academic year brings the opportunity to review the calendar of events to begin preparing marketing strategies. When it comes to evaluating the success and audience of your content and campaigns, it has never been easier with analytics tools.

Why track analytics?

Putting out regular content on your website and social media is important to reach your parents, pupils and staff, because this is where your audience are on a daily basis. Naturally, you will want your audience to grow, attract new pupils, parents and staff, whilst also interacting with your existing audience.  Analysing your content and audience provides power to grow.

Each year, schools all around the world share their inspiring #SchoolStories throughout December. Each day, there's a new challenge to tackle and share with your community. We call it #SocialAdvent.

Will you be taking part?

The #SocialAdvent Challenge 2018

December has been a firm favourite at @intSchools HQ over past years. We put a lot of time into making this challenge as fun as possible for all schools and teaching professionals, who want to get involved.

This year, we are looking to make our fifth #SocialAdvent challenge - can you believe it - the greatest one yet, with a record number of participants across a global audience. To make it extra special, our creative Jedi have been hard at work - coming up with and designing a bigger, better and up-to-date #SocialAdvent, to help spread festive cheer throughout December. 

Get involved!

Download the #SocialAdvent Calendar using the links below. We have created two versions for you:

• poster - download and stick to your wall

• foldable desk calendar - download, fold in half and keep on your desk

Augmented Reality (AR) is the result of using tech to superimpose images, text and sounds on the world that we see. A great example of AR, that many of us will recognise because of its incredible impact back in 2016, is Pokémon GO.

Chatbots have had a notable impact across tech industries. Utilising current advancements in AI, chatbots are tools that simulate conversation to provide assistance and learning.

Many of us will likely have interacted with a chatbot at some point, the more likely places being voice assistants (such as Siri, Amazon Alexa, Google Home or Microsoft Cortana) or via messaging apps (like Facebook Messenger or WeChat).

So what possible applications could chatbots have in the education sector…in schools? Could we use these as tools for learning in the classroom? What about for admissions or marketing? Let’s take a look.

In the Classroom