Who’s online?

Smartphone ownership has become more common than ever in teen life, with 95% of teens now reporting that they own a smartphone or have access to one. This easy access to the internet, of course, leads to a much higher involvement in online activities. In fact, 45% of teens now say they are online on a near-constant basis!

Back in 2012, on the other hand, only 66% of 16-24 year olds owned a smartphone. At this time, back in 2012, the number of active Facebook users surpassed one billion, making it the first social network ever to do so! Whilst you may remember those days of Facebook being the most popular social media platform around, with teens glued to the site almost every waking moment - those days are now over! Facebook has now lost many teenagers from both the UK and the US, as mobile social networks like Instagram and Snapchat have really begun to take over. Now that such a high number of these young people are in possession of smartphones, it’s no wonder that they are turning to social networks like these, which were designed specifically for mobile devices, as opposed to Facebook, which was predominantly a desktop site.

But it’s not only teens whose smartphone ownership has increased dramatically since that time. The majority of parents with children currently in school are also smartphone-users, with 95% of 25-34 year olds and 91% of 35-54 year olds also now owning smartphones, compared to only 60% and 42%, back in 2012.

So, what are teens & parents using today?

It’s clear that social networks are now at a stage of maturity where they are appealing to almost all age groups, in different ways. However, Instagram and Snapchat are obvious exceptions to this and are mostly more popular with younger age groups. Whilst Facebook is still technically the most popular social network in terms of active users, the younger generation is certainly beginning to move away from this and more toward more mobile apps.

In terms of how we are sharing social media, the line between social networking and messaging apps is constantly blurring, with teens just a click away from sharing their thoughts with not only their followers/friends on various sites, but also directly to their friends via direct messages. Thanks to our desire to often message privately like this, many existing social networks have adapted and expanded to accommodate for this, adding private messaging functions to enable a faster and more direct approach to sharing content.

Facebook

Facebook still stands as the most populated social network. This is no surprise, as they are constantly updating and expanding to try to include more and more functions and features. The site allows users to share photos, videos and other content, to sell items on their ‘marketplace,’ and also to privately message other users. Having recently added ‘stories’ too, following the success of this feature on Snapchat and Instagram, it’s clear that the network is making every attempt to keep up and remain relevant and active in youngsters, who have mostly moved over to being active on other social networks at this point.

However, as it currently stands, Facebook is significantly more favoured by a slightly older audience of 23-37 year olds, with an estimated 80% of respondents within the age bracket using the platform regularly, so parents in this age group are extremely likely to be active on the network. However, it has been predicted that various fake news and data breach issues currently circulating the channel may prompt many users to turn away. 2018’s algorithm changes even prompted Facebook to state that they expect users to spend less time on the site as a result.

Twitter

It has been reported that 81% of millennials check Twitter at least once per day. The site allows for direct messaging alongside its primary use (sharing Tweets and media), but also is likely popular due to the novelty of being able to mention anyone’s Twitter handle in a Tweet. This means that a user can interact with their favourite celebrities who - elsewhere - would usually be unreachable. For younger users, this can be exciting and can allow them to feel closer to their favourite musicians, sports stars and other celebrities, giving the illusion of some kind of connection, when they are retweeted or liked by one of these stars.

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?

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

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is an important consideration to take when working on websites. It is the way we optimise how websites are set up and the content that populates them to rank them better on search engines.

If someone searches for your school on Google (or another search engine), you want your school to be the top result! SEO is important for your school website; we want you to have a strong presence online in our digitally-led world.

Well into 2018, we have seen the algorithms and techniques for SEO change. To keep on top of things, here are 10 SEO tips for schools:

Website SEO tips

[1] Optimised homepage: ensuring that your homepage meets SEO best practice is a vital step in boosting your site's ranking. The main aim is to ensure that keywords and page title is correct.

Keywords should only be used once per page, otherwise you will be competing against other pages for ranking. For the homepage, you will want to look at keywords like:

• school name (i.e. Interactive & School)

• type of school (i.e. Independent & Preparatory / Senior / Secondary / Primary etc.)

Page title should be the name of your school.

[2] URLs

In a similar vein, using good practice across your URLs will help with SEO. The page's title should match (or at least make up the core of the URL) as it moves through the different levels of your sitemap.

The doors are once more open! Pupils and staff, old and new, are filing back in. Classes, which stood so eerily quiet only a few weeks ago, are open again for business. Yes! Welcome #BackToSchool.

So, as the education machine rolls into action once more, you are likely facing a giant - and still growing - list of tasks. But do not fear! We are here to help out.

Let’s get straight into in then, with the @intSchools #BackToSchool Marketing Checklist for 2018-19.

What marketing trends should I be looking at?

The realms (and channels) for marketing are changing at an incredible rate. To stay ahead, schools and their marketing teams need to adapt too.

Social media is constantly evolving. What worked well last year may prove to be less impactful this year. Here are the marketing trends you should be making a note of this academic year:

• Voice OS:

  • Test your school on voice search

  • Does Alexa, Google, Siri know your school?

  • Can you ask "Alexa, what time does the school concert start tonight?". If not, find out how we can build an Alexa Skills App for your school - email alexa@interactiveschools.com.

• Virtual / Augmented Reality:

  • Are your classes making the most of the most modern #EdTech innovations?

  • Does your website offer a virtual tour?

  • Could VR be ‘perfect’ for education?

• ChatBots:

  • Have you thought about utilising ChatBots to help your community find answers on your website / parent portal / apps / social media?

• Google Analytics:

  • Do you track goals / conversions from your website?

  • Do you have a dashboard set up to monitor key metrics and visitor behaviours? Do you receive these reports weekly?

  • If no, how can you best understand your audience and refine marketing and site content appropriately?

Website and parent comms

Knowing which trends are hitting the sweet spots in marketing right now is essential. But what about the more constant areas, such as your school website and parent comms (i.e. your email newsletter)? Be sure to consider each of these carefully, to make the most of them.

• Website / Creative:

  • Is your website truly ✨stand out✨ and reflect your school?

  • Visit your school website 'for the first time' and imagine you are a prospective parent - maybe even ask a friend!

  • What emotions do you feel when viewing your current creative campaigns?

  • Is your site speed 'excellent'? Test on Google Speed Test.

  • We are showcasing our incredible portfolio every day on Twitter - #WebsiteShowcase. Take a look. We can deliver this for you.

• Email newsletter:

  • Does your weekly parent newsletter takes longer than 5 minutes to put together? If not, speak to our team ;-)

• Review your Google Search:

  • Have you reviewed your search engine results page (SERP) on Google? What links comes up?

  • Does your school have a 'Knowledge Panel'?

  • Correct logo?

  • Social icons displaying?

  • Review your presence on Mumsnet and other forums/directories

  • Do you control most of the first page? E.g. are the links mostly 'owned media' - your website, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter etc.

  • Learn more about Search Engine Results Pages (and how to influence them).

The #BackToSchool Strategy

How about the big part… the strategy that leads all this?! This is the most important part to implement and maintain.

It will undoubtedly change as the year goes on - meeting the demands and changes of your school - so we have 5 Interactive Schools inspired actions to take, that really kick off the new year:

1. Does your marketing STAND OUT? What will make you different from your competitors? Social is BIG! You can't afford to be a needle in the haystack. To have impact, you need to have emotional impact on every stakeholder: parents, pupils, prospective families, teachers (plus future staff!), alumni, and the wider community. 

2. Does your social naming match throughout? Your social handle is your new .com domain - it’s how people will find you, and what you will display on your advertising. This becomes a direct representation of your brand on social media. Have a consistent name across every channel.

3. Do you have a content strategy framework ready to use at your school? This should cover all the details such as:

• what to post

• when to post

• who posts

• where it is posted

• ratio of school-related posts to non-school-related posts

• who oversees the profiles.

If you don't have one then make sure you define one. This will essentially be a one-stop guide for you to refer to when considering the coming social media marketing plan.

We can also help with this! We offer social media training to at both a marketing and school-wide level - how about inviting us in for an INSET or school training day?

4. Is your process to communicate with parents streamlined? This isn't just about responding to queries raised by parents on social media. It is about how you get information to them. Take your school email newsletter. Does it take ages to put the newsletter together? Do you use analytics to determine the impact of your newsletter? Do parents even read the newsletter, or does it go straight through to spam? All a parent is interested in is a mention of THEIR child - how can you deliver these personalised stories?

5. Do you have an audit process in place to make sure content is only published once? Nothing looks more unprofessional than duplicated content. We often see schools link their different social platforms (such as Facebook and Twitter, or Facebook and Instagram). While this does save time it does take away social authority. People don't want to see the same stuff, they want to be engaged with lots of different media!

Need more help? Speak to our team

We hope that this guide has aided you in your #BackToSchool preparations. We'll be keeping our ear to the ground for all your #SchoolStories.

We'd love to hear from you, please leave comments or thoughts about social media marketing and this article below.

Cinemagraphs are a fun and exciting way to add a little bit of gravitas to your content. Captivating and inspirational to your audience, they provide a different dynamic; a new way to look at art and an interactive, visual form to work with. A cinemagraph is a living image - a still photograph that contains an element of movement looped seamlessly to create a never ending moment. It is a mixture of both photo and video and creates something magical by tricking the mind into thinking it’s seeing something truly different.

In short, they can breathe life (or bubbles) into a piece of content to give it that real WOW factor.