Since its inception in 2006, Twitter has become a platform for conversation worldwide. Whether it’s humorous commentary about what’s on TV or charged political debate, Twitter is all about short, snappy communication. It’s a great way to get a message across in a concise and engaging way. While Twitter isn’t the most popular social media platform with Gen Z (who prefer Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok) Twitter is still an important platform for schools to use as part of their social media marketing strategy.
How schools can increase Twitter engagement
- Write a brilliant bio
- Tweet regularly
- Interact with relevant tweets
- Follow and engage with similar accounts
Before we explain in more detail how to boost your engagement, let’s look at why Twitter is useful for schools.
Why is Twitter useful for schools?
Quick communication
Whether it’s an open evening, sporting success or unexpected snow day, Twitter allows you to quickly communicate with parents and students. While you should still send out email newsletters, Twitter is a fantastic way to instantly provide information in just a couple of sentences. Twitter is also incredibly versatile. You can tweet serious/informative announcements, fun, and lighthearted comments, or pictures and videos.
Increased reach
Prospective parents who haven’t heard of your school may come across you on Twitter. Interacting with other people’s tweets boosts your visibility so more people are likely to discover your profile. This can not only lead to more followers but more website traffic and real leads too.
Builds your digital brand
Social media accounts are like online portfolios for your school – they can make a great first impression. Ensure that your Twitter account is kept up-to-date and looks professional and informative while showcasing your school’s personality. Your school’s Twitter account (in fact, all its social media accounts) should be like extensions of your school website or brochure.
With parents conducting research mainly online these days, it’s never been so important to embrace social media. However, with so many platforms, all with their own algorithms and features, it can be tricky to know exactly what to do for each of them. Here’s how to increase engagement on Twitter specifically.
How schools can increase Twitter engagement
Write a brilliant bio
Your Twitter bio needs to instantly capture your target audience in order to translate the profile view into a follow, and perhaps even a click to your website. Use the what, who, where rule:
- What are you? For example, a boarding school.
- Who are you for? For example, 11-18 year old boys.
- Where are you? For example, Surrey.
Is there anything else that makes your school stand out? Try to mention that too – however, don’t cram information in!
Don’t forget to include a link to your website. You could even create a landing page specifically for prospects who come from Twitter.
Tweet regularly
If you’re first starting out, post about a wide variety of things to find out what does well and what your audience wants to see. For example, if a video of your school’s football team winning a match gets a lot of likes and retweets, try to post a similar video once a week to keep your engagement high.
Alongside the lighthearted and entertaining content, remember to post key news and information for parents too. You can use a tool like Hootsuite or Later to schedule lots of tweets in advance.
If you’ve been at Twitter for a while and haven’t seen great results, try switching up your strategy. Test posting at different times of day, or change the type of content you’re posting.
Engage with people
Like most social media platforms, the Twitter algorithm rewards you for interacting. Put simply, the more time you spend engaging on Twitter, the more likely it is that Twitter will show your profile to a relevant audience.
Try to like, retweet, and comment on as many relevant posts as you can (preferably to do with the school community) and respond to all the comments that you get.
Follow and interact with similar accounts
It’s especially important to interact with other schools and educational organisations as well as local businesses and parent groups. This will get you more engagement in return and therefore your school will come upon more people’s feeds, leading to more followers and leads.
If you would like more professional tips on marketing your schools do get in touch with the Digithrive For School’s team who are always happy to help. contact us here