Six strategies to succeed in your educator social media marketing

Social Media Marketing Strategies

Social media marketing is an essential marketing tool for edtech companies and education publishers. 

On Twitter, out of the half billion tweets that are posted every day, 4.2 million are related to education. 

Last year Facebook launched the Educator Hub, designed to help educators find and build community, discover anti-racism resources, and learn about education tools and resources to support their teaching. 

The Pinterest for Teachers hub has 169,000 followers with many UK teachers using Pinterest to generate new ideas for classroom teaching particularly for Art, Science and Maths learning.

LinkedIn’s educator following continues to grow as does its reputation as a safe space for teachers to professionally connect and network, with 14 million educators from primary school teachers to University professors using the platform.*

So as marketers how can we successfully reach and engage with educators across social media?

*https://www.impactplus.com/blog/takeaways-from-linkedins-q2-report

1. Define the personas you are trying to reach

Are you trying to reach Classroom Teachers, Heads of Department or Headteachers? What types of schools are you trying to reach? What end-user age or key stage is your content aimed at? Is there a target region for your campaign? If you get specific about the target audience you are trying to reach, you can tailor your message to them, identify which social media platform will be best suited to your campaign and plan your strategy. 

2. Focus your messaging on end-user benefits

A LinkedIn survey found that educators mostly engaged with content that would help them become better at their jobs so that they could provide a better experience for their students. This means, as marketers, if we want to engage with educators, we need to ensure our messaging focuses on the positive impact of our product or service on the end user and not just the benefits for the educator.

3. Educators love video content!

Just as teachers like using video content in the classroom to educate their students, they also like to watch short, relevant videos on social media to learn more about new products or services, or how-to videos to gain new ideas for their teaching. The top two articles consumed on LinkedIn in a 2019 survey focusing on educators were videos. Make sure video is included in your social media marketing plans and that it’s easily shareable so that teachers can share with their peers. 

4. Teachers want free stuff!

Teachers are short of time and schools are short of funds, with 1 in 5 teachers in the UK using their own money to purchase school supplies*. An easy way to engage educators with your business is to share free resources that will help them do their jobs better and provide the best experience for their students. Free lesson plans, craft ideas, worksheets, flashcards, or free stationery promoted on social media in exchange for e-newsletter sign ups or used as competition prizes can make a huge impact on growing your reach and engagement quickly within the educator community. 

*https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/apr/19/one-in-five-teachers-using-own-money-for-school-supplies-report

5. Create a social media academic calendar

If you’re building a community of educators it is important to post content daily. You’ll also need to ensure you’re aware of all the key dates in the education calendar so you can be sure your posts are in sync with the academic year, holidays, annual events and your own social media campaigns. It’s worth scheduling your posts in advance so you can make sure you don’t miss any important events. There are a wide range of social media scheduling tools to choose from or most platforms have their own free scheduling tools available such as on Facebook and Instagram.

6. Use your brand advocates

67% of teachers are more likely to pay attention to user-generated content. If your campaign is going well and you’re already starting to see your brand or products being recommended then make sure you share it on your own social media networks or get users to tag you in their recommendations so that other educators can see it. You can also repurpose positive testimonials into shareable social media creatives or videos that can be used as part of your ongoing social media campaign. 

If you’re interested in learning more about social media marketing, check out our CAMPUS course.

Abby Coften is Head of Marketing at BookMachine Creative Agency – helping book publishers and education brands grow their business with stand out digital marketing, interactive training and unforgettable events. Abby has over 18 years’ experience in education marketing specializing in all aspects of digital marketing. If you need specialist help with your digital marketing contact us at BookMachine Creative Agency.

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