Magazine January 2019

8 tips to boost your
presence on social media
Social media is fast becoming an essential part of running a
successful childcare business. It doesn’t matter how big or small
your business is, you need to ensure that it has a prominent and
positive presence online to ensure parents and carers can access
information about your business easily.
But where do you start and how can you be sure that parents will
interact with you? Well, here are a few tips to get you started.
7. Keep everything connected
Add links to your social media pages
from your website and email signatures.
This way, existing and prospective
parents will both be able to click
straight through to find out what kind of
information is directly available to them.
Some might not even realise your setting
is on Facebook/Twitter and will be keen
to follow you!
Speak to parents about your channels
and encourage them to follow you.
Include a social feed on your website:
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter all
have functionality to do this! Speak to
your web manager if you need help.
8. Post frequently
1. Choose the right networks
With so many different options out there
it is hard to know what social network
is best. It is important to have an
understanding of what channels your
target audience is using, so speaking to
your existing customers is a great way
of getting an insight into this.
Each social network has its strengths
and weaknesses. It is always a good
idea to understand each social platform
and which one will give you the best
results. We have highlighted a few uses
for each here.
Twitter
Twitter is great for fast paced
businesses, it is great for posting:
• Breaking news
• Important messages
• Announcements
• Other up-to-date information
Twitter is also a great platform for posting
content like lists, articles and quotes.
Facebook
Facebook is the largest social platform in
the world, boasting more than 2 billion
active monthly users. Facebook works
well for:
• Lead-generation
• Advertising
• Building relationships with
customers
Just about anything can be posted on
Facebook, from images to videos and
textual content.
Instagram is also image heavy and it has
a younger audience. This is great for :
• Telling your story
• Engagement
• Competitions and giveaways
• Promotions
Pinterest
Users can upload, save, sort, and manage
images - known as ‘pins’ - and other media
content (e.g. videos) through collections/
categories known as ‘pin boards’.
This is great for generating ideas for
different activities/crafts within your
setting.
YouTube
YouTube is ideal for businesses
that produce videos, tutorials and
educational information, such as:
• Crafts
• Educational tutorials
• How-tos
2. Know what you want to post
and who you are posting it to
Before posting anything, consider:
• Who your audience is
• What topics and subjects your
audience is interested in
• Using content you already have –
blogs, images, testimonial and videos
• When and on what platforms
content will be published – what
time of day are your audience most
likely to be online?
3. Be human
In the digital world it can sometimes be
hard to stand out, and one of the worst
mistakes you can make on your social
media channels is to not showcase your
company’s personality/values.
People want to get to know you and
your company, and when looking at your
social channels, ‘robotic’ posts won’t
showcase your setting in the best light.
Showing off the human side of your
company means showing off the faces
behind the posts, which in this case will
be the people working with the children
each day. This will give parents and
carers an insight into your setting, its
values and ethos, it’s a great selling
tool for your business, and
helps build relationships
– not just followers.
4. Use relevant tags
Including the right hashtags with
your post can help boost visibility and
engagement; why?
Hashtags help categorise content,
making your posts more discoverable. If
anyone searches for a specific hashtag,
all posts with this hashtag will be shown.
A website like Ritetag is great for finding
relevant hashtags for your posts.
5. Reply to your followers
Don’t underestimate the importance of
interaction. People love being tweeted
or replied to via social media by the
companies that interest them. Every
time someone mentions, replies to, or
comments on one of your posts, you
should reply and try to start a conversation.
If you don’t have time to manage this
aspect of social media, you should look at
hiring someone specifically to look after
your pages in this way. Missed comments
could be missed opportunities and no
business can afford that!
6. Use pictures
The more visual, the better. You want
to catch the eye of those taking a
quick glimpse of their social media
timelines and images are the best
way to attract their attention. In fact,
research has shown that 39% more
people engage with posts that contain
pictures on Facebook compared to
those which don’t. You can also put
together eye-catching infographics
(information graphics) to display small
chunks of information and direct people
to your business website. Free tools
such as Easel.ly are a great way to
get you started on making your own
infographics.
Did you know?
We can help you with social media!
Make sure you get the right balance
between when you’re posting and
what you’re posting. We recommend
ensuring you have at least 1 post a
day on Facebook to keep customer
interaction high (for example a blog
post) and then any extra updates to be
posted alongside this. Whilst on Twitter,
anything up from about 5 a day is
recommended, however, you can repeat
posts more frequently without losing
followers because of the fast-moving
nature of the platform.
Some quick tips to help you stay active
include:
• Automating and scheduling social
posts will save time and energy
• Picking and prioritising your social
networks based on where your
audience go to find information
• Finding ways to repurpose content
so you don’t always have to reinvent
the wheel
Being social media savvy is a key
ingredient to expanding your business’s
online presence and making yourself
available to your target audience. It
provides you with the perfect tool to
increase your occupancy and keep up
with parents – and it’s free!
We’ll set up your Facebook or Twitter account for you, so you can promote
your setting in a professional way. We’ll help you get started using your social
media account, and also make sure you’re comfortable managing it.
Take a look at our website to find out more information on how we can help you.
30 Parenta.com Sources: Sprout Social, Motivated Marketing, Yotpo, Hootsuite, Digital Marketing Institute, Social Media Explorer
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