10 Reasons Why your Language School’s Social Media isn’t Working  

Nowadays, marketing language courses with social media is a fundamental part of language school marketing. You are aware of this, you are using social media to get students for your language school but …it isn’t working.

Here are some examples:

• You post a lovely video of your language school, and you get lots of likes but there are no enrolments. 
• Your post about a new course starting at an amazing offer but no enquiries come in.
• You spend a couple of hours doing a Reel of your summer camp but nobody signs up for the presentation of the summer programme….

Do you relate to at least one of the above situations?

If yes, unfortunately, your language school’s social media isn’t working for you. For this reason, you understandably feel frustrated and jump to the conclusion that maybe social media isn’t a valid language school marketing tool.

 A language school owner told me:

Why should I read this blog post?

So if you too feel frustrated and if you are wondering why your language school’s social media isn’t working you are not alone! However, you have an advantage! If you are reading this blog post then:

• You are aware of this and decided to take action.
• You will find out why marketing your language courses with social media isn’t bringing results and what can be done.

10 reasons why your language school’s social media isn’t working:

So here we go… Below there are 10 reasons why your language school’s social media isn’t working. Go through the list and tick mentally those that apply to you.

1. Lack of clear objectives
2. A lack of alignment with your language school marketing activity.
3. Posting on the wrong platform 
4. Content is irrelevant to your potential students or parents
5. Posting randomly
6. Poor posts graphics
7. Poor engagement
8. Posts don’t reflect your school’s identity
9. Posts don’t match the student’s journey
10. Your social network isn’t optimized

How many of the 10 reasons reflect your language school’s social media situation?

This could be a painful analysis but much needed to understand where you need to take action and what needs to be done.  So now let’s have a look at each point in detail to help you understand what needs to be done to get results from your language school marketing on social media?

1. Lack of clear objectives

First and foremost, you need to define clear objectives for your language school’s marketing on social media. Secondly, those objectives need to follow the S.M.A.R.T. approach:

Let me give you an example to inspire you:

Instead of saying: “I would like to grow my language school online presence.“

Say: “I would like to have 1000 followers on Instagram by the end of the year.“

By saying how many, which platform and by when the objective becomes specific and measurable. It is also achievable (you didn’t say 1million) and realistic.  You can track how many new followers you get through insights and it has got a time frame as well.

So now set yourself an objective and make it as S.M.A.R.T. as possible.

2. A lack of alignment with your language school marketing activity.

Social Media Marketing is part of a bigger picture and in order to make it work for you, it needs to be aligned and be talking to the other marketing activity in your school.

For example, your summer courses start in 6 weeks’ time. You’re planning to do presentations of your summer courses to parents so you need to start posting content that is relevant to their journey as a customer. This means that you will be talking about your facilities, results, testimonials, and so on. All the factors that will influence the parent to decide to sign up for the course presentation.

3. Posting on the wrong platform. 

There are various social media networks. Some social networks are really trendy and others are perceived as too serious. The tendency is to go for the latest trendy platform or the one that everyone uses. However, before you decide which is the best social media platform to use for your school you have to know who your potential students are and where THEY are on social media. I explain how to choose the best social media network for your language school marketing here.

4. Content is irrelevant to your potential students or parents.

While it is true that users are on social media to kill time and be entertained it is also true that they consume content that is of their interest. Just stop for a minute and think about what makes you stop the scroll? In order to post content that stops the scroll of your potential students, you have to create content that is relevant to THEM.

Ideally, the content will respond to their needs, and doubts and they will relate to it. If you post only what you like and think will be useful, it’s likely that you will not get their attention. For this reason, I always recommend creating your student’s avatar or personas. This will give you all the answers!

5. Posting randomly

Inconsistency in the posting frequency will affect the effectiveness of your language school’s social media regardless of the post ideas you have. On one hand, it is true that it’s better to post less than a lot but with no quality. On the other hand, it’s also true that regular posting will favour your account so the right strategy is consistency!

6. Poor posts graphics

For those social networks where photos and videos are a priority like Instagram, for example, it is fundamental that these are graphically engaging. Size matters on social media too! If you use Instagram for your language school marketing avoid posting dark photos. Also, avoid posts cramped with text. These do not work on this platform and are off-putting on most platforms.

7. Posts don’t reflect the school’s identity

Also, your posts should speak about your school’s identity so make sure you are using the logo, your school’s colours and fonts. If you want to make sure you are crafting posts for success sign up for Canva. Canva will help you transform your post ideas into unique posts easily! (The basic version is free!)

As well as this, ensure that the “tone of voice” used in your post copy is in line with your language school’s tone of voice.

8. Poor engagement

When marketing language courses on social media it is key to make sure you are engaging with your audience and with potential students. In practice, this means that you are at least replying to ALL comments on your posts. It would be ideal if you also liked and commented on your potential customers’ posts as well. The more you engage and the more meaningful your engagement is, the more visible you will become!

9. Posts don’t match the student’s journey

When doing Facebook ad campaigns for example you will generate interest and potential students will check you out on social media. Are your organic posts responding to all those questions that your potential students have to consider you?

There are various students’ journeys and for all of them, your posts should be aligned and support you!

10. Your social network isn’t optimized

It is really simple to create a page for your language school on social media. However, optimizing it takes it to a higher and more effective level. Well-optimized pages will help you lead traffic to the right place. I will also help you convert a lead into a prospect.

What to do next?

Download this FREE Social Media Health-Check and find out exactly what the problem is and start planning your action points.

We have looked at 10 reasons why your language school’s social media isn’t working and if you have realized that some or all of these apply to you then … KEEP CALM and Read On!

Go through the above list and identify what you can improve on your own. Make some time to get those changes done and give yourself a deadline! The sooner you take action, the sooner your school’s social media will bring results.

Next, list all the action points for which you need support. You may want to get professional training to do it on your own. Alternatively, you may decide that you are too busy and outsource your language school marketing.

Whatever you decide, I can give you support!. Contact me through the contact form and I will be glad to have a free no-obligation chat with you to define how I can help you.

In the meantime Download this FREE Social Media Health-Check. Find out exactly what the problem is and start planning your action points to get results from social media!