From Potential Students on Social Media to Paying Students in the ELT Classroom

Social Media is a powerful tool to promote your language school and attract potential students. It helps build credibility and visibility for your ELT services. If your language school is on Social Media well done! You are on the right track! However, if you are on social media, your posts get likes and comments but you are not signing up enough students then you are missing an important piece of the puzzle. In this blog article, I will reveal the “hidden side” of social media! I will reveal the piece of the puzzle that will help you take potential students from social media into paying students in the ELT classroom.

Stop the scroll and get new enrolments from social media

To start with, let’s reflect on this. Why is it that despite the great posts and engagement, enrolments are not coming in from social media? Why is it that despite the generous budget spent on Facebook ads you get only a few paying students?
In situations like these, it’s very easy to jump to the conclusion that social media doesn’t work. However, the truth is that if you get contacts from the Facebook Ads campaign, and you are getting DMs and comments on your organic social media, then the problem isn’t social media per se.

Don’t forget that the aim of your social media posts is to attract and intersect new students. These are potential students, technically called leads. They are potential students but they ARE NOT your students yet!

These are leads and leads are not enrolments.

To transform potential students from social media into paying students in the ELT classroom you need to use sales techniques and tools to convert those leads into paying students.

Some language school owners believe that social media doesn’t work but what they don’t know is that “social selling” is about building a relationship. When social selling is in place but you are not getting new paying students, you need to check the sales skills of your team, the sales strategy and the systems in place.

Getting students from social media into the ELT classroom

Schools that use social media well to get more students for their courses have a strategy where social media is backed up with different marketing layers. This is exactly what I always do in the strategies I prepare for language services.

Also, schools that get students from social media are very good at using DMs strategically, responding very quickly to enquiries and following up on their leads again and again. This is part of your sales strategy and it requires specific sales skills.

Besides, language schools that get paying students from social media aren’t afraid of selling on social media. This means that every four or six posts they will post about their offers, showing students how they can enrol or simply “asking for the sale”. For example “Have you thought of studying with us this summer?”

Unfortunately, most schools either sell all the time on social media alienating potential students or they don’t sell at all. What you need is a balanced mix of social media posts and posts that sell.

Now the moment of truth… The truth is that course sales don’t happen on the feed but they happen, or rather, start in DMs and in your mailing list.

How DMS can take potential students into the classroom

To be able to get potential students into your courses you need to open up a dialogue on social media.

Use DMs to start the conversation but don’t overload with information, instead be concise and ask good questions to see if that person is a good match for the courses you offer. DMs are an essential tool for starting a conversation but this doesn’t mean you will bombard strangers with DMs because that is spam. Please avoid spamming or you will alienate your potential students.

Studies confirm that a person needs 5 to 12 touchpoints (depending on the service) before they make a decision to buy. That’s why doing just one post and praying doesn’t work. To sell your courses it’s necessary to have a strategy that weaves in opportunities for multiple touchpoints and not only on social media.
Conversations and touchpoints are good for clarifying doubts, dealing with objections and paving the way to move the student towards the enquiry or the demo lesson.

EFL Teaching vs ELT Course Sales

At this point, I’m sure you may be thinking that your job is teaching and that you don’t like the idea of selling, or you don’t want to be “salesy.”

That’s fine and you are not the only teacher thinking this way!

If you are a small school or a freelance you’re probably wearing many hats now and teaching will be a priority. However, if you don’t put some work to get the enrolments from social media, social media posts can’t sell the courses for you. Social media will do wonders with your visibility and credibility if planned well. However, if you want the ELT course sales then you need to do some extra work to sell your courses to those that you intersect on social media.

On one hand, you need to back up your social media marketing with other types of digital marketing. On the other hand, you need to be up to speed with your sales skills.

Although you aren’t a salesperson you can still learn a few simple yet effective sales techniques that will help you take those social media followers into the ELT classroom. You can also learn how to manage time more efficiently to do this. The good news is that you can sell your courses with integrity and there’s a fabulous business coach that can help you do just that.

Social Media paired up with Sales Skills = Success!

Nicola Lutz is a business coach who specialises in the education sector. Nicola offers specific sales support, training and coaching for education and she has been in the sector for 27 years. I have had the opportunity to collaborate with her and that’s why I’m confident that she can help you with sales in the ELT sector.

If you need support with building your social media presence and creating a social media strategy, contact me and I will help you!

If you need support to take your social media leads into the ELT classroom then Nicola is your lady.

She has two powerful packages to support ELT services:

1. Sales Health Check (click here ) The Sales Health Check identifies what’s working, what’s not, and what you can do to improve, streamline and scale your sales. It gives you the road map of problems, consequences and – importantly – solutions to implement. It takes language schools from reacting to taking control of their sales function.
2. Sales Team Coaching and Training (click here) Her training and mentoring programme is designed to assist you. It is customised for you or your team to keep time and effort down. Nicola will help you with tracking your time, making time to focus on your course sales, and looking at the sales actions you need to take to get the enrolments in. She helps you learn how to follow up without spamming and sleaze.

Help potential students from social media choose your ELT services

If you are at an early stage and you need help with promoting your school on social media, generating post ideas, and learning how to use social media then contact me through the contact form for a non-obligation chat. I can help you with getting started with social media. I can also help you with a social media strategy that includes various layers of digital marketing to increase the touchpoints with your potential students.

If you need to polish your sales skills and implement sales systems that will guarantee more enrolments then check Nicola’s programme (click here for a sales check and here for sales training) Alternatively, contact me and I can put you in touch.

Make 2023 your most successful year for your ELT Marketing!

Stop reacting and start reaching and getting more students into your language school.

For social media success contact me through this contact form -> click here.