Social Media Strategy for a Language School’s Summer Camp: A Case Study
Social Media Strategy for a Language School’s Summer Camp: A Case Study
Gina Rodriguez Having an ad-hoc social media strategy for your language school is a lot more than posting English tips on social media or cute pictures of your students. A tailored social media strategy for a language school is a structured plan aligned with the school’s business goals, available resources, and budget. Instead of simply posting English language learning tips or event reminders, a strategic approach ensures that social media contributes directly to enrolments and revenue.
Investing in a social media strategy saves the language school DOSs, or student recruitment officers hours of guesswork and prevents random, ineffective posting. Without a strategy, simply posting once or twice a week won’t put your camp or language school in front of new potential students and parents, especially with the poor organic reach that most social media networks have nowadays.
About me: Hi, I’m Gina Rodriguez. I’m a qualified Digital Marketing Specialist and I work as a Social Media Strategist & Consultant for the language education sector . I have 25+ years experience in the English Language Teaching (ELT) industry.
What I do: I help language schools and independent language professionals build an engaging social media presence through training, consultancy and tailored social media strategies.
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In this blog post I will share a case study that illustrates how a structured social media strategy helped a language school’s summer camp go from relying on word-of-mouth marketing only to generating 400 leads and enrolling 30 new students, achieving a 26700€ return on investment.
Interested to learn more? Read on!
Table of Contents
- How The Language School Marketed Its Summer Camp
- The Challenge: Why Word-of-Mouth Was No Longer Enough
- Building the Social Media Strategy for the Language School’s Summer Camp
- Overcoming Challenges: Using Student Photos and Videos
- The Results: How This Social Media Strategy Increased Enrolments by 30%
- What Language Schools Can Learn from This Case Study
- Final Thoughts: Why Every Language School Needs a Social Media Strategy
How The Language School Marketed Its Summer Camp
Our client is a language school organizing one-week summer camps in the Dolomites for kids aged 8 to 17. The programme includes:
- Full-board accommodation in a hotel
- 24 hours of English language lessons with qualified teachers of English
- 22 hours of sports with certified trainers
- A €1,000-per-week package
Despite operating for over 20 years and having an excellent reputation, they noticed stagnation in enrolment numbers. This was due to the fact that their marketing relied entirely on:
- Returning families (loyal but limited in number)
- A corporate partnership that provided discounts to employees but only a few knew this due to poor internal comunication that was beyond my client’s control.
- In-person presentations at local schools, which were time-consuming and had disappointing results.
On the other hand, their social media presence was minimal:
- An Instagram page with a posting and praying strategy.
- A text-heavy one-page website
What’s more, they had to compete with:
- Cheaper, local alternatives for English summer courses. These courses were not real competitors but parents were comparing prices without understanding the real value of the camp so these summer courses resulted in a more convenient offer.
- Study abroad programs marketed as the “best way” to learn English. While it is true that study-abroad programmes are a valid way for teens to improve their language skills, parents who were comparing didn’t know that the camp’s English language teachers spent the whole time with the teens. Also, the camp is a better option as a first-time experience away from home.
The Challenge: Why Word-of-Mouth Was No Longer Enough
The client initially approached me to create organic social media posts and manage their social media believing this alone would generate enrolments. However, considering their objectives and their poor social media presence, during our discovery call I explained that without a strategy, doing only organic posts wouldn’t deliver the results they were looking for. I explained the strategy would indicate the best road to take thanks to the analysis that I do while working on it and the alignement with their goals. They undestood and decided to go for it.
To grow their reach and generate enrolments, they needed to implement:
- An ads campaign to reach new potential parents.
- A new website strategy with SEO and authentic photos to drive conversions
- A clear marketing funnel to move parents from awareness to enrolmen
Building the Social Media Strategy for the Language School’s Summer Camp
We built the strategy focusing on three key elements: Authenticiy, Trust and Lead Generation
Step 1: Creating a Facebook Marketing Plan for Summer Camp Enrolments
This was a mix of organic and paid social media posts.
- Created a Facebook Page and optimized its organic content for reassuring parents about the attention to detail by the organizers, safety and the way English was taught at the camp which came up in the analysis as being an FAQ. We also focused on making their strengths and differentiation points more visible through authentic photos and videos.
- Ran engagement ads first to attract the right followers and grow the page before launching other type of campaigns.
- We analysed the ideal type of parent for the camp and created a persona which allowed us to choose the content plan and also plan the ads.
Step 2: Marketing to Parents with Testimonials and Social Proof
- The coordinator was briefied and guided on how to create talking head videos explaining the English learning methodology and we posted the videos organically at strategic phases of the funnel.
- We also guided them in gathering video testimonials from past students to use organically for social proof .
- We addressed common parent concerns (safety, learning outcomes, value for money) through organic posts
- The website was improved with SEO-optimized content and with clear camp details, accommodation, and lifestyle photos for parents who wanted to go deeper before enquiring.
Step 3: Used Authentic Photos and Videos
We decided to make the most out of the photos and videos they had featuring the sport activities, the fun activities and the sense of fun, freedom and green lifestyle.
These photos were used to create a compelling gallery of authentic photos on the webiste to reassure parents about accommodation and lifestyle at the camp and in every post (both organically and paid).We didn’t use stock images or videos, only real ones.
We also introduced structured parent Zoom presentations, promoted through ads, to personally answer questions and encourage sign-ups. This was a fundamental part of the strategy considering the value of the camp and the need to give parents peace of mind that the camp and its staff were the right choice and their kids would be on excellent hands.
Overcoming Challenges: Using Student Photos and Videos
One major challenge was that while the school had a rich visual library, they had never collected parental consent for using student photos and videos for marketing. As we had planned to use real photos to stir emotions and give a taste of the vibe of the camp, we really needed to get this sorted.
How We Solved It:
First, we selected the most engaging and emotion-driven photos and videos and gathered them in a folder.
After identifying the kids, parents were contacted to obtain consent. This took a bit of time but it was worth it!
Next, we created a new visual library with photos and videos with parent consent and stored them in the camp’s drive.
This was also an opportuity to establish a photo consent process for future marketing activities.
The Results: How This Social Media Strategy Increased Enrolments by 30%
Key Metrics Achieved:
✅ Facebook Page Growth: 0 to 1.9K followers in 4 months
✅ Leads Generated from Facebook Ads: 400 potential families
✅ New Student Enrolments: 30 students enroled from cities the camp had never reached before
✅ Parent Info Session Sign-Ups: 75 parents registered from Facebook Ads
✅ Improved Website Performance: We began having sign ups from the website
Social Media Investment vs Results
- Website redesign & SEO: €1,000
- Social Media Management: €2,000
- Ads Campaign (including ad spend): €2,600
- Strategy Development: €1,800
- Total Investment: €7,300
Total New Enrolments: 30 students at €1,000 per enrolment = €30,000 revenue
Return on Investment: €26,700 profit
What Language Schools Can Learn from This Case Study
- A structured social media strategy beats random posting. Nothing new here but this case study proves it.
- Paid ads are a must in a social media strategy. They accelerate page growth, increase visibility and drive targeted leads more quickly. Avoid relying on organic social media only if you need to reach a specific number of enrolments . Instead, use organic and paid strategically.
- Testimonials and authentic photos and videso build trust and helps you enrol faster.
- Social media is part of a bigger picture. For this reason, make use of other online and off-line marketing assets. For instance, pair your social media with an optimized website that helps convert, eg sign up to a presentation , and increases interest and consideration of the offer.
Final Thoughts: Why Every Language School Needs a Social Media Strategy
This case study proves that even high-ticket enrolments (€1,200 per week) can be successfully marketed through social media which will be part of the overall maketing strategy, not the only asset.
In this case study apart from social media and the website there were also online presentations, in person presentations and direct outreach to leads via WhatsApp broadcasts and phone calls.
A clear social media strategy, well-planned content and ads, and a structured lead generation approach helped this language school’s summer camp expand beyond word-of-mouth and reach students in new areas achieveing new enrolments and meeting new targets.
If you want to start seeing results like this from your ELT marketing, start working on a strategy. A good plan will help you save time and budget with trial and error.
If you need help, let’s discuss how a tailored strategy can help your enrolments grow. Every strategy is unique as every language brand has its own goals, assets and resources. That’s why I sugggest booking a no-obligation discovery call . Book the call here or email me at hello@grschoolmarketing.com
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