Instagram is one of the most popular social media channels for sharing videos and images and one of the world’s top 10 most-visited websites globally. It is no wonder that many businesses have expanded their reach into the Instagram platform through personal or business accounts. Schools are not far behind.
Many educational organizations, universities, and high schools have realized that Instagram is an excellent, free platform to showcase school spirit and boost audience engagement.
The user-friendly interface, efficient navigability, easy-to-understand search algorithms, and many other features have given Instagram a high rank among social media platforms. But having an account doesn’t guarantee a high engagement rate. You must learn and apply a few tactics to optimize your Instagram presence.
Best Practices for School Instagram Accounts
There are numerous suggestions on how to optimize Instagram accounts. But here are six market-proven methods to consider for school Instagram accounts:
#1 Set a Plan
Every marketing effort starts with a realistic, goal-oriented plan. A solid plan lets you turn a brilliant idea into a lucrative practice. Without a plan, you will spend hours without any tangible outcome.
So, set your goals straight. For example, if you aim to brand and increase public awareness, you need original content explaining the educational services and value your school offers. You can use hashtags or live features to engage with prospective families and students if you want more online exposure.
#2 Manage the Workflow
At first, it may seem that running a school Instagram account doesn’t take too much time. That may be right for pages with a handful of followers, but successful pages require time, energy, and dedication. So, organizing an efficient workflow is crucial so everyone knows what to do at what time.
Assemble a team of teachers, students, and perhaps parents who are willing to participate and contribute. You can even provide students with a platform for sharing user-generated content.
#3 Use Relevant Hashtags
Generally speaking, hashtags indicate the topic or subject of the post. Creating and adding a unique school hashtag in all the content you post on Instagram will encourage other users and followers to do the same. The cherry on top—unique hashtags set you up as an authority on a specific subject.
#4 Schedule a Content Publication Timeline
Personal Instagram accounts are probably more inclined toward spontaneously sharing videos and images. But businesses are different. You need a plan, and your plan works only on a specific posting schedule. Instagram scheduling tools can be very useful for planning your content to be published at the right time.
Here are the best Instagram scheduling tools for 2024:
These tools enjoy a Smart Schedule feature that automatically picks the times when your audience is most engaged. If you’ve just created your school Instagram page, wait a little while, collect audience analytics, and adjust your publication schedule accordingly.
#5 Branch Out
There is a good chance that you already have a few other marketing channels to communicate with parents and students—from your school blog to your website, Facebook group, and so forth. But remember that having different channels as isolated icebergs is a very common and inefficient practice.
You should think of every social media channel or platform as a component of a unified system that serves a unique purpose. For example, your Instagram account can be the engaging and appetizing factor that invites visitors to dive deeper and get to know you better through the school website.
This is also a great strategy to prevent overlaps and let every marketing channel reach its full capacity with one clear objective. If you want to share the same content on different channels, make sure to adjust the sizes and display features based on the platform’s guidelines.
#6 Engage with Your Audience
Audience engagement is a huge plus for all brands. There are many tactics and strategies to encourage students, parents, and teachers to participate in online school groups and pages. Sharing an identity with a group of brilliant individuals also helps students get a sense of school pride.
For instance, you can create challenges, contests, and puzzles with a juicy prize for the winner! Or you can create different Instagram highlights to improve content findability. For example, you can ask students and parents to share their thoughts, emotions, and school experiences.
The Benefits of Using Instagram for Your School
Integrating social media platforms into the education marketing strategy is one of the most common tactics to improve the school’s brand credibility. But each channel, medium, and platform has its own benefits and drawbacks.
It can be challenging to pick a marketing platform, especially when working on a shoestring budget. If you’re still not sure whether Instagram is the right choice for you or not, read on:
Attract Gen Z
According to an NBC News report, 62% of teens use Instagram. Senior Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan, head of Google’s Knowledge & Information organization, also announced at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference that around 40% of Gen Zs prefer to discover information on visual platforms other than Google, like TikTok or Instagram.
These numbers are only expected to rise in the near future. This means all brands and businesses who want to engage with Gen Z and gain its attention must have an active and engaging Instagram profile. This is an opportunity for you to connect with students and present your school as a place where everyone can learn and enjoy.
Building an Online Community
With the mounting competition in every market, we must utilize all the resources at our disposal. Establishing a strong follower base that supports your efforts, likes your Instagram posts, and shares them with others is a priceless resource. An active online community means more audience engagement, brand trustworthiness, and conversions.
Instagram is where you can let your creativity run free. Have fun and let students and parents see your school’s amazing personality. This way, all students will feel free to participate and share their thoughts and experiences.
Boosting Brand Awareness
Over the past couple of decades, we have witnessed many ingenious methods and strategies for branding, image-building, and promotion. But one tactic, in particular, that has remained very effective is known today as behind-the-scenes (BTS) content. BTS content gives an unedited look into what is happening inside your school operation.
And the best part is that creating BTS content is very easy. For starters, you can tour the campus, departments, classrooms, and offices. Then you can let prospective students meet your teaching staff. Showcasing things that make your school unique is a powerful way to build trust and help people understand and appreciate your brand values.
At the core of this method lies a deep insight into human psychology: we trust humans, not brands. Building a community and humanizing your brand will give your school an unparalleled advantage to attract more and more students.
Effective Communication
Keeping an active social media profile is the key to attracting more followers. But sometimes, people run out of ideas for content creation. They post once a month, and unfortunately, it doesn’t take long for them to realize it won’t work.
At the same time, we forget that besides content generation, social media platforms are highly effective communication channels. You may not be able to share an article on Instagram stories, but you can provide students with links and introductory posts and encourage them to learn more.
We all know that students and parents can experience ups and downs, anxieties, and concerns during their education journey. The School’s Instagram account can be a perfect place to share some informative and relevant tips and insights.
Bottom Line
Instagram is a great place to have fun, share school photos, discuss different topics, and view the world from a different perspective. Regular posts, well-designed content, and keeping up with best practices put your brand on top of the competition and allow you to expand your audience reach.
Plus, you can use the Instagram page as part of your school’s communication, public relations, and marketing strategy. That may sound intimidating at first, but don’t worry! We’ve got you covered!
Here at School Webmasters, we offer you the ultimate school marketing solution, from website design to social media management, website maintenance, logo and design services, and more.
You can easily get a quote right now or contact us (call 888.750.4556 and speak with Jim) and let us point you in the right direction.