How schools use social media in their marketing · their social media marketing activities had...

How schools use social media in their marketingSchool Marketing and Social Media Survey 2018

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School Marketing and Social Media Survey 2018

This study surveyed more than 470 schools across the globe

with the goal of understanding how they are using social media

in their school marketing.

In this report, you will discover:

• The benefits of social media marketing

• The most frequently used social media platforms

• The time commitment. How much time do school marketers

spend on social media marketing?

• Social media platforms people want to learn more about.


Major findings

Facebook is by far the most valued social media platform

A staggering 86% of school marketers chose Facebook as their

most important social media platform for school marketing,

with 98% using it in the last 12 months.

Video, video, video

Video will leap ahead as 85% of school marketers indicated

that they will increase their use of the platform in the future.

Live video will also grow signifiantly as 49% indicated that they

will increase their use.

Many school marketers are unsure how to measure their

return on investment

Only 42% of school marketers agreed that they are able to

measure their return on investment for their social media

marketing activities.

Visual assets dominate

An overwhelming 99% of school marketers indicated that they

use visual assets in their social media marketing.

School marketers want to learn more about podcasting and

live video

Podcasting and live video took first place as the area school

marketers most want to learn about, followed by blogs.

School marketers are tentative about adopting new social

media platforms

Only 3% of school marketers actively adopt new social

platforms.


Years using social media in school marketing

We asked participants how long they have been using social

media in their school marketing.

66% of school marketers surveyed have been using social

media in their marketing for over four years.

Use of social media in school marketing

Social media marketing is important for my school

We asked some questions to determine the level of importance

schools place on social media in their school marketing.

A significant 93% of schools said that social media is important

to their school.

Uncertain

Agree

Strongly Agree

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

1 to 3 years

More than 8 years

4 to 8 years

Less than 1 year

1%

1%

80%

13%

57%

9%

2%

5%

32%


Ability to analyse social media marketing activities

Measuring social media return on investment

To understand whether school marketers could not only analyse

their social media marketing but measure the return on investment

their social media marketing activities had produced, we asked school

marketers to rate their agreement with the following statement:

“I am able to measure the return on investment for my social

media marketing activities.”

Only 42% agreed that they are able to measure their return on

investment for their social media marketing activities.

Regular analysis of social media marketing

We asked school marketers whether they regularly analyse

their social media marketing.

69% of school marketers surveyed agreed that they regularly

analyse their social media marketing activities.

Uncertain

Agree

Strongly Agree

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Uncertain

Agree

Strongly Agree

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

7%

3%

21%

30%

39%

36%15%

7%25%

17%


Effectiveness of Facebook marketing

Decline in Facebook traffic

We wanted to understand if school marketers experienced

declines in Facebook traffic to their website, so we asked them

to rate their agreement with the following statement:

“Facebook traffic to my website has declined over the

last 12 months.”

Just 7% reported a decline in traffic with 33% uncertain if there

had been a decline in Facebook traffic in the last 12 months.

Effectiveness of Facebook marketing

We asked school marketers if they agreed with the statement:

“My Facebook marketing is effective”.

69% of school marketers feel like their efforts on Facebook are

making an impact, but 25% indicated that they were uncertain

whether their Facebook marketing is effective or not.

Uncertain

Agree

Strongly Agree

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Uncertain

Agree

Strongly Agree

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

34%

26%25%

36% 33%

33%

1%6%

4%

2%


Integrated social activities

We asked school marketers to rate their agreement with

the statement:

“I have integrated social media marketing into my traditional

marketing activities.”

A significant 90% of school markerters agreed that they

have integrated social media into their traditional

marketing activities.

Uncertain

Agree

Strongly Agree

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

56%34%

7%

2%1%

Mobile optimisation

Uncertain

Agree

Strongly Agree

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

53%

17%

14%

7%

9%

30% of school marketers are either uncertain or do not have

a website that is optimised for mobile users.


Social media marketing difficulty

53% of respondents were uncertain or agreed that social media

marketing has become harder in the last 12 months.

Given the ever changing algorithms in social media, we expect

social media marketing for schools to become more difficult in

the next 12 months.

Uncertain

Agree

Strongly Agree

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

7%

23%

24%

33%

13%

Weekly time commitment for Social Media marketing

A significant 65% of school marketers are spending more than

five hours a week on social media marketing. It’s interesting to

note that 18% of school marketers spend more than 10 hours a

week on social media marketing.

47%

35%

12%6%

16.2%

23.8%

15.6%18.7%

16.2%

7.4%

1.3% 0.5% 0.3%

NUMBER OF VIDEOS PER COMPANY

0-9 10-49 50-99 100-199 200-499 500-1999

2000-4999

5000-9999

10 000+

0

6

12

18

24

30

Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

More than 20 hours

Less than 5 hours

11 to 20 hours

5 to 10 hours


Benefits of social media marketing

The two main benefits of social media marketing are increased

exposure and increased traffic. An overwhelming 91% of all

school marketers indicated that their social media efforts have

generated increased exposure for their school.

Most school marketers are also using social media to increase

traffic (75%) and to develop loyal fans (66%).

3%

39%

22% 20%

27%

46%

66%

75%

91%

24%

12%Provided marketplace insight 24%

Increased exposure 91%

Developed loyal fans 66%

Increased traffic 75%

Established thought leadership 22%

Generated leads 46%

Grown school partnerships 20%

Improved search rating 27%

No benefit 3%

Reduced marketing expense 39%

Improved sales 12%


0.4%

7%

0.2%4%

0.4%

10%

65%

14%

53%

42%

68%

98%

YouTube 53%

Facebook 98%

LinkedIn 42%

Twitter 68%

Forums 0.4%

Google+ 14%

Pinterest 10%

Instagram 65%

GeoLocation 0.4%

Snapchat 7%

Social bookmarking 0.2%

Social review sites 4%

Commonly used social media platforms

We asked school marketers what social media platforms

they used in the last 12 months. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,

YouTube and LinkedIn were the clear top five platforms used.

A staggering 98% of respondents used Facebook in the past year.


The most important social platform for school marketers is …

Instagram

Facebook

Social review sites

Forums

Google+

Twitter

YouTube

SnapchatLinkedIn

1%

86%

1%

1%

6%

5%

Snapchat, Social review sites and Forums were not selected.

We asked school marketers to select the single most important

social media platform for their school marketing.

A staggering 86% chose Facebook as their most important

platform. Revealing that Facebook is still the primary platform

for school marketers.


How will school marketers change their use of social media in the future?

We asked school marketers to indicate how they will change

their social media use in the near future. Respondents were

asked to indicate whether they will increase, decrease,

maintain, have never used, or have no plan to use various social

media platforms.

Here’s a summary:

Facebook will continue its dominance as 62% indicated that

they will increase their use of Facebook in the future. Only 2%

of school marketers will decrease, have never used or have no

plans to use Facebook.

Instagram will gain prominence as 66% indicated that they

will increase their use of Instagram in the future. School

marketers also have a healthy interest in growing their use

of YouTube (46%) and LinkedIn (45%).

Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

1%

36% 62%

66%

11%

14%

1%

1%8%

Facebook

Instagram



Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

33%

37%30%

46%

14%

9%

9%

15%

6%1%

YouTube Twitter


Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

LinkedIn Pinterest


51% 31%

9%

7%

1%1%

45%

22%

12%

20%

1%



Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

Forums Social review sites

41%

40%

11%

8%

45%51%

2% 2%



Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

SlideShare Social bookmarking

52%45%

2%

1%

54%43%

1%

1%

1%


Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

Snapchat

41%

45%

10%

4%



34%

0.2%0.4%2%

22%

14%

2%0.6%

5%

0.2%2%

12%

6% Google+ 2%

Facebook 34%

GeoLocation 0.4%

Forums 0.2%

SlideShare 0.6%

Instagram 22%

Pinterest 2%

LinkedIn 14%

Social review sites 2%

Twitter 12%

YouTube 6%

Social bookmarking 0.2%

Snapchat 5%

Social media platforms school marketers want to learn more about

We asked school marketers to identify social media platforms

they would like to improve their knowledge in. Facebook

dominated at 34%. Instagram was also a priority at 22%.


We asked school marketers to identify which forms of paid

social media they use regularly. Again, Facebook dominated

with 79% of respondents indicating that they regularly use

Facebook ads.

Interestingly, 18% of school marketers are not using paid ads as

part of their social media marketing.

0%1%

5%2%

22%18%

1%4%

16%

31%

79%

LinkedIn ads 4%

No paid ads 18%

Facebook ads 79%

Twitter ads 16%

Google ads 31%

Sponsored ads 5%

Pinterest ads 1%

YouTube ads 2%

Instagram ads 22%

Podcast ads 0%

SlideShare ads 1%

Paid social media


How will marketers change their paid social media activities?

Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

Facebook Ads

Google Ads

61%25%

6%

1%

7%

23% 31%

20%24%

1% 1%


their paid social media use in the near future. Respondents

were asked to indicate whether they will increase, decrease,

maintain, have never used, or have no plan to use various ads.

Here’s a summary:

School marketers plan to increase their use of Facebook Ads

(61%), Google Ads (31%) and Instagram Ads (30%).



Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

Twitter Ads LinkedIn Ads

46%

38%

11%5%

1%

7%

37%

8%

47%



Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

Pinterest Ads Instagram Ads

28%

33%

30%

1%2%

45%52%

1%

8%



Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

YouTube Ads

1%

10%

4%

43%

42%

Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

Sponsored Blog Ads

41% 46%

5%

8%


Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

Podcast Ads

52%45%

1%

1%

1%


Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

SlideShare Ads

46% 52%

1%1%


Paid social media options marketers want to learn more about

We asked school marketers to identify the paid social media

options they would like to improve their knowledge in.

Instagram took first place with 34% with LinkedIn (29%) and

Google Ads (27%) both beating Facebook (22%).

22%

27%

15%

29%

10%

34%

25%25%

6%

13%

LinkedIn ads 29%

Facebook ads 22%

Twitter ads 15%

Google ads 27%

Sponsored ads 25%

Pinterest ads 10%

YouTube ads 25%

Instagram ads 34%

Podcast ads 13%

SlideShare ads 6%


Commonly used types of content

We asked school marketers to identify the types of content

they use in their social media marketing.

A remarkable 99% of respondents indicated that they use

visual assets in their social media marketing, and 85% are

using video. Only 4% are currently using podcasting and this

represents an opportunity.

25%

4%

43%33%

99%

85%

Live video 25%

Visual/Image 99%

Video 85%

Blog 33%

Podcast 4%

Newsletters 43%


The most important content for the school marketer is …

We asked school marketers to select the single most important

form of content for their school.

Visual marketing came in first at 54% with video next at 30%.

Visual/Image

Live video

Newsletters

Blog

Video

Podcast

54%30%

6%

3%

1%

6%


Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

Video

Live Video

85%

11%

1%

2%

1%

22%

49%

16%

12%

1%

How will school marketers change their future content activities?


content activities in the near future. Respondents were asked

to indicate whether they will increase, decrease, maintain, have

never used, or have no plan to use various forms of content.

Here’s a summary:

Video will leap ahead as 85% indicated that they will increase

their usage of video in the future. Live video will also grow as

49% indicated that they will increase their use of live video.

Only 3% of school marketers will decrease, have never used or

have no plan to use video.

Blogs will gain momentum as 51% indicated that they will

increase their use of blogs in the future.

School marketers also have a healthy interest in growing their

use of visual assets (69%) and podcasts (11%).



Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

Visual/Image Blog

20%

51%12%

15%

1%

1%

1%

69%

1%

29%



Increase usage

Never used

No plan to use

Maintain usage

Decrease usage

No response

Podcast

35%

11%

49%

4%

1%


Content school marketers want to learn more about ...

Podcasting and live video took first place as the area school

marketers most want to learn about, followed by blogs.

3%

25%

17%

49%49%

Live video 49%

Visual/Image 3%

Video 17%

Blog 25%

Podcast 49%


How school marketers respond to new social networks

What are the biggest frustrations with Social Media Marketing?

We asked school marketers what they do when a new social

network comes on the scene. A vast majority do nothing (61%)

or only register usernames (15%).

Only 3% of school marketers actively adopt new social platforms.

For the majority of school marketers, not having enough time is the

biggest frustration (60%) when it comes to Social Media Marketing.

Not having adequate evidence on the return on investment (12%)

and a lack of understanding from the School (11%) were the other

major frustrations.

10% of respondents had other concerns and these included

frustrations with constant algorithm changes as well as having

inconsistent results. A number of respondents also reported that they

didn’t have any issues with social media. Great news!

I am sceptical and wait and see what happens

I actively engage and promote my presence on the network

I only register my handle/username on the social network

I try to engage on the network, but don't promote my presence there

I don’t have enough time

My school doesn’t understand it

I’m not convinced on the return on investment

I’m not confident enough in the use of social media

Other

61% 60%

11%

12%

7%

10%

15%

21%

3%


Catholic

International

Religious

Government/Public

Independent

Unknown

2.8%

10.6%

4%0.2%

74.6%

7.8%

Methodology and sample

This study surveyed more than 470 schools in the United

States, England, Canada and Australia.

66% of schools surveyed were combined primary and

secondary schools, and 63% of schools surveyed

were co-educational.


About imageseven

imageseven is an integrated marketing communications firm.

You can think of us as message architects who build school

brands. We work with schools to lift their communication and

brand to reveal the true value they deliver to their customers.

We look first for strategic insights and then rigorously apply

marketing communications solutions to build enrolments and

school brands. One great insight is worth a thousand good

ideas. Knowing how to apply that insight is the key that unlocks

your success. It is insight applied.

contact us

australia 1300 301 995

[email protected]

imageseven.com

About SchneiderB

At SchneiderB Media we help schools and non-profits properly

implement inbound marketing and social media to achieve their

enrolment goals.

contact us

US (724) 213-0010

[email protected]

schneiderb.com

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