The top social media management mistakes almost every language school makes (including a FREE weekly plan!)
You’ve probably been searching around the web for quite some time now, trying to learn as much as you can about how to successfully manage your social media.
Or maybe you’ve even tried to make a detailed plan on developing your social media channels but it didn’t turn out as well as you hoped, since you’ve failed at the implementation stage.
Indeed, if you’re like a lot of language school owners, then you probably end up being exhausted with trying to come up with new ideas for your social media and as a result – you’ve simply burnt out.
Don’t despair. You too can start running engaging social media channels and create expats’ community around your school. All you have to do is tweak your communication strategy a bit. Generally, that means you need to avoid making the following nine types of common social media management mistakes. Read on…
Important difference: social media management vs content creation
We will spare you the details and arguments happening inside the marketing world. The most important thing for you to know in order to understand this article is that there is a difference between CONTENT MARKETING and SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT.
Content marketing revolves around you producing content and relying on the fact that people will find and consume it.
Social media management is all about creating and nurturing connections on social platforms. This means you interacting with other users of the platform, be it potential clients or not. You spread awareness about the existence of your school and make friends.
We have a firm belief that in the case of language schools (the ones that offer services – language lessons, not products – like a self-paced online course) focusing more on social media management is a good move. Creating connections, providing value, and getting in front of new students without being all salesy is a good move to make.
Now that does not mean, that you can skip creating content all together. We’re simply saying that you should focus the majority of your resources (time, money) on talking with people, not creating high volumes of content (graphics, blog posts, videos, etc.).
So, this article describes only the mistakes made around the management, not the creation part, ok? Ok! 😊
Get your free weekly social media management plan for expat language schools now:
Shortcuts:
Social media management mistake #3: not mapping out the playground
Social media management mistake #4: Don’t mind me, I’m just here to watch…
Social media management mistake #5: Me, me, me, pretty pretty please?!
Social media management mistake #8: Throwing spaghetti on the wall, watching what sticks
Bonus – download our FREE weekly social media management plan
Social media management mistake #1: disappearing act
This one happens with a whole lot of social media accounts. School owners often tend to post something and then simply ghost their own profiles, be non-responsive, and seem to disappear completely.
Well, it’s as if you left the party after throwing it and inviting people over... Not so cool, right?
But no worries, it’s normal to forget how partying works- we’ve been (and still are) through a freaking global pandemic! 😜 So let’s take it slowly! Your school’s social media can be of help while easing back to partying in real life – use it as an exercise on interacting with people! 😉
Don’t post stuff and leave the platform. Check on your new post a few times and respond to comments!
Social media management mistake #2: ignoring trick
Not responding to comments and messages is another exceedingly common mistake, simply because language school owners are usually totally busy with multitasking and tend to forget about it.
However, if you want to become a champion in social media management, you need to make sure you never forget to respond to all the messages and comments you get.
It’s not only rude not to respond but also algorithms of platforms might mark you as an inactive profile and won't push your messages in front of people. We bet you don’t want that to happen, so you’d better keep an eye on your inbox and on your notifications😉
Always be the last person to reply in the conversation. Even if that means just leaving someone a smile 🙃
Social media management mistake #3: not mapping out the playground
This one is a little tricky, simply because you could be perfectly on track and doing all the right things, but suddenly you realize that there might actually be other virtual spaces to interact with your potential students than only your profile.
Should this revelation happen to you, don’t worry, it’s not the end of the world – you can get back on track with your social media management goals. The mistake here is not researching the hashtags that concern the language teaching industry in your area and not joining relevant conversations.
All you have to do to fix it is to start commenting, liking, and giving advice on other profiles that might be visited by expats. Just be a bit extroverted- give free advice, join various conversations, be visible!
Remember: Don’t wait to get invited to the party! “Go out” of your own profile and meet your students where they are!
Social media management mistake #4: Don’t mind me, I’m just here to watch…
We bet you might have thought of online expat communities as a potential target of your marketing endeavors and a space you could join to be closer to your (potential) students.
Maybe you even joined some of them but have you been a real active member of any? If not, that’s a very common mistake made by language school owners - they just join and observe passively. The point is you should use those communities for your research of expats’ needs, and you should stay present, make people recognize you there, and become expats’ friend!
Join the conversation. Become a part of the group. Who knows – you might even LIKE THEM? 🤷♀️😉
Social media management mistake #5: Me, me, me, pretty pretty please?!
Just guessing, but I’m betting that close to half of language school owners make the mistake of being in expat communities and attacking with their offer whenever they get a chance. And that’s a firm “no!” from our side.
Going back to our party metaphor: imagine that someone you’ve just met at your cousins sweet six(teee…? 😉) kept talking about what they sell and why you should buy it for hours on end… And whenever you tried to switch to another topic, the person came back on it… And on, and on, and on 🤦♀️
You’d definitely feel at least irritated, wouldn’t you? Yeah, so please, instead of trying to push the expats into joining your courses all the time, do the opposite- be useful, offer advice, and make friends with them. And after a while, you may add an innocent “Oh, by the way…” 😉
TIP: when people like you and find your advice useful, they’ll be more interested in what you have to offer. Don’t be THAT GUY 🙄😉
Save up to 4 hours a week on content creation and increase student enrollments!
We’ve created a powerful system for helping language school owners, marketers, and language tutors rapidly speed up their social media content creation process without:
creating a full, professional content strategy
facing creative blocks
feeling the need to copy their competitors
So if you want a crystal clear and predictable roadmap to help you get more students, look no further!
Social media management mistake #6: The sales guy
In general, spamming with your offer in any space, even if it’s your own profile, is definitely not the best idea if you want to manage your social media properly. Your social media channels are not for selling- their no 1 task is creating a connection with people and building community! Just offer help, give some good advice and be likeable! Really – that’s all it gets. Instead of trying to sell all the time.
TRUE STORY: based on our experience your straightforward sales posts shouldn't take up more than 30% of your feed to keep it classy and tasteful.
Social media management mistake #7: I was never here
Now, a quite common mistake made by language schools’ social media managers is not nurturing your own community.
Let’s say you’ve created a Facebook or LinkedIn group for your students and invited them in. That’s a great idea, we agree! But again, you should behave like a host at a party. Make sure community members are interacting and having fun (we know you’re creative, you can definitely think of some fun activities!). Trust us, if you provide it, they will remember your school and will sign up when the right time comes.
Remember: you are responsible for what you have tamed 😉 (The Little Prince)
Social media management mistake #8: Throwing spaghetti on the wall, watching what sticks
Not knowing which platform is your main one is actually quite a serious mistake, in our opinion. Happily, what we’ve seen by talking to a whole lot of language school owners is that actually not so many people make this social media management mistake.
However, those who do, find it exceedingly frustrating, because they can’t reach their potential students and fill the classes. And they probably don’t even realize what’s the reason for it! They’re in all the wrong places or not in the spaces where their clients are. They use up their energy for creating communication that will never reach the proper people. Hopefully, this does not sound familiar to you… 😨
Fortunately, you can avoid it fairly easily (note: we’re not saying “effortlessly”), by doing detailed market research. You must focus on your client’s profile (who is your perfect student, which platforms are they using and for what) and on checking out your competition. Have a closer look at where their traffic comes from and you’ll definitely learn something useful!
Social media management mistake #9: Wrong number
Not knowing at which level of the marketing funnel is this specific person and targeting them with the wrong message is the last mistake we want to point at in this article. Again, it is quite a serious one, as you might simply waste your time and energy on nothing.
But no worries, there’s a solution to it! It requires some planning and having a closer look at your cold, warm and hot leads ( have a look at our previous article: Marketing basics for language schools: the difference between cold, warm and hot sales leads).
So instead of sending the wrong message to the wrong people, take your time and create a proper marketing strategy beforehand. Your bank account will thank you for it 😉
Bonus – download our FREE weekly social media management plan
It all might be a bit confusing, we get it. You know what NOT to do, but how and when to do it – now that’s a whole different story.
No worries - we’ve got you covered! We’re sharing with you our own weekly social media management calendar. For free, why yes indeed! Because that’s how cool we are 😎
Enjoy and grow! 🤗
Get your free weekly social media management plan for expat language schools now:
In summary…
You can become an amazing social media manager, especially if you avoid these common mistakes. You just need to have a closer look at your own habits concerning dealing with your school’s social media channels and possibly tweak them a bit!
Download our FREE weekly social media management plan to get you started!
Try it out today! Good luck! 💛
The Hassle-Free Content Templates For Expat Language Schools
Instead of spending days, weeks, months, or even YEARS searching, clicking, and scrambling to put together all the pieces required for your social media success, you can follow a proven system, roadmap, or path from Point A to Point B.
This is what our Hassle-Free Content Templates For Expat Language Schools provide: the exact formula you need to get where you want to go with little to no overwhelm or information overload.
