Facebook is undeniably the leading social network that language schools use to engage with their client base, with 100% of those surveyed saying they maintain a profile on the digital platform. Twitter is the second most common marketing avenue used. Blogs, microblogs, video and photo exchange sites including Youtube, Instagram and Pinterest are also popular with schools.

“Some people don’t see the difference between online marketing and social media marketing so they put everything in one basket”

The study, carried out by newly launched Poland-based SMMITE (Social Media & Marketing in Travel & Education), reveals that often schools can have an inaccurate view of how effective their social media activity is. As a result, SMMITE monitored the engagement efforts of 100 IALC member schools and compared results with survey responses coming from independent and chain schools alike in countries including the UK, Spain, France, the US and Latin America.

“90.9% of respondents stated that they share news from the school on their [Facebook] fanpages. In reality, only 48% of schools we monitored did such in a month’s timeframe,” the report states.

Other discrepancies show that 75% of surveyed schools indicated they shared their own videos, when only 30% of monitored accounts actually did so.

Only 44% of monitored sites shared information about upcoming events at the school, while 80% of surveyed schools said they regularly posted news of school functions.

“This may mean that schools over-estimate their activities on Facebook and that most of them cannot fully use the potential of the new medium which has 1.15 billion users,” the report says.

The report’s author and SMMITE CEO, Wojciech Łapacz, said that schools lack a clear understanding of what social media is and what strategies they should implement.

“Some people don’t see the difference between online marketing and social media marketing so they put everything in one basket and they tend to connect all the internet-based marketing activities together,” he told The PIE News.

Hot topics identified that create good engagement with students include personal updates about school staff

“Almost 70% of survey respondents were owners and managing directors. They maybe think that much more is being done than actually is in reality.”

Hot topics SMMITE has identified that create good engagement with students are pictures of the city or town where the school is located, personal updates about school staff including birthdays, anniversaries and events, and graphics related to learning.

“Fans do not search for “serious” lessons, learning tips or lectures, but enjoy simple graphics, quizzes and funny stories which help them learn new vocabulary or just combine fun with learning,” said Łapacz.

He added that the popularity of personal information about school staff may suggest that Facebook fan pages are used as a contact platform by many existing and past students. “However, many schools do not post any material which is targeted to this group,” he said.