Social Media Marketing for Child Care facilities

Social Media Marketing

How to use Social Media to communicate with customers &

attract new ones

Social Media Platforms

• Facebook• Twitter• Pinterest• Google +• Youtube• Instagram• Email marketing (semi-social)• Ustream

Privacy

• This is the #1 concern with social media & child related businesses

• Facebook – use groups• Twitter – have a public (external) and private

twitter profile (internal)• Educate parents about how you use social

media• Get permission to post pictures of children

(definitely if they are tagged)

General Guidelines

• Be transparent• Know when to use public or private channels• Use STRONG passwords• Listen to feedback and monitor conversations on

your channels• Look for ways to be efficient in communication• Don’t try to sell, sell, sell - instead, share “sale

items, church clothing sales, events, etc.• Find ways to engage with parents online/offline

The Payoff

• Set parents at ease• Make it easy to do business with your center• Create a rich sense of family around your

center• Turn your parents into the salespeople• Convenient communication with parents

Facebook

• Create a Page for external marketing– Social landing page for FB interaction – easy to

refer– Tag parents to help social sharing– Post openings and special offers– Share info/articles and tips– Establish authority & expertise– Create a sense of community & “family”

Facebook continued

• Create a private group for current customers– Keep communication private– Groups have a “send to all” style post, great for

group messages– Creates a sense of community and “family”

Twitter

• Make a public and private twitter account• Private is for protected messaging – you must

approve followers• Public is for marketing purposes• Auto-post from Facebook to twitter (public)• Do routine searches in your area #daycare

winston salem, #day care winston salem, #child care winston salem, #yourdaycarename

Pinterest

• Most popular demographic group – 25-34 year old women

• Great way to build community by posting favorite recipes, crafts, kid ideas, etc.

• Great place to find content related to your business, not to mention activities, games, etc

Google +

• The “+1” button is the #1 clicked button each day

• Mostly male user base• Great way to create a “circle” to

communicate easily

Youtube.com

• Easily create videos from smartphone– Email these to specific parent or use on social

sites• Create videos to tell the story of your child

care cener– Customer testimonials– Kid testimonials– Day in the life, etc.

Instagram

• The cool way to create pictures to share on social media

• Suggestion – make Instagram private, then SHARE how you see fit

Ustream

• LIVE stream your child care business!• Opportunity to set your parents at ease • Threat – something happens a parent doesn’t

want to see• HUGE opportunity / HUGE threat• Technology commitment– Need web cam(s)– Stable, fast internet

Email Marketing

• Create external newsletters with reminders, holiday reminders and events

• Create internal list for communication with customers – ie- inclement weather

• Auto-responders • Triggers

Be Efficient

• Use publishing platforms like Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Facebook post scheduling

• Translate the message to all social channels• Post newsletters and public items to social

media• REMEMBER – most people don’t check you

on every channel, so they don’t see a lot of duplication of content

Implementation

• Ask your parents how they want you to communicate with them (use surveymonkey.com)

• Create a plan of what you want to get out of social media – current customers / new customers

• Figure out how to add communication with minimal time implications

• Create a plan to add value to current parents– Funny stories, pictures, video, etc.

Any Questions?Helpful Websites

Email Marketingwww.mailchimp.comwww.icontact.comwww.constantcontact.com

Social Media Dashboardswww.hootsuite.comwww.tweetdeck.com

Social Media Platformswww.facebook.comwww.twitter.comwww.pinterest.comwww.plus.google.comwww.instagram.comwww.youtube.comwww.ustream.com

David Phillips – ONEmarketingresource.com – 336.413.6154 – dphillips@onemarketingresource.com