When I encourage school owners and instructors to use social media to market and promote their programs, I often hear something like the following in reply:
"I tried that and it didn't work."
To me, that's you showing a student your favorite submission and hearing them respond with, "I tried that last time I rolled and it didn't work."
We all know as instructors that the difference between success and failure is not in the technique - it's in the execution.
That's why jiu-jitsu greats like Marcelo Garcia and Roger Gracie can hit basic submissions like armbars in sparring all day long. And yet, your average white belt is going to miss them 9 times out of 10, every day of the week.
The good news is that you don't have to be a world-class marketer to use social media effectively to market your school - you just need to understand a few basic principles:
- Your Goal - Your goal is for your students and the people they know to SHARE your content. That means you have to post content that people actually want to share!
- Everyone's Favorite Topic - What does everyone like to talk about? Themselves, of course! So, stop posting pictures of yourself, and start posting pics and videos of your students.
- Your Role - It's to PRAISE your students publicly. From time to time we all seem to forget that we're supposed to be encouraging our students. So if you want your content to be shared, make it about your students and make it encouraging.
- Filler - Filler posts consist of things like positive memes, technique clips, and other informative content that allows you to showcase what you do. You should also be linking to content on your site and sharing it as well. But, make the majority of the stuff you post about your students. That's the stuff that will get liked and shared the most.
Remember, small tweaks in the execution of a marketing technique can have a major impact on how well that technique works to get you more students.
So, keep your social media posts positive, and keep them focused on your students to get more engagement and shares on social media.
Until next time,
Mike Massie
MartialArtsBusinessDaily.com
