In February 2019, The Royal Masonic School for Girls tasked Shareable Schools with increasing their brand awareness locally and internationally, with a view to engaging more parents and prospective parents.

Driving Traffic to School Website with Facebook Advertising

As a boarding and day school for girls from across the globe, RMS is often considered by parents who want their daughter to receive an all-girl British education. Not only was the goal for these campaigns to increase their global brand awareness, but it was to engage new and prospective parents in UK locations in the run-up to Open Days for their Sixth Form, Prep and Pre-Prep places. The ability for social users returning to the school website to find out more information and register for the event was also desired.

The Power of Facebook Advertising

With dates in the calendar for international education fairs, Shareable Schools first looked at ways in which we could get RMS’ message to new audiences around the world, and 22% of the worldwide population using Facebook (74% of which are visiting the platform daily) Facebook Advertising was the obvious choice.

Armed with a list of international cities, Shareable Schools could set up ads targeting parents in locations such as Dubai, Hong Kong and Accra. Social media reports have shown that their most engaged cities changed as a result of these ads, and with a significant amount of increased website traffic, prospective parents were presented with RMS and what they have to offer.

Other Facebook Ads we ran included the promotion of Open Days that the school was hosting to generate more interest from prospective parents in a given area, again highlighting the benefits of an all-girl education.

Establishing a Social Media Strategy

Following on from the success of Facebook Advertising, Shareable Schools continued to assist RMS with social media strategy.

Initially, general posts from the school were included in this planning, but after a short period of time, it became apparent that the school could manage this as the team was large enough, with plenty of news happening in and around the school.

We worked with the marketing team to formulate regular posts about wider educational issues that featured in the news. These issues ranged from research or events affecting independent schools e.g. enrolment figures and admissions as well as the importance of mental wellbeing and music in the curriculum. We were reactive to news events and were able to present RMS’ viewpoint on each matter, giving parents peace of mind that the school takes such matters seriously.

The Results

To date, the school’s Facebook page has seen a 10% increase in likes in six months and a 13% increase in total engagements.

The page now has a great mix of daily news and thought-leadership comments and we look forward to continuing to work with the school to build their social media presence in other ways going forward.