Why social media is so powerful for nurseries
Twitter and Facebook are two of the most powerful and popular social media platforms used for businesses. Together they have over 1.5 billion users who share pictures, stories and news with each other.
Approximately 500 million tweets are sent a day and over 1.35 billion people are active Facebook users. Day nurseries are able to use these to their advantage by communication with parents, other nurseries and the local community.
The early years sector has a lot to gain from using social media as it acts as a platform to promote their business and communicate a message to their audience.
Uploading Images
Images of children are posted daily on social media sites, whether they have just been born or they are playing in the garden. This shows how times have changed and there is now an acceptance of child images on social media.
Day nurseries can therefore upload images of the children having fun at nursery, with permission from parents of course. This allows parents to see what their child gets up to on a normal day.
Photographs can tell a thousand worSd, this is why using them on social media sites is a great tool to show parents and prospective parents what is happening daily at your nursery.
Content Concerns
Nursery owners and managers raise concerns over this however, social media experts claim parents enjoy seeing what their child is doing and do not mind pictures posted as long as they are taken and used properly.
A key message for all nurseries is to safeguard children and it is highly important to have policies and procedures in place to address this, it is best practice to not use children’s names on social media sites and always obtain permission before uploading any images. Parents should only give consent if they are 100% comfortable with it.
Marketing tool
Using social media for nurseries also helps to promote the nursery and can give prospective parents and insight to nursery life.
Social media sites need updating regular with fresh content that is relevant and engaging for the user, Facebook is great for creating a conversation and interaction from followers.
Right approach
Nursery managers need to embrace the power of social media these days, not be afraid of it. Communicating messages about your nursery to the community and with parents is a great way to establish effective communication.