Online marketing is a powerful tool for you when it comes to communicating your messages, it also builds relationships with current parents and new customers. New prospective parents will be able to see how great your nursery is. Knowing this information the questions is so how do I use a blog and all social media platforms to do this?
Having a nursery blog may be the answer, so where do nurseries start with this. Unlike Facebook and twitter posts/articles on your blog can be as lengthy as they need to be, also the content will be on your own website therefore you will have full control over this.
There are a wide variety of articles you can post on your blog, here are a few suggestions
- Written articles or videos from practitioners about what they have been happening during the day.
- Videos of practitioners demonstrating best practice
- Audio clips of children singing songs
- Articles containing a write up and photos of trips out
- Displays of children’s work
Having a blog is a great of keeping your existing parents up to date with current news and information, parents will feel more confident in the staff as they are being able to see what’s happening with their children. Let’s not forget it’s also a free and easy way to share information. For prospective parents you can tailor your photos and articles to suit their requirements for example post pictures of your environment as well as testimonials from parents. Don’t forget to use other networking sites such as Facebook to direct people to your blog, post photos and links on here then add the link back to your blog.
Online marketing Plan
Do you have an online marketing plan/strategy, if you are going to be using your blog you need to be following a well thought out plan. Set yourself objectives and think about how you will achieve these, for example when will you post your materiel and how often are some of the questions you will need to ask yourself. Try and think about the design of your blog as it needs to match your brand eg logo, colours font etc.
Some key points to remember:
- Post content on your blog regularly, maybe once a week is enough.
- Try and stick to the same tone and voice to establish a identity
- If posting lengthy content keep the paragraphs short and punchy
- Don’t forget to use photos and position these on the right as people read scan read from the left.
Monitor your blog
It is always a good idea to monitor your blog and the progress over a time, by doing this it will help you to identify if parts of your plan are working. Sign up to google analytics’s, this will give you more accurate information such as the amount of traffic to your blog and what people are looking at on your website.This piece of software can help you fine tune your plan as it will tell you exactly where your website visitors are coming from eg links from facebook or from people searching on google. Having all this information will enable you to create a successful online marketing strategy.