Multi-channel Education Marketing Strategy & Demand Generation

Selecting the Right Social Channel for Your Audience and Goals

Christine De Baca By Christine De Baca

Social media can be a powerful platform to reach potential customers. But with so many options available — from Meta and X to LinkedIn and TikTok — our clients often struggle with knowing which channels to prioritize and how to align their social media strategy with their marketing goals.

Understanding who is on which channel and how they are interacting with that channel in a professional capacity is key to creating an effective social media strategy that maximizes a company’s return on investment.

Know Your Audience and Set Goals

In the field of education, school and district leaders are usually the ones making decisions and are an important group to communicate with. However, teachers, school counselors, and school librarians also have significant influence in the decision-making process. Companies should create customized social media campaigns for each group to effectively connect with the appropriate individuals using the right messaging.

It’s also important for a company to define clear goals for their social media marketing. For B2B companies in the education space, social media is typically best for:

  • Increasing brand awareness and brand recognition
  • Establishing thought leadership
  • Networking and developing friendly relationships with potential buyers
  • Customer service

Tipsheet: Learn Which Channel is Right for Your Audience and Goals

Once you’ve identified who you want to target, it’s time to select the right social media channel for your audience. Check out our free tipsheet to learn the “who, what, why, and where” of major social media channels — Facebook, LinkedIn, X, and YouTube.

The tipsheet includes details on which channel is best for school leaders versus teachers/counselors, and it includes advice by platform on how to customize your strategy to cater to the needs of a particular audience. It will help you and your team target the educators you’re most interested in connecting with and align your messaging to their specific needs.

Additional Social Media Tips and Best Practices

After you select the right social media channel for your audience and goals, follow these general tips and best practices to further enhance your social media marketing:

  1. Be authentic to your brand voice. One of the great benefits of social media is that it enables you to share about your company and brand in a more personal and interactive way. Think of your “social media voice” as a virtual version of how your team would interact with educators in-person at a conference or site visit.
  2. Start a conversation…not a sales pitch. Social media is the perfect place to position your company as a thought leader in your sector of the industry. You can achieve this by sharing timely articles from reputable news outlets like EducationWeek, Inside Higher Ed, and EdSurge as well as your company’s own original thought leadership content. Also be sure to connect with other thought leaders’ content, share upcoming conferences and events, and post about pain points that are top-of-mind with your specific audience. Don’t be too salesy and limit product promotions to around 20% of your total posts.
  3. Post consistently. Create a monthly social media content calendar and schedule your posts ahead of time. You should be posting at least 3–4 times a week (this cadence might be higher, depending on your budget, goals, and strategy). The content calendar can include a mix of industry trends, timely topics, upcoming events, and some product promotions. Having a social media calendar will help you align the marketing you are doing on other channels, such as email and display ads, to leverage the impact of multi-channel messaging. It will also ensure that you are posting regularly and consistently on social media.
  4. Engage with educators and other organizations on social media. Everybody likes it when their content is liked/shared! Spend at least 15 minutes a few times a week engaging with your audience and liking and sharing relevant posts. This is an excellent way to connect with thought leaders and potential customers, grow your audience, and expand your presence on social media. It also helps build trust with your audience and shows them that you are on social media to learn, listen, and be part of the conversation.
  5. Invite educators and thought leaders to follow your accounts. Inviting people to like your social media channels helps expand your audience, increase engagement, and boost visibility. It also creates opportunities for meaningful interactions, which in turn can lead to more followers, greater reach, and potential conversions.

We hope you find our social media tips helpful as you craft and refine your social media strategy. If you would like help executing effective social media campaigns that deliver strong results and return on investment, our social media experts would be glad to help! Contact us to learn more.

About Christine

Christine has been with Spyre Marketing since 2016, helping K–12 and Higher Education companies enhance and execute their marketing strategies, launch effective campaigns, craft compelling narratives, and interpret marketing analytics. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and kids, exploring the world, cooking and enjoying good food, hiking, and embracing adventure.