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How To Get Child Care Enrollment Leads From Social Media…

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If you’ve been waiting for the right time of the year to run social media ads for your child care business, this is it! As most of you know, the beginning of the year is usually a very busy time for child care centers. January can mean a time of change for some families, and other families are planning for changes to come. That means it’s time to get some social media ads out there to engage with the people that will need your services.

My child care clients have been seeing great results this January. Social media ads can get expensive towards the end of the year (November & December), because you are competing with all the other businesses that are running ads over the holidays. (This happens because you usually pay for the ads based on a bidding system.)

How should you take advantage of this time of the year? For many of my clients, I will run offers to potential families for a special to save $300-$1000 off enrollment. I’ll put together targeted Facebook ads that run specifically to families with the right age children within driving distance to the school. A parent will see the ad and click to input their information in order to get the flyer or coupon to save on enrollment. On the coupon will be a number to call to book a tour. If they don’t book a tour right then, it’s ok, now you have their email information and phone number so you can continue to market to them throughout the year. If you are consistent about sending out emails and engaging with your leads, this means even more enrollments down the road.

This January I’ve seen some of the best results from social media ads yet. If you have an offer or special that you’re running in a newspaper or have on a flyer, now is a great time to create an online ad for it. I started a campaign for one of my clients just a couple days ago and they have already gotten 6 leads!

If you try out this strategy, make sure to have a tracking number set up that you use on the coupon, so you know which calls are coming from the ads. The coupon should also state that the touring family should show the coupon to get the savings. The director or person doing the tour can then mark that person in your tracking software as coming from Facebook. This is a complete system that will let you know exactly how many enrollments you get from running the campaign.

If you’ve been waiting to build Facebook ads, now is the right time.

Try it out, and let me know what kind of results you get!

Do you struggle with figuring out what to post on your child care center’s social media pages? Never be stumped again…get the Social Media Content Cheat Sheet, just for child care centers.

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The Big Mistake Child Care Centers Make On Social Media

Do parents ever message your child care business on Facebook asking about enrollment?

Do you get mildly annoyed, wishing they would just call you or email you?

Does it make you feel a little uncomfortable communicating with them on Messenger?

Facebook Messenger might seem like an unconventional, maybe even slightly unprofessional, way to talk to parents about enrollment. However, Messenger is actually one of the most popular forms of communication with the new generation of parents. Knowing how to communicate effectively on this platform can help you grow your child care enrollment.

I see SO MANY child care centers simply respond by telling the person to call the center to check for availability and information. Others will respond only to the question (usually about availability and/or rates) without encouraging further communication. These are all lost opportunities to engage with potential customers. This is a great time to communicate your value beyond price, build trust, find out more about them, and get that person in the door for a tour!

Communicating on Facebook Messenger allows you to interact with potential customers in their preferred means of communication, since this is the way they reached out to you. Enrollment inquiries on Facebook Messenger should be treated just as you would treat a phone call and in this article I’ll give you some tips on how to guide the conversation. You may be surprised about the amount of tours you can book right from the online conversations you have with parents when this is done right.

1. Set up an auto responder.

Facebook has the option to set up an autoresponder to anyone that messages your business page. This is a great opportunity to let the person know you will be with them as soon as you can and the perfect time to introduce what makes your school great! You still have the option to go and answer whenever you have the time, but gives them a little bit of information in the meantime.

To turn on Instant Replies for your Page:

Click Settings at the top of your Business Page.
Click Messaging in the left column.
Below Response Assistant, click to select Yes next to Send Instant Replies to anyone who messages your Page.
To change your instant reply message, click Change, update the message and click Save.
Don’t just use Facebook’s autogenerated responder! Change the message. You have 250 characters. Let the person know that you will be with them as soon as you can and say something quick about your unique benefits.

2. Use Facebook’s personalization option in the autoresponder.

Right underneath the option to change the responder message there will be the option to add personalization. You can add in the person’s name to the message, which adds a nice touch. You can also add in your clickable phone number, which is a great opportunity to encourage people to call you for a tour if they are looking for a spot right away.

3. Designate who will be answering Facebook messages for your child care business.

You don’t want just anyone handling your Facebook messages. It should be the people that are already handling the enrollment conversations on the phone, using the same strategies. If you have your teachers, an intern, or an outside company handling your social media that may not know how to handle an enrollment conversation, it’s important to make sure you have a designated person inside your company to do so.

4. Use their message as a catalyst to gather their email and engage. Do not make the conversation about availability or rates.

Many parents will message your with simple questions about your rates or availability. Make sure to keep the focus on learning more about them, letting them know about what makes your child care special and unique, getting any info from them for further marketing, and encouraging them to book a tour. If you just respond by sending along your rates, then you are only competing with other child care centers on price.

The easiest way to sidestep this question is to say something like, “Sure, I’d love to send along our info packet. What is your email and I’ll get that to you right away?”

5. Continue the conversation and engage.

Ask them questions! After asking for their email to send them the info they are requesting, start a conversation. One simple starter: what prompted you to reach out to us today? This can be a great way to connect with parents. It may be that they are unhappy with their current child care, that they are pregnant, or that they just started a new job. This allows you to connect with them on a personal level and hear more about them. This also can usually lead into you getting more information about the child and program (name, age, FT, PT, etc.).

6. Share your unique benefits.

This is your chance to highlight what makes your child care special and unique. You can say something like, “In your email is now the information packet about our program. I’m sure your family will love our (unique benefits).” Example: 30-day Happy Family Guarantee, unique and separate classrooms by age, organic lunches, diapers provided, highly experienced staff with average of ___ tenure, screen for kindergarten readiness with an average score of…

What you have done here is effectively turned the conversation from price to what makes you stand apart and why the parents should choose you, regardless of price.

7. Ask for a tour.

You can encourage a tour in Facebook Messenger by saying something like…

“We do have limited availability. I would hate for any spots to be filled before you make your decision. Would you like to schedule a tour for you and your family to come in. I have _________________ or _______________ open, what works better for you?

Have them agree to the commitment and to communicate if they need to reschedule. “Thank you for messaging us today, we look forward to seeing you at _______________. If for any reason you need to reschedule would you please promise to call _______________ so that we can give that time to someone else who’s waiting?

This time has been reserved just for you. We all look forward to meeting you!”

8. Follow up!

If they do not want to tour at that time, make sure to set a reminder for yourself to follow up with them via Messenger in a couple days to see if they have any questions. This is a great time to engage them in further conversations to answer any questions they have in their search for child care and, again, encourage them to book a tour.

Do you struggle with figuring out what to post on your child care center’s social media pages? Never be stumped again…get the Social Media Content Cheat Sheet, just for child care centers.

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How Do You Get Child Care Leads From A Blog?

Do you have a blog for your child care business? Even though most child care centers don’t, setting aside time to consistently create valuable content will set you apart from the competition and give you a ton of opportunities to communicate with potential families, drive traffic to your website, and get leads!

How do you get leads from a blog? With my own clients I’ll craft content with lead generation in mind. If you’re posting your blog on social media (which you should!) think about what would make someone that is actually searching for child care to click over. Sure, a craft how-to post or recipe is great from time to time, but is it enticing for leads searching for child care? More appropriate for this goal would be a child care search checklist, what makes a child care safe, a post on what makes your educational style different than other child care centers, “How To Tell If (insert your child care name) Is Right For Your Child”, an interview with the owner, “The Ultimate Resource For Transitioning Into Child Care” etc.

So now you have a topic, the blog is written, then what? Post the blog on Facebook, then create an ad with the post targeting families with children ages 0-5 (or whatever is appropriate for parents of the blog post you are writing and the age group you want to fill at the center). You will need to do this in Ads Manager, but this will give you the opportunity to show your Facebook post to your prime target market (while also getting your page more likes as an added benefit).

I’ve been sending my clients hundreds of website visits per blog post doing this. But what about the leads? Sure, I send them a click, but then what?

Make sure to end every blog with your phone number and/or a button to your inquiry form. Here’s an example of what I end every blog post with:

Does this sound like it might be a perfect place for your child to thrive? Give us a call at [preferably a tracking number so you can measure success] to book a tour and come see for yourself what a [your school] education is like!

Or for more info about our programs click the button below and we’ll send you an email!

Then we’ll end the blog with a button like this, sending people to the online inquiry form:

That way you are leveraging your blog posts into a lead generation machine!

The next step is to create Facebook ads to people that have visited your blog post (this is called REMARKETING) but that is a whole other article! For now, think about how you can leverage your blog for lead generation. Stay tuned for future tips on how to write a good blog!

Never Be Stumped About What To Post On Social Media Again…Click To Get The Social Media Content Cheat Sheet, Just For Child Care Centers

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Child Care Owners: What Is The Point of Facebook?

How many of you child care owners are thinking – WHAT is the heck is the point of social media? I don’t want to take time out the gazillion other things I have to do to post on Facebook, to the 150 fans I have, that never see my status updates anyways. Why does this all matter? Why should I care about posting on Facebook for my child care business?

It’s important to understand that beyond all the advanced targeted advertising you can do on Facebook (click here to get tips on how to do this), at it’s very basic element, social media CREATES and SUSTAINS RELATIONSHIPS with your potential child care clients. Your Facebook page is the face of your business, a complement to your website, where potential clients interact with you. Your posts should support your brand, tell your story, engage your fans, and create relationships.

When you learn how to craft engaging posts, Facebook serves as a great platform to market yourself for minimal investment. It serves as a continuous engagement point with your families, prospects, and community as a whole. It allows prospects to get to know you, for free. Your Facebook page represents what you stand for and it’s where you gather and communicate with your community.

It’s been shown in various studies that you need at least 7 points of contact with a customer before they do business with you. Well guess what? This is a great platform for creating multiple points of contact for potential child care clients to get to know, like, and trust your child care business.

I hear a lot of child care owners getting frustrated because they don’t have a lot of likes on their Facebook pages. It’s important to focus on ENGAGEMENT and not how to get more LIKES on your page. Engagement creates relationships, gets your posts seen by a larger audience, and is a good investment of time. While it’s great to grow your fan base, compare it to an email list. If you grow your email list but send out unengaging emails that never opened, what is the point? You need to have interaction with your potential clients. When you have engagement and are posting out useful, valuable content, your fan base will organically grow.

I am focusing on Facebook because I don’t see a whole lot of child care owners leveraging their Facebook pages and getting results. Once you know how to do this for your business, you can transfer it onto ANY social media. It is good to focus on just one or two while you are learning.

Ultimately, Facebook is a marketing machine where you can send traffic to your website, collect leads, and turn leads into enrollments. How to do this is a whole long course by itself (which we will be releasing soon, click here to stay updated!) but it is very important to get the basics down in communicating with your audience on Facebook before making this leap. If you know how to communicate to your audience on an organic (free) level than you will get better results with your paid advertising

Want more information about Facebook can market your childcare, click here.

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