Most language services in ELT tend to get quiet on social media over the summer break. This is, in my opinion, a huge mistake! 

Don’t go cold this summer on social media. Instead, use social media videos to keep students warm!

Building your visibility on social media is like pushing a cart uphill. The moment you stop pushing it uphill, it goes down quickly! Also, during the summer break, your students and potential students have more time to kill on social media so you should be popping up on social media consistently. However, the type of content will be a more “summery” style. Ideally, you want to share content that is different from what you shared during the academic year.

How can social media videos help language schools with visibility?

Video marketing has been gaining popularity for several years and 2022 is more than ever THE year for leveraging social media videos. Unlike past years 2022 has seen a massive increase of short-form videos driven by TikTok and Instagram Reels. 

In 2021, Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri announced that the app is “no longer just a square photo-sharing app,” since it’s pivoting its focus to video. Then, in February this year, Facebook reported that about half of all time spent on Facebook and Instagram is spent watching videos as Reels continue to grow in popularity.

Recent market research by Hubspot has revealed that consumers prefer watching a short video to reading a blog article, attending a webinar or making a call to find out about a service. Can you believe that?!

Due to this, social media platforms are pushing for videos and for this reason, organic video posts perform much better than other types of posts in terms of reach ( and not only!)

Other reasons to leverage social media videos in ELT

This growing video trend is excellent news for language schools that need to grow their accounts and increase visibility on social media. Now it’s the right time to leverage the use of social media videos to have a wider reach organically for your language school this summer!

Other reasons why social media video posts work for language schools are: 

• Social media videos stay visible longer than posts
• Videos convey a lot more about you and your school than other types of posts.
• Social media videos get more engagement

“If a picture can tell a thousand words, a video is worth at least a million”

Jillian Warren Content Marketing Strategist for Later

Social media video ideas for your language services

Here in Italy, most people go away on holiday in July and August when schools are closed and it’s too hot to be at work. They will be at the beach or in the mountains. During this period your social media video content should be more entertaining, playful and uplifting. All you want is to keep them warm until the back-to-school period arrives. Avoid content that is too serious or “salesy” as it will alienate your students.

Social media video ideas for the summer break

• Messages

Start by recording a message wishing your team a great summer break in early July or as soon as your courses finish. Click here for a great idea of a message in a faceless video format to inspire you!

• Tips for Parents 

Do parents always ask you for resources to use with their kids at home over the summer? I’m sure they do! So why don’t you share these on a video?

Example: Let me share 3 things you can do to help kids with English homework this summer OR Let me share 3 websites with games for children.

• Tips for Students

Also, students love to keep up with their English during their hols, especially adults. Prepare videos on which you share books, song titles, films or apps they can use to keep their English active. Check this Reel on recommended reads for another good example of a faceless video.

• Useful expressions  

One of the top reasons for studying English is travelling and another top reason is love! Select phrases that will be useful for students travelling abroad (or even dating!). Share them on a video in the same way you’d share them in class. You can put captions on the videos to make it more interesting.

• Holiday videos

Ask your teachers if they can send you a little video saying hello from where they are, showing local food or the landscape. Make sure you do one too! Example: Hello from Amsterdam! I love it here because…. 

• Favourites

Share a recipe you love, your favourite drink, or your favourite place for a holiday. Whatever you share someone will be able to relate and this gets them closer to you!

Social media video ideas for the back-to-school

September is when people come back from the summer break. However, parents are busy getting organized with the kids and work, and as it’s still hot, so they are not thinking about the English course. So clearly this is a different stage and you need to match your social media video content to this phase. Ideally what you do in this period is to warm them up to get them thinking about the English course that usually starts in October. 

• Show your school’s facilities 
• Meet the team videos. Ask them to shoot a video outside the school so you have a variety of settings.
• Answer in a short video Frequently Asked Questions. Record the video somewhere nice or a well-known place in your neighbourhood. 
• Last year’s students in a lesson doing an engaging activity.
• Debunk a myth, for example: “You can be fluent in English in only 6 weeks”. 
• Behind the Scenes: teachers meetings, teachers attending a teacher training session and everything that is happening behind the scenes that show you’re getting ready for the new academic year.
• Announcements: a new course, a new member of the team
• Unboxing videos showing new materials or resources sent to the school and say why you chose them and how they can help learners of English.

Time for Action!

Now you have some good social media video content ideas to get started so your next step is …3,2,1,…Action! 

Not feeling confident enough? Would you like to have some structured support? No worries, you can count on me. Book a consultancy session and let’s find out how I can help you further. Get in touch through the contact form!