Does Your School Social Actually Drive Enquiries (Or Just Likes)?

Your Head doesn’t ask how many likes you got last week.

They ask why the right families are not enquiring. Or why open day bookings are down. Or why Instagram looks busy but the admissions inbox does not.

That gap is the real social problem in most schools. Vanity metrics go up. Enrolment pressure stays the same. You’re left explaining a channel that was never given a proper job.

What does “social that drives enquiries” actually mean?

It means every post has a job tied to a real outcome: an enquiry form, an open day booking, a prospectus request, a commercial hire enquiry, or a warm conversation that admissions can pick up.

Likes, views and follower counts are useful diagnostics, but they aren’t the goal. If a post never moves anyone closer to your school, you’re just creating content for content’s sake.

It’s quite simple, really. Social is a pipeline channel, not a scrapbook.

Why do school social feeds stall at vanity metrics?

Because the brief is usually “post more”, not “move this audience one step”.

Maybe your team of one or one and a half is juggling website updates, open day emails, SLT requests and a last-minute sports result. Posting becomes the visible proof of work - so strategy gets skipped.

Then the feed fills with spaghetti-at-the-wall: a bit of pastoral, a bit of sport, a lovely classroom shot, a reminder nobody scheduled, and a scatter gun of ‘what the children did today’. None of it’s bad, but none of it’s aimed at someone specific.

The people you market to are not “everyone”. From a school marketing view they tend to be Reception or Year 7 entry parents, sixth form students, international families, or commercial hirers. Each needs different proof, different tone, and a different next step. And it’s why we often - not always - but often advocate for our commercial school clients that their offerings need a separate social presence. Talk to us more about that here.)

If your content is written for all of them at once, it lands with none of them.

How do you turn social into enquiries without posting more?

Stop measuring the week by volume. Measure it by movement.

Use this four-part check for the next fortnight.

1. Name one audience for the next two weeks.

Not “parents”. Year 7 entry families in your catchment. Or commercial hirers looking at your sports hall. One person. One job.

2. Give that audience one job to do.

Book the open day. Start an enquiry. Reply to a Story with a question. Download the prospectus. Soft CTAs still count if they create a conversation admissions can continue.

3. Plan content that answers their actual questions.

What happens after I enquire? What does a typical Year 7 day look like? Is wraparound care available? Can we hire the facilities in the holidays? Write posts that answer those, in human language, with a clear link or next step.

4. Report the numbers SLT actually care about.

Enquiries from social. Open day bookings attributed to social. Profile visits to website sessions. Soft DMs that became calls. Enquiries, deposits and of course bums on seats. Put likes in a footnote if you must. Lead with pipeline.

The schools that get social working rarely do it by posting twice as often. They do it because the content had a job and a person in mind.

Which metrics should you report to SLT?

Report the ones that sound like admissions language.

• Enquiries that started on social

• Open day or event bookings from social

• Click-throughs to key admissions or commercial pages

• Qualified conversations in DMs or comments that led to a form or call

Use follower growth and reach as context, not the headline. If reach is high and enquiries are flat, you have an awareness channel with no conversion path. Fix the path before you buy more reach.

Paid social can help once the organic path is clear. Do not pour budget into a feed that can’t convert a warm click.

Where does AI fit without turning your feed into waffle?

Use AI as a co-pilot for drafts, variations and first-pass calendars. You still choose the audience, the claim and what goes live.

That keeps safeguarding and brand voice where they belong: with you. Human-led, always. It’s not techy waffle. It’s a faster first draft so you spend your scarce hours on judgement, not blank pages.

What should you stop doing this week?

1). Stop posting “because it is Tuesday”.

2) Stop treating every platform the same. If your Year 7 parents are on Instagram and your commercial hirers are elsewhere, say so in the plan and act like it.

3) Stop sending SLT a screenshot of likes with no enquiry line underneath.

4) Start with one platform, one audience, one clear next step for fourteen days. Then review what moved.

FAQs

Do likes and comments still matter for school marketing?

Yes, as signals. They show whether content is resonating. They don’t replace enquiries, bookings or qualified conversations. Report both, with pipeline first.

How often should a school post on social media?

Often enough to stay useful for your chosen audience, not so often that quality collapses. A thin daily post that answers nothing will lose to three strong posts that each do a job.

Should admissions and marketing share one social strategy?

Yes. Marketing can own the plan and the calendar. Admissions should shape the questions, the follow-up path and what “a good enquiry” looks like. Social without a handoff is noise.

Is a social media strategy worth it for a team of one?

Especially then. A short written strategy stops you guessing every morning. It tells you who you are talking to, what success looks like, and what you will ignore this month.

If you want a clear plan you can build in under an hour, the Creating a Social Media Strategy course walks you through the building blocks, with a template and content plan made for education brands:

And if AI is the bottleneck on your content week, the next AI for School Marketing training is Thursday 17 September (online, 10:00-14:00). Practical tools for social drafts, admissions emails and open day materials, with you still in control: https://www.attenger.com/ai-training-for-school-marketing

Nab your spot if the date works for you!