Social media - Joining the conversation

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A new year always brings so many things to think about, not least your ambitions for the year ahead. How do you want your nursery or setting to develop in 2015? It is an important question.

It seems everyone is using social networks these days, from the Queen to David Cameron. What is less clear is the benefit for a nursery, especially when so many other things need doing.

Over the coming months we will look in detail at how you can use social media for business, with ideas on planning, strategy, different social media channels, safeguarding, recruitment and parental communication. Before we look at any of that, however, it is worth understanding why you should bother in the first place.

It is generally accepted that social media is a valuable marketing tool, but the exact nature of its value is hard to measure and thus often not understood. The goal of social media marketing is far more than an online popularity contest measured through 'likes', 'followers' and 'retweets'.

Benefits of social media

Increase awareness of your setting Ofcom says that 66 per cent of UK adults who are online have a current social networking profile. Good content can spread rapidly - ie, go 'viral'. Existing parents and carers will often share news of their children's activities on social media. This could be your news, photos or stories.

Raise occupancy levels Used successfully, social media will not just spread awareness but encourage new parents to get in touch.

When a parent shares your picture, video or story, it will appear automatically in someone else's news feed, meaning they don't even have to have heard of you, let alone have seen your website, to hear your news. Many of your parents' friends will be people of the same age who may be looking for a nursery for their own children.

Legitimise your values A website establishes that you exist, but a social media page establishes that you are active and helps define the character of your setting. When parents discover a setting that they want to use but know little about, they check the setting's social media pages. If those pages are constantly being updated with new posts showing interesting activities, they may be tempted to come and visit.

Communicate with parents Ofsted expects parents to be welcomed, respected and informed, and their relationship with you is key to children's progress. A successful nursery will use social media to help achieve this, by sharing news and information and by encouraging discussion and asking for feedback.

Enhance your PR Social media can be used very effectively as a PR tool, by promoting the outstanding things that happen in your setting each week - things that the wider community often don't know about. This is your chance to brag!

Recruitment Staff are at the heart of every successful setting and social media has become one of the prime ways of recruiting the right people - and keeping them once you have got them on board.

Social media has become such an established part of many people's lives that your business is missing out if you don't opt in.

Next month, we will focus on getting a strategy in place. In the meantime, why not start some conversations with parents? Ask them which networks they use and what they would like to see.

Facebook

The most popular network and the most powerful for nurseries. People can collect 'friends' and companies can collect 'likes' for their profile pages.

Twitter

This real-time service is unrivalled for fast-paced, breaking news. Use hashtags (#) to group conversations together. Tweets are limited to just 140 characters.

Pinterest

A virtual pinboard for all the things you love. Boards are based on different themes, with images 'pinned' on your board linking back to the website they came from.

YouTube

YouTube is now the second largest search engine in the world. Owned by Google, it is immensely popular and affects your online search rankings.

Blogs

A blog (web-log) is an online article or journal that can include text, images and video.

Google+

Although not as widely used as other social networks, Google+ does influence search engine rankings.

LinkedIn

Connects people for professional purposes.

Instagram

With its square format and retro filters, Instagram gives your images a polaroid feel. Only available for use on mobile phones, it is intended to be about recording the moment.

Snapchat

Allows users to create 'snaps' - photos or videos that only last for up to ten seconds once the recipient has opened them.

Kate Tyler is the managing director of Shake Social, a social media agency for the early years sector