How to use Facebook for School Recruitment

The recruitment crisis facing education today is nothing new – in fact, in late April, analysis of DfE published data showed teacher supply was “spiralling out of control”. More recently, headteachers told the Independent that the teacher shortage was “dangerous”. In such a competitive environment, traditional methods for scouting out candidates are no longer enough. In this article, we take a look at the modern recruitment tool many schools overlook – Facebook for school recruitment. Learn how Facebook can help your school or trust reach over 10 times the audience for a fraction of the price below.

Understanding the basics of Facebook for recruitment

Facebook is by no means the new kid on the block anymore. Since it was created in 2004, Facebook has become one of the world’s most popular social networking platforms and – despite up-and-comers such as TikTok – remains a cornerstone of social media marketing.

In fact, in the third quarter of 2022, Facebook recorded nearly 3 billion active users a month – making it the largest app in the world.

In the UK alone, there are approximately 44.84 million Facebook users. That’s nearly 66% of the UK’s total population.

That’s a staggering proportion of the population, and it means that this is a platform schools can’t afford to be missing out on. So let’s take a look at how schools can make the most of such a successful network.

What is an organic social post?

General posts – or ‘organic’ posts – are Facebook’s bread and butter. If you’re a Facebook user yourself, you’ve probably already seen at least a handful of these today.

They’re the posts that are the easiest to create, and the first you’re likely to think of when talking about posting to Facebook.

Organic posts are free to create and go straight into your page for your followers to see. They can be shared by your followers, and are visible in Facebook’s search function.

Posting organic content regularly is a great way to build up your school or trust reputation. By shouting about all of the wonderful things your staff members get up to, you can showcase the incredible opportunities that you can provide and the type of workplace environment your school has built.

In contrast, if you’re not posting regularly, when it comes time for people to take notice of your school or trust there’s nothing there to see. They’ll never know what your school is like, or how much your pupils love attending, or what an amazing employer you are.

Don’t make this mistake! Keep your page updated, engaging and positive.

How do paid-for social posts work?

Now you know just how powerful organic content can be, it’s time to take a look at paid-for content.

Many social media platforms provide the opportunity for schools and businesses to promote their content and push it out to a much wider audience for a small fee – and Facebook is no different.

Paid ads allow you to reach an audience beyond your followers, without requiring people to search for your content. It uses targeting information, set by yourself, to promote your content to the people most likely to engage with your school – increasing your chances of success exponentially.

For example, take a look at the results we achieved recently with John Madejski Academy. Time was running out for the school to generate an audience for their Sixth Form Open Evening, and with only one week to go, they reached out to the team here at Eduprise for help.

Using only £25 and specific online targeting we were able to reach ten times more parents than the school’s organic social posts with Facebook Ads. In only seven days, over 3,700 parents saw the ad at least twice.

And, by building creative content and attractive visual assets, we made sure that parents actually clicked through! The average click through rate for education advertising is around 0.73%, a figure we significantly outperformed, achieving a click through rate of 1.90%.

Just imagine what those numbers could do for your recruitment campaigns!

Boosting school recruitment with Facebook

It’s no surprise, then, that Facebook is a channel schools can’t afford to ignore. The platform can unlock your school’s potential to generate the perfect audience for your recruitment campaign, increasing your chances of finding the right candidate by tenfold.

Need a hand? Whether it’s helping you get started with Facebook Ads or composing creative content and visually engaging imagery to boost your campaign’s performance, our team is here to help – just get in touch to learn more about how your school can make the most of Facebook for recruitment.