Top tips: Boost your lettings enqui...

If you’re currently offering community use through letting your school facilities, or if this is something you’re looking into, our top 5 Facebook tips will help you to easily create and grow your online presence.

Name & Profile Picture – Having a relevant name and recognisable profile picture is important. You can use your school name, but you should mention ‘lettings’ in the title. This will mitigate any confusion between your school’s Facebook page (if you have one) and allow your lettings page to stand out to the right audience. A clear image of your venue or your school logo would be a good profile picture making the page easily identifiable. Ensure you keep within the required dimensions of 360 x 360 pixels.

Cover Photo or /Video – Having a good cover photo or better still, a venue video will make your profile stand out. A photo can work nicely, especially if you have good images of your facilities, school grounds or a relevant professional photo. Remember, when adding a cover photo, ensure the dimensions are 1200 x 628 pixels and double check that it fits correctly, otherwise it will look unprofessional. A video can gain even more engagement and is something we use often when creating Facebook pages for clients. We suggest starting with making a simple slideshow of the facilities that are available to hire.

About Us – Your ‘About Us’ section is important and you need to ensure you update it. This allows visitors on your page to understand what it is you’re offering. This is where you have the opportunity to mention you open your school to the local community for lettings. You can explain why you do this, how it helps bring together the local community and also allows you to generate extra income, which helps towards improving the schools facilities.

Connecting with Hirers – If you already have hirers at your school this is a good opportunity to connect with them and interact with their posts. This will not only add value to your customers, but it also shows other potential hirers the kind of activities that are possible at your venue. If you don’t have hirers already you should start adding them as they come on board.

Update Contact Details – The last point is fairly simple, but is often forgotten. If you are doing lettings, you should have a separate phone number or extension that hirers can reach you on. You should also have an email created purely for lettings to ensure the enquiry goes direct to the right person and can be dealt with in a timely manner. Make sure these contact details are uploaded to Facebook as it will help avoid unwanted enquiries to the schools reception.

Many schools tend to shy away from Facebook, but there is a huge opportunity to build a community and spread the awareness that your school offers lettings. If done correctly, it is a powerful tool and one that can generate new enquiries for your school, leading to extra income. If you are interested in finding out more information about our ‘Facebook Setup Package’ contact us on 01604 677 764 or email domenico.forgione@kajima.co.uk.