In order to promote your Early Years setting well, you need quality content.

This doesn’t mean you need a film crew, high-end equipment or Hollywood editing skills, but rather that you think about what you’re posting and make sure that it:

a) aligns with your values and
b) appeals to your audience.

The name of the game is quality, not quantity.

Nobody cares if you’re posting 12 things a day and it’s all boring – they’re much more likely to pay attention if you post only once a day and make sure that post captivates your audience.

Another good tip is to give yourself time to find your feet. Don’t be discouraged if the first few posts don’t attract much attention. Instead, use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram analytics to see what kind of content is resonating best with your audience. There’s no rule against having a look at other settings’ socials as well, for more inspiration about what to post.

Content ideas:

Firstly, make sure your content is structured around your content pillars (see How to Market Your Early Years Setting Using A Marketing Plan for more info). Once you’ve identified your pillars, some ideas for posts could be:

• Information about your Early Years setting.
• An introduction to your staff/team.
• Sharing industry articles and news.
• Reminding families of upcoming events or important dates.
• Information or images of activities the children are taking part in (following our guidance on image and video consent in How to Market Your Early Years Setting on Social Media.
• Answers to common questions, or how you, as a team, deal with subjects like introducing new foods to a “fussy” eater.

If you’re feeling the pressure, however, you don’t always have to come up with original content – sharing posts like tips from other practitioners or news articles about childcare developments are all useful for engaging your followers and encouraging conversation.

The main two questions to ask yourself before posting anything are “Would I read/share/like it? And "Does it provide value?”. If not, leave it. If so, post!

The Benefits

Content like this will engage your current followers as they learn more about their child’s day-to-day life in your setting, and the people looking after them. Advice and expertise will draw in new followers as you appear in Google searches when families are searching for answers to their questions. It will also establish your professionalism, creating a loyal base of followers who will look to you for advice or guidance when they need help. The more people know and trust your EY setting’s brand, the more word will spread and increase your good reputation.

Interesting content encourages people to talk and, the more people discuss or reply to your posts, the more post views you’ll get. But remember that social media is social and you need to take part in the conversation, too! Set aside some time every couple of days (if not every day) to like or reply to comments on your posts to keep people engaged and build a community for your followers.

And finally, according to marketing research firm Demand Metric, content marketing costs 62% less and generates roughly three times as many leads as traditional marketing. So, what are you waiting for? Get posting!