2. Ninja Your Competitors

In the world of business it is common for competing businesses to “Shop the Competition.” Facebook makes this super easy.

a. Create an alias account

b. Friend your competing schools

c. Monitor what they are doing and how they are being received

d. Friend their students to ethically, legally, and covertly find out about the school

e. Be careful about overselling your school. Just be a fly on the wall

3. The Power of the Friend, the Wall, the Like, and the Tag

a. The Power of the Wall

Each account has a Wall. This is where they post what’s on their mind (Status Update) or you, because you are a friend, can post a message on their Wall. That message is seen by all of that persons’ friends. That is the Power of the Wall.

b. The Power of the Friend

When you Friend and/or Like or are Friended and/or Liked that pops up on the wall of the Friendee or Friender. Imagine you send a message to your new student, “Sally, I just wanted to say you did great in your first class. Remember, you can invite any of your friends to join you for class tomorrow night at http://www.USAKarate.com/NewStudentOffer

c. The Power of the Like

All of Sally’s friends see the message you posted. Many of them will show support for Sally’s new training by Liking the post. That causes two actions that are important.

1. When Bill Likes Sally’s post the Like notification goes to his Wall.

So now, all of his friends are seeing your post or at least a link to it.

2. Once a post is made on a wall, it goes into the Newsfeed which slowly scrolls down as other people add their own Status Updates to their wall.
In a short period of time your post could be off the bottom of the page. However, when someone Likes Sally’s post, it pushes the post back up her Wall to the top.

Multiply that by everyone who was in class this week and you can see how Facebook can create massive reach through the “Friend” and “Like” process. You have to be careful not to hit each student each day with one of these notes. However, milestone events like first class, first exam, special events etc... are perfect to post on their Wall.

c. The Power of the Tag

In the pre-digital age the saying was a picture is worth a thousand words. In the digital age, you can say, a picture is worth a thousand dollars! A video is worth even more.

When you upload a video or picture to your page, you are asked to Tag and/or Share the image. This is HUGE but has to be used with care.

A common mistake is to tag a photo with a lot of people who are not in the photo just to get them to click through. That creates resentment. I get Tagged in photos for all kinds of products / services I have no interest in. But, it’s human nature to want to know what someone as Tagged you with so you look. At least I do. I’m sure you do too. Be careful and respectful how you use this powerful tool.

Keep a good still and video camera at the school charged and ready to hook up to your computer. Many of them now come with Facebook buttons for fast uploading.

You do not have to be a pro photographer to get good shots that you can use to promote your school. Here are some types of shots and or videos you will want to get an eye for composing and shooting. Make all videos are LESS than 90-seconds.

SInce this strategy is reliant on you taking and publishing images of your students and their family make SURE your waiver of liability includes a image use clause.

1. New Student Photo

Taking a photo of a new student is quick and easy. Here are some suggestions:

a. Make sure the light is coming from the back of the camera b. Help the student get into cool pose with a big smile
c. If more than one person is in class, have a group shot
d. Invite the parents into the photo as well

Once you’ve uploaded these shots you can tag each person in the photo. That means a notice will go to their email and on their wall that they have been Tagged. Their friends will see that they have been Tagged and often will check it out. Include a message in the caption praising the student and inviting her friends to join her in class at http://www.USAKarate.com/ NewStudentOffer

2. Random Class Shots

When you’ve got a good class going and the energy is there, pull out the video camera and very steadily pan the room. It’s best to use a mono-pod to keep the video camera still. In time, you’ll know the students who will turn to the camera and say something positive because they are having fun and enjoy the attention. Guess what? You can tag everyone in the video. Just make sure they look good.

The same, of course, goes with still shots. Make sure you compose the shots to make the student look good and happy otherwise you will create ill-will and lose students.

3. Special Events

This seems obvious but most owners do not understand how to make this work. The key is to recognize that during each event there are predictable

moments that are ideal for photos and video.

a. Group shot at the start is better than the end because the group is not sweaty and tired. Shoot them fresh with anticipation rather than drained from training.

b. Teaching shots. Have someone shoot a wide shot that shows you teaching and includes as many faces as you can get in. Tag each face and write a good caption that mentions your school.

c. Moments of action. If you’re doing a board breaking seminar, get your light and cameras ready to shoot the set up, the break, and the aftermath.

4. Quick Video Testimonials.

Avoid long winded attempts to praise the school or class. Tell the student what you want them to say. For instance, “Sally, last week you said this class is a lot more fun than the gym. Would you smile and say, “Hi! I’m Sally Jones, and I am here to tell you that USA Karate is WAY more fun than the gym I used to go to.” That’s all you need. Edit four or five of these and you will have a good testimonial reel that can be Tagged with each person.

The Power of the Share

Once you have uploaded your video or photo, you will have an option to Share This. Holy cow is this great! Guess who you want to share it with? Every prospect and former student you are friends with. If the images and/or video is really good share it with the media. Just be careful about overdoing this because it loses it’s power but wow does it have power.

You Tag Sally Smith in a video along with ten others. You Share the same video with 200 former students and 218 prospects which posts it on their Walls. If they oar any of their friends Like it the viral nature of Social Media is ignited.