Questions for fellow studio owners & teachers

[s2k]

Marketing: TONS of social network posts....

As a consumer of social media, may I suggest moving carefully around the "'TONS' of social network posts" idea. Nothing makes me "hide" a post or "unfollow" a page or "unsubscribe" from an email list faster than this very thing - all grabs for cash and very little else. I know it's a business, but social media raises a new, interesting line between connecting people and ad sales - it's hard to do both, well. I'm sure there's a Pinterest page around somewhere with ideas on how to use social media to your advantage and to keep people like me on your page.

 

[Loki]

I treat tons of social media posts the same as junk mail - trash, block, unsubscribe, unfollow, unfriend, whatever.

 

[Jeravae]

Well, that's true. You definitely need to make sure it's not spammy. It needs to be very fun and not promotional at all. And there will still be people who don't want to see multiple posts, but the way the algorithms work, the more posts and activity you have, the more visible your page will be to outsiders. So even though there will be some people who block you or don't want to see your posts, you're still going to get a lot more traction than if you didn't post a lot. I've been a business owner for over 10 years. I have three successful businesses. It works, trust me.

 

[ChaCha1]

I agree Jeravae! I do put some "selling" info on posts, but mostly it is fun/funny/inspirational quotes. Congrats to some dancers for great work... I would like people to enjoy seeing fun items from my business, and it does work... I have had some stop following my page, that's OK.

 

[IndyLady]

Hold special events in your studio often, every quarter at least. Not just parties, but different kinds of tournaments or challenges. Not necessarily dance related either, but studio related. (eg. "Help teacher so and so get 1,000 private lessons this month Sign up for a lesson today!") People are super generous and love to help others. Or hold some sort of competition for the student that gets the most lessons or group classes. Things like that. So that everyone will participate and not feel like it's based on dance level.

This strikes me as something applicable to keep existing students engaged and excited, moreso than bringing in more external business. Maybe I'm just not clear on which audience the OP is trying to market to.

I appreciate social media posts that are complete and informative. Promoting an event? Don't make me follow up to ask you any of the following: date, time, duration, nature of the event, cost (if any), content/format, restrictions/exclusions/requirements, limited space, deadline to sign up.

Teaching technique: Treat each student as an individual. If someone isn't progressing, teach them a different way.

Yes. This. And if the student explicitly tells you that a particular approach isn't working (e.g., when an instructor says "here, feel my lat muscle" - um, ok, that does nothing for my understanding of how that is going to translate or feel on *my* body; or "watch this" with no pre-explanation of what I'm supposed to be watching for), listen to them and adjust accordingly.