Using Social Media To Attract New Music Students

Attracting new music students to your class is a challenge for any instructor. With so many demands on our time, it’s difficult to compete with other activities. However, keeping your seats filled is important. Not only if you conduct private lessons, but also if you work through a structured school curriculum. Without students, many programs risk becoming a dreaded budget cut.

But there are many ways that you can generate broader enthusiasm for what you do. Social media outlets are so much a part of our daily lives that it’s easy to forget the relative “newness” of this form of communication. However, it is a powerful marketing tool; and one that has altered the advertising landscape and changed the way millions of people connect with one another. And for that reason, its become one of the most effective forms of advertising today.

You can utilize social media in a variety of ways to attract new students to your music class. These ideas can get you started.

Increase Awareness

Many major advertising campaigns are launched through social media platforms before being transferred to larger television audiences. Music teachers can take advantage of the free access afforded by many sites like Facebook, Twitter, and others to increase public awareness about their class, their expertise, their rates, and their qualifications. By setting up personalized pages, you can easily keep current students informed about fun, upcoming events, and offer practical advice and playing tips. Some ideas include:

• Add a daily or weekly blog about the benefits of music instruction for children and adults. Link to leading sites that feature respected scientific discoveries about the connection between early music instruction and scholastic performance, or that feature new studies that show how music helps increase long-term memory functions.

• Review different brands and types of instruments. You can offer a “Music Instructor’s Practical guide to Picking the Right Instrument” or something similar. Many students and adults would like to learn to play an instrument, but they may not know exactly what it entails. By offering advice on the best instruments for the value and everything a person needs to know about caring for a particular instrument, etc. you give potential students a glimpse of what to expect, which will improve your class retention rates.

Plus, when your blogs and ideas get shared, you reach new people who are already receptive to your class.

Heightened Communication

With social media outlets, you can stay in touch with your current students in a fun, interactive way. These days, people stay glued to their smart phones and the percentage of school-age kids who are on these social platforms is high. You can use that fact to your advantage. Really, the best way to attract new students is to have your current students rave about how fun, cool, and exciting it is to take your music class.

You can also create ‘public’ opinion polls to decide which new songs the class should include in the next recital, which is the most popular instrument, or create an area for practice tip discussions. Whichever avenues you pursue, keep in mind that you are engaging your current and future students and tailor the ideas and the content towards them.

Community Involvement

Another great advantage of social media is the way it allows you to connect with community organizations and other likeminded groups. By linking with others in the community you can find out about upcoming street fairs, festivals, and similar cultural and heritage functions so that you can take an active role in the planning, preparation, and participation in these events.

Possibly you can develop your own outreach program by contacting local retirement facilities and performing free concerts for residents. (Perhaps, that’s one of the ideas your current students can vote or make suggestions about. Hint)

If you work mainly with children, maybe you can arrange a group outing to a local museum or another attraction, just for fun.

There are many ways that social media can help you attract new students to your music class, and truly, the ideas are limitless. The main thing to remember is that you’re developing awareness of who you are and what you have to offer new students. With just a little bit of effort a few days a week, you’ll be surprised at the difference you’ll see in the interest for music education, and before you know it, you’ll have to start booking new times and new classes to take care of the surge in new students.