Social media is a powerful tool for promoting your Emergency First Response® courses, providing an unmatched platform to connect with potential students where they already spend their time. With billions of users scrolling through social platforms daily, social media offers opportunities to engage with potential students, to showcase your EFR® courses and first aid community work, and then direct viewers back to your website for further information. There are an increasing number of social media platforms available, so knowing where to spend your time and budget is important.
In 2024, the five most popular social media platforms were Facebook (3.07 billion users), YouTube (2.53 billion users), Instagram (2.00 billion users), WhatsApp (2.00 billion users) and TikTok (1.69 billion users). However, research suggests that Instagram is much more likely to be used to research potential purchases and companies than Facebook or TikTok. By selecting and mastering a few of the platforms and balancing promotional efforts with genuine interaction you can attract learners, build trust, and grow your EFR courses.
Social media isn’t just about marketing; it’s about creating meaningful connections that resonate with your audience. Many companies starting out in social-media usage are worried about how often to post, but creating engaging content is far more important. Let’s take a deeper look at some of the platforms available, and the best ways to use them.
Facebook remains the most popular social media worldwide and is great for increasing brand awareness and driving sales.
- Do exploit the advanced targeting tools to understand your followers’ demographics.
- Do engage users through Facebook Groups, live sessions, and event/ course promotions.
- Do complete the About section to inform your customers who you are and what you offer.
- Don’t overwhelm your audience by posting too much. Create a plan and stick to it. This could be based around your course schedule with event invites, photos/ videos after the course, and maybe a blog containing a student testimonial a few weeks later.
- Don’t onlypost self-promotional material – try to create a relationship. Share content that can be engaged with by posting a call to action, such as asking a question, or posting photos of the students during the course or with their certifications afterwards.
- Don’t ignore messages or comments.
Instagram thrives on visual storytelling and is ideal for centers and courses with strong visual appeal.
- Do use hashtags. Think of these as your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Instagram and a way to connect with your intended audience. Use the built-in business account analytics to find the most engaging ones.
- Do use high-quality visuals, reels, and stories to capture attention consistently.
- Do showcase testimonials, behind-the-scenes content, and quick educational tips.
- Don’t fail to engage with followers through comments and direct messages.
- Don’t buy followers. This will lead to low real engagement. Instead, build an engaged following organically.
- Don’t use hashtags excessively. A typical amount is three. Any more can be seen as spamming and detrimental to success.
TikTok
TikTok, the fifth most popular social media worldwide is the fastest-growing platform, with a predicted seven percent growth between 2024 and 2025. Short-form video is a current top trend, and while this platform started off with a younger audience, this profile has aged meaningfully recently.
- Do embrace trends and create bite-sized, engaging videos to demonstrate EFR course benefits.
- Do consistently use the same hashtag, plus additional specific ones. As with Instagram, don’t overuse hashtags.
- Do go live when you can. This allows you to share your course and people can join your channel as they pass your live feed.
- Don’t make the videos too long – TikTok videos should be short, fun and get to the point quickly. Try to keep the videos under 45 seconds.
- Don’t change your name. Ever. Your links will be lost. Where possible, use the name of your business as the username.
- Don’t delete videos as this can affect your ratings. Make any videos you no longer wish to share private instead.
For All Platforms
- Do try to use the same name across different social media platforms to make finding you easy.
- Do link back to your website. For example, if you are advertising a course, link to the EFR courses page on your website.
- Do post different engagements on different platforms but link them together! For example, for an upcoming EFR Primary and Secondary Care course, you may post a picture on an event on Facebook, an engaging reel on Instagram, and/or a short video on TikTok. The message is the same, but the delivery is unique to each social platform to attract the specific demographics.
- Do create a content calendar and experiment with posting at different times to find your optimum day/ time for each platform for your audience.
- Don’t ignore proofreading and spell checking your content.
- Don’t blindly post QR codes as pictures. Research how your audience is viewing your content first. Today, many people are using their mobile phones to scroll and so can’t also use them to capture the QR code.
- Don’t post the same content from Facebook to Instagram, for example, without using a specific tool to do this. If you post a 6’x4’ photo on Facebook, it will be converted to 4’x4’ on Instagram and you will lose content, potentially someone’s head, and look unprofessional.
It’s worth spending some time getting to know the demographics of your students and learning which platforms they use so that you can market appropriately to the same demographic on platforms they’re already using. If your customer base is small, and limited to a few specific demographics, you may opt for only one social media platform. If, however, you have a varied customer base, you may select to use a few social media platforms.
Effective social media marketing requires a strategic balance of authenticity and professionalism, so try to engage with your audience as much as possible; post consistently with high-quality content; and leverage the analytics from each platform to refine your approach. Remember to avoid spamming, ignoring feedback, or overselling yourself. By doing so, you can nurture trust, increase engagement and build a strong reputation for your EFR business.
For further help and guidance on how to build a strong First Aid presence online, please contact your Regional Headquarters for guidance.
The post The Do’s and Don’ts of EFR Social-Media Marketing appeared first on PADI Pros.
Emergency First Response, EFR, First Responder, Social Media, The ResponderPADI Pros