On May 13, Grow Schools hosted Enrollment Edge: Marketing Strategies for Fall 2026 — a live workshop covering two of the highest-leverage areas in enrollment marketing: social media that actually reaches families, and a homepage that turns visitors into applicants. Content Strategist Jesse Foss and Brand and UX Design Consultant Niki Blaker led the homepage portion, with practical frameworks and live audits that school leaders could apply the same day.
Here is what we covered.
The Truth About Social Media in 2026
We opened with a poll asking which platform schools are using most for marketing. The answers were spread across Facebook, Instagram, email, and websites — and that spread tells its own story.
The honest truth about social media right now: no single platform is driving qualified leads on its own. Families are not making enrollment decisions because of one post on one channel. What actually works is a combination of consistent organic content that builds awareness and trust, paired with paid advertising that puts your school in front of families who do not already know you.
Where to put your time:
Facebook and Instagram are still your foundation — but for awareness, not conversion. These platforms help families recognize your school and feel familiar with it before they ever visit your website. Paid advertising on both platforms works, and it does not have to be expensive. Boosting a post for $5 to $10 a day can meaningfully extend your reach.
TikTok is worth exploring if your team has the capacity. It is especially effective for showing the personality of your school — what a typical day looks like, what your kids are excited about, what makes your community different.
The bottom line: go where your families actually are, not where the headlines tell you to be.
Content That Connects
The most effective enrollment content does two things in roughly a 60/40 balance. Sixty percent of what you post should be brand and community content — showing who you are, what your culture feels like, what families can expect. Forty percent should be enrollment-focused content that invites families to take action.
Both types work together. Trust built through community content is what makes families respond to enrollment-focused content when it appears.
Content that tends to perform:
- Student testimonials in video form
- Day-in-the-life content that shows your school, not a polished version of it
- Virtual tours that feel authentic rather than produced
- Parent voices talking about their experience
Community partnerships are one of the most underused tools in school marketing. Mission-aligned organizations in your area — youth programs, libraries, local businesses, neighborhood groups — already have audiences that overlap with yours. Tag them in relevant posts, ask them to share your content, and look for opportunities to collaborate on events. Their networks become your networks.
Platform Quick Wins
A few specific things schools can do immediately:
On Facebook: Post at 7–9 AM or 5–7 PM when families are most active. Video content performs significantly better than static images — up to three times better. Boosting posts for five to ten dollars a day is one of the highest-return investments available.
On Instagram: Use Stories for daily moments and Reels for reach. Reels between 30 and 60 seconds tend to perform best. Organize your Highlights so new visitors can immediately find what they need: Tour, Programs, Events, Testimonials.
One event, five posts: Any event your school hosts can generate content before, during, and after. A single tour day, open house, or student showcase can become an announcement post, a behind-the-scenes story, a video highlight, a parent quote, and a follow-up recap. You do not need more events — you need to get more out of the ones you already have.
The easiest win of all: Set up an instant auto-response for every inquiry form submission. When a family reaches out, they are in a moment of active interest. An immediate response — even an automated one that confirms receipt and sets expectations — keeps that interest alive. A delayed response loses it.
Measuring What Matters
Before moving into the homepage section, we paused on a point worth sitting with:
Followers are not enrollments. Likes are not applications. Shares are not inquiries.
Vanity metrics feel good and measure almost nothing. The numbers that matter are inquiry form submissions, tour sign-ups, open house attendance, and ultimately applications. When you are evaluating whether your social media is working, those are the questions to ask.
Your Homepage is Where it all Lands
Every piece of social media content, every paid ad, every community partnership eventually points somewhere. For most families, that somewhere is your homepage.
Jesse and Niki walked through what makes a homepage work — and what gets in the way.
The numbers: Between 40 and 60 percent of all website traffic lands on a school’s homepage. Once a visitor arrives, you have about eight seconds before they decide to stay or go. That is not a long window, but it is enough — if your homepage is doing its job.
The Three Jobs Your Homepage Has To Do
Trust. Families need to see that your school is real, active, and worth their time. Real photos of your kids and your building. Recent news or events. Parent testimonials. Credentials that are easy to find.
Differentiation. Why your school, and not the one down the street? Your homepage needs to answer that clearly — not in a tagline, but in specific language about what families and kids will actually experience.
Conversion. Families who are ready to act should not have to work to find out how to apply or schedule a tour. The path forward needs to be visible from the moment they land on your page.
The 5-second Test
Attendees pulled up their own homepages during the session and tested whether a first-time visitor could answer four questions in five seconds:
- What grades do you serve?
- Where are you located?
- How do I schedule a tour?
- What makes you different?
For a lot of schools in the room, the honest answer was: not quite. Location buried in the footer. Differentiators on an About page two clicks away. A call-to-action that requires scrolling to find.
These are fixable. And most of them do not require a full redesign.
What a Great Homepage Includes
Niki walked through the seven sections that belong on every effective charter school homepage:
- A hero section with a clear call to action
- Social proof — testimonials, stats, or awards
- What makes your school different, with three or four specific differentiators
- Programs or curriculum highlights
- Latest news or events showing your school is active
- A second call to action
- A footer with all key links
The hero section is where most schools have the most room to improve. The components: a headline that says what you do and who you serve, a subheadline that speaks to something a family actually cares about, a visual that shows real kids rather than stock photography, a primary call to action above the fold, and a secondary call to action for families who want to keep reading before committing.
Headlines That Do the Work
Jesse spent time on one of the highest-leverage pieces of copy on any homepage: the headline.
Most school headlines fall into a familiar trap. They are either too generic — “Welcome to Our School” — or aspirational in a way that does not give families any real information.
The strongest headlines do two things at once. They say what you do and who you serve. Something like “K-8 STEM Education Preparing Tomorrow’s Innovators in [City]” gives a family everything they need in one sentence.
Attendees wrote three headline variations for their own school and shared favorites in the chat. The exercise made clear how much specificity matters — the headlines that landed were the ones that named a grade range, a community, or a concrete outcome.
Jesse also shared a word bank framework to help schools find the right language: an action verb that describes what you do for kids, a phrase that captures who your kids become, and a distinct ingredient — the thing only your school can claim.
How Families Make Decisions
Niki and Jesse shared a framework for understanding the four ways families process information when they visit a school’s homepage.
The Scanner is fast and data-driven. They want numbers up front, bullet points, and a page they can move through quickly.
The Gut-Feeler decides fast based on feeling. They need strong imagery, bold copy, and photos of real people.
The Researcher is thorough. They want FAQs, detailed program pages, and credentials they can verify.
The Storyteller needs to feel connected before they can decide. They respond to testimonials, video, and language that explains why your school exists.
A well-built homepage can work for all four types. The key is making sure each visitor can find what they need without having to dig.
Good Homepages Get Found by AI Too
One section that prompted strong engagement in the chat: the sections you build for families — your differentiators, your FAQs, your stats, your location — are exactly what AI tools pull when recommending schools.
Families are increasingly asking tools like ChatGPT to help them find schools. If your homepage answers those questions clearly, you are ahead of schools that bury that information. If it does not, you may not show up at all.
Mobile is Not Optional
Between 60 and 70 percent of school website traffic is mobile. That means the majority of families visiting your homepage are doing it on their phones, often in a quick moment between other things.
What that requires in practice: buttons large enough to tap easily, text that is readable without zooming, and pages that load in under three seconds. A homepage that works beautifully on a desktop but is difficult to navigate on a phone is losing families before they read a word.
Your Action Plan
The session closed with a roadmap organized by time horizon.
This week: Optimize your social profiles and bio. Set up an auto-response for inquiry forms. Schedule two posts. Update your homepage headline and subheadline. Replace any stock photos with real images of your kids and building. Make your primary call to action more visible.
This month: Tag three community partners in relevant content. Boost your best-performing post. Organize your Instagram Highlights. Reorganize your homepage sections. Add or update testimonials. Simplify your navigation.
This quarter: Plan a professional photography day. Collect video testimonials. Complete a full mobile optimization review.
Get the Resources
The recording is available here.
If you want a fresh set of eyes on your school’s homepage or enrollment marketing, reach out at hello@growschools.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best social media platform for charter school enrollment marketing?
There is no single platform that works for every school. Facebook and Instagram are the most reliable starting points — they are where most families already spend time, and paid advertising on both platforms is effective and affordable. TikTok is worth exploring if your team has the capacity to create short video content consistently. The most important thing is to show up where your families actually are, not where the headlines say you should be.
How much should a school spend on social media advertising?
You do not need a large budget to see results. Boosting posts on Facebook or Instagram for five to ten dollars a day can meaningfully extend your reach to families who do not already know your school. Start small, see what performs, and increase from there.
What is the difference between organic content and paid advertising?
Organic content — posts, stories, reels — builds trust and familiarity with families over time. Paid advertising gets your school in front of families who have never heard of you. Both matter. Organic content alone rarely drives enough new inquiries, and paid advertising without a strong organic presence gives families nothing to explore once they find you.
How do I know if my social media is actually working?
Focus on the numbers that connect to enrollment: inquiry form submissions, tour sign-ups, open house attendance, and applications. Follower counts and likes are not reliable indicators of whether your marketing is reaching the right families or moving them toward action.
What should be on a charter school homepage?
An effective charter school homepage includes a hero section with a clear call to action, social proof such as testimonials and achievement data, a section explaining what makes your school different, program or curriculum highlights, recent news or events, a second call to action, and a footer with key links. Every section should be easy to find and read on a mobile device.
What is the 5-second test?
The 5-second test is a quick way to evaluate whether your homepage is doing its job. Pull up your homepage and ask: can a first-time visitor answer these four questions within five seconds — what grades you serve, where you are located, how to schedule a tour, and what makes your school different? If the answer to any of those is no, that is your starting point.
How do I write a better headline for my school’s homepage?
The strongest homepage headlines do two things: they say what you do and who you serve. Avoid generic phrases like “Welcome to Our School” or aspirational language that does not give families real information. A headline like “K-8 STEM Education Preparing Tomorrow’s Innovators in [City]” tells a family exactly what to expect. Lead with your grade range, your community, or a concrete outcome — something specific to your school that another school could not claim.
Why does mobile optimization matter for enrollment?
Between 60 and 70 percent of school website traffic comes from mobile devices. Most families are finding your school on their phones, often in a quick moment between other things. If your homepage is hard to navigate on a small screen, slow to load, or requires zooming to read, families will leave before they learn anything about your school.
How does a good homepage affect AI search results?
When families use AI tools to search for schools, those tools pull from publicly available information on your website. Clear, well-organized content — your differentiators, location, grade levels, FAQs, and stats — is exactly what AI uses to recommend schools. If that information is easy to find on your homepage, you are more likely to appear in AI-generated recommendations.
Where can I get help with my school’s enrollment marketing?
Grow Schools works with charter schools on enrollment marketing, facilities financing, and working capital. If you want a fresh set of eyes on your homepage or enrollment strategy, reach out at hello@growschools.com or visit growschools.com to explore available resources.
