Facebook Page Post Ideas for your Music Program

Marketing Music Education with Kathleen Heuer

Whether you’ve been running your Facebook page for hours or years, we could all use a bit of inspiration every once in a while. So quit racking your brain for a bit, and check out some of these ideas.

Facebook Pages are considered inbound marketing (aka permission marketing, aka content marketing). That means that we have to get fans to opt in (by liking our Page) to hear our message. If all we ever do is sell, no one will want to listen to what we have to say. So we need to give people a reason to stick around. We do that by providing value.

There are three main ways we can offer value through posts on our Facebook Page.

Use your Facebook Page posts to Educate

Try posting an educational video. David Haven at JDFunCorps did a fun one teaching his viewers “All About the Mellophone.” Find existing videos to share (like the ones by Collective Cadenza), or for massive bonus points, make your own!

Answer a FAQ!

Interview and introduce a member of your program: student/staff/volunteer. It’s a great way to humanize your page, and to offer a peek behind the curtain.

Share links. Topics could include the many benefits of music ed

Share music education trivia, statistics, or facts. (Here’s a fresh source.)

Share news and announcements about your program.

Give us a peek behind the scenes (this would also work great for Instagram!): show an image per day that illustrates what you’re working on. (Austin Kleon has a whole book on this! Here’s my affiliate link: Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered.) Go deep! We’d love to see the percussion closet, a band bus, or parents shopping for concession stand supplies.

Recommend someone else to follow on FB (neighboring band program, a club or team at your school.)

Use your Facebook Page posts to Entertain

You can have lots of fun with images (just make sure they’re legal to use!).

Post infographics, photos (those you’ve taken yourself and submitted photos), or new Hyperlapse videos.

Use photos to run a contest: have fans submit a caption for a photo, or post a “mystery” photo and have fans guess what it is.

Submit to a Page “takeover:” Let sections/parents/drum majors/directors “take over” your feed for the day

Post funny stuff like cartoons (Tone Deaf Comics) and witty one-liners (The 13th Chair)

Try giveaways & contests: prizes can include surplus tee shirts, choice seats at the next football game, or an opportunity to conduct at the next rehearsal.

Don’t miss Throwback Thursday and/or Flashback Friday: they especially appeal to alumni and their parents. It’s a great way to keep them engaged with your organization; someday, they could be valuable resources.

Use your Facebook Page posts to Inspire

Share inspiring stories of students’ success based on what they learned in your music program

Inspire discussion by featuring:

• Questions
• Polls
• Fill in the blank

Quotes: find 30 of my favorites here.

Thank the people involved with your program and highlight their contributions:
staff, students, supporters, volunteers, and especially donors & sponsors!

Make it a regular occurrence by featuring a volunteer/student/staff member of the week or month!

Pro tip:

Tag people and pages by typing @ and then the person’s or Page’s name.

From your personal Facebook profile, you can tag other people, pages and groups. From your Page, you can only tag other pages (this is so people don’t get spammed by companies).

Other ideas for Facebook Page posts:

Share any of your existing content, like blog posts or videos.

Do “market research:” allow fans to choose between fundraiser options, tee shirt designs or concession stand offerings

Share current events and news: promote other local nonprofits, school organizations and teams

Events: create an event page for each major event on your calendar

Plan ahead for holiday and seasonal posts

Use your cover image to promote your next event/performance or fundraiser (be sure to follow Facebook’s guidelines!)

Don’t forget to only plug your program’s fundraisers or events once for every four times you share valuable content on your Facebook page!

Whether you choose to educate, entertain, or inspire with your Facebook Page posts, you’ll be sure to keep your fans coming back for more! Got another kind of post that has worked for you? Leave your own ideas in the comments!

Also, check out Seth Godin’s post here. Watch the video and read the manifesto (screen edition and a printable edition). It’s important stuff.

Check out NAfME’s #BeyondTheBubblesChallenge here and on Twitter:

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