By now, we’ve all heard the old social media marketing adage: if you’re not paying for it, then you are the product being sold. There’s usually some pigs in a barn and a joke about Facebook being free.

The catch line, of course, being that your personal data gathered on social media makes you an invaluable marketing and advertising product. But what about those who are using social media as a selling tool?

The Geek & Poke meme quickly turned viral across many social networks

How do you use social media to reach IT directors in schools? The solution, as with all marketing, lies in your access to key contacts within the target group. In the labyrinth of social media, time efficiency is key. Not many companies have the resources or personnel to be searching through long contact lists hoping to find the appropriate connection. For example, if you are a reputable 500+ LinkedIn member your network is often too large to manage. Within my network a search for terms such as ‘Australian Education’ will draw over 100,000 results, while a search for a more specific term, like ‘Education IT Consultant’ draws nearly 400,000 results. Within these numbers, vital contacts are hiding. The game now is how to find them.

Accurate and categorised contacts in schools can turn these social media woes into marketing campaign wins. What you need is a list of the correct contact names and job descriptions of key decision makers; be they IT Managers, ICT Directors and even school Principals.

LinkedIn, as with all social media, is about connecting with another human, not with organisations. This person to person relationship is of utmost importance and will open doors you hadn’t thought possible.

So if we return to our social media model: the open source (LinkedIn), suppliers, buyers and data can all coexist. It’s less of a barn, and more of a social ecosystem.

Fore more information, read through the A-ZGovBIZ marketing to education page.

Michael Bleakley

Michael Bleakley is a journalist, communicator and marketing professional of 25 years. His career began in his early 20’s publishing tech magazines for education. Michael’s career then moved into online and book publishing for a global business publisher, then finally into database publishing and marketing at A-ZGovBIZ.