Hi, it’s me Charmaine Campo, Owner of Do Good Communications LLC, and and I want to welcome you to today’s blog post where we are going to talk about How To Reach Kids Who Cannot Afford Professional Tutoring.
Today’s question comes from a passionate educator who wants to make a difference in low income communities. He writes in:
Hi Charmaine,
I’m not a professional tutor, nor do I lead a professional tutoring company. I led a volunteer-based tutor mentor program serving inner city kids from 1975 to 2011 and created the Tutor Mentor Connection in nineteen ninety-three to help such programs grow in more places. Since 2011, I’ve supported that view.
I created this group almost 10 years ago to try to draw the volunteers’ segment of programs into online conversation. Unfortunately, more people from professional tutoring than volunteer-based tutoring have been joining.
With that in mind, how can we reach kids who cannot afford professional tutoring? And how do we make long-term programs that build social capital and help kids grow up in more places? How do we reach kids who cannot afford professional tutoring?
A PASSIONATE EDUCATOR
First of all, it can be really frustrating when you’re trying to create a program and you have folks coming in who are not necessarily the folks that you’re trying to reach.
You can find yourself spending your time on phone calls and emails, trying to attract the right students, the right volunteers, and right stakeholders to engage with your child-serving programs to help you make a difference.
And it’s frustrating spending time on calls and emails with no return.
Maybe you have to restructure your program now and use sometimes you don’t have a lot of time to do that. And it can be costly.
So how do we reach and attract the right folks to our programs and get them engaged?
First, here’s an interesting statistic to consider. According to Pew Research, 68 percent of adults with an income of less than $30,000 U.S. dollars used social networks in 2019, and trend lines indicate that the number is only increasing.
If you are trying to reach low-income families, social media is a strategy you can use to generate a conversation. If you can generate the conversation online, you’re likely to reach the other folks naturally via word of mouth.
So if you want to know how to leverage social media to build long term relationships with families and grow your potential student base or attract the right stakeholders to your program?
How to stop wasting time creating those posts no one shares or cares about?
… And, finally, How To get folks engaging with your content and interacting with your business online?
Here’s a few questions to consider:
#1: Where are your customers spending their time online? If you’re trying to reach folks to volunteer in low income areas, are do you want to go on Twitter? Do you want to be on Instagram? Do you want to be on LinkedIn?
Know what those social media platforms are intended for.
#2: What is the “language” your audience speaks? Consider what language your stakeholders, your audience speaks. What I mean by that is not necessarily English or Spanish or Arabic, even though that, of course, is very important.
What I mean is, do they talk about education in terms of “curriculum” or do they talk about education in terms of “what my child is learning”? You should speak to your audience in the same language that they’re using. That will make you relatable and gravitate those folks that you want to reach to your program.
#3: What are you asking people to do? What kinds of experiences are you providing? And is it responsive to the people that you are trying to help?
For example, someone in a low-income family who works two or three jobs may not be able to come to a location to receive tutoring services.
So how can you create a program that they can participate in?
Those are some questions that I would consider if you’re trying to reach low income families, or trying to build a volunteer program that makes an impact in your community.
And of course, these questions are so huge. If you have follow-up questions for me or if you want to chat and brainstorm something specific, you can book a free Strategy Session with me. My contact details and calendar are available at www.dogoodcomms.com, and I’m happy to chat with you.
Have a great day, everyone.
As a bonus, you can Download your Free Social Media Guide For Educators Now.