Why I just "moved" my home town on Facebook, and why you should do the same !

Facebook is a wonderful tool for connecting with people, learning about them, making friends, watching performances, buying costumes, finding out about events..... and marketing your classes.

No one likes to admit it, but getting students into class is a tough business.  Overheads are high and class numbers are down from those we saw before the economic dip.  I need 8 people a night to cover my costs.  Some weeks that is easily achieved, other times not so much.  One bad week can off balance the whole month.  Many teachers have a wonderful core group, who come to every lesson, every week, and these are the people who keep a class going.  However if sickness hits or just one or two students move away, teachers have to find new students to take their place.

Facebook is full of new people !  

The struggle is to find local people who might be interested in a dance class in the blurred noise of your hundreds or thousands of friends.  Only a tiny % will see a post from you, and those are more likely to be your close friends and core students, who already attend your classes !

I have spoken about advertising on Facebook before, and I do recommend it for finding new students.  The great thing is that you can set the limits and fine tune your advert to be aimed very clearly at people who may be interested.  My most recent advert was for people who live within 5 miles of the town where I teach, women (much as I love men students - they find me, rather than "discover" belly dance on FB), 18 or above, who list fitness, dance, music, salsa, jive, zumba, running or soccer as an interest.  I know these women are interested in doing an activity and live close enough to make it to class.  From each advert I collect a list of names who express an interest and send them more info and a friend request.  I also write their names in a little green book, and every 2 months I send them the dates of the new classes and courses.  Many of these ladies never reply, few ever come to class - but I only need a couple to become core students, to stay forever, and my classes are assured for another 12 months.

In a way I am collecting a mailing list.  Its not a mailing list of active belly dancers.  Its more of a list of people who thought about attending a belly dance class for about three seconds and then moved on.

So why did I just tell Facebook that I moved house ?  Facebook wants you to feel like your social network is also your local network.  When you are thinking of hosting a BBQ and create an event, it gives you the chance to remember the friends you want to invite and then it offers you the chance to see a list of your friends who are local.  Friends you might want to add to your invite list for your Sunday afternoon BBQ.  It will also show you a list of friends from your old home town.  Of course if you were thinking about who to invite to your BBQ you would really know these people and want them in your home.  If, however, you were looking to invite people to your belly dance classes.... it would be really useful to have a list of people you linked up with last time you send out an advert, and the time before, and three years ago, who had a three second interest in class, accepted a friend request and who might now be free on Wednesdays, or be over their injury or have changed jobs.

Because I teach in three towns (Livermore, Pleasanton and Dublin - Everyone Welcome !), I would like a local list from all three.  Facebook wont let me live in three towns, but it will let me move about once a year.  

So here I go again, all the stress (not!) of moving.... and almost instantly, I  have a nice new mailing list to help with my quest for new students.

If you would like to increase your student base try this:

• Create an event for your next session of classes (I create one for each month as my classes are ongoing)
• Invite your core students
• Invite "more friends" to access the mailing list of other people who are local to you, click on the sidebar where it lists your hometown (s)
• Send them an invite
• If you teach in more than one town or city "move", wait a couple of minutes and repeat

“Sara Shrapnell is that rarest of rare, a full time belly dance instructor.  Her career spans decades and continents and her knowledge is encapsulated in her books “Teaching Belly Dance” and “Becoming a Belly Dancer.” - Dawn Devine

​If you like this blog, go back to the blog page, for others you might like including: 

Being Part of the Solution
Dealing with Difficult Students
I'm Perfect for Belly Dance (and so are you)

Or check out these Hub Blogs including:

"Your First Belly Dance Workshop"
The Top Ten Belly Dance Tunes for Performance"
"Finding a Great Belly Dance Teacher"
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​Sara Shrapnell is a belly dance writer, teacher and performer.

She has taught more than 4,000 belly dance classes, both in the UK and US.  She now teaches in Pleasanton, Dublin and Livermore in the SF bay area, as well as workshops world wide and on-line via the Belly Dance Business Academy.  Her classes are known for their humor, detailed breakdowns and cultural context.    Students who have studied with Sara have gone on to teach and perform in all styles of belly dance and many have made their living through performance or teaching.

Sara wrote “Teaching Belly Dance", the book about setting up, planning, teaching and enjoying belly dance classes.  Her second "Becoming a Belly Dancer: From Student to Stage", co- written with Dawn Devine, Alisha Westerfeld and Poppy Maya, is the stagecraft handbook for all belly dancers.  Both books are available on Amazon.

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Sara's books on Amazon