Regardless of their age, engaging and motivating children will always present challenges. Online classes have presented unique challenges - from a lack of motivation to confidence - teachers and coaches within the kid's activity industry are seeking new ways to encourage children to participate.

The responsibility for the success of online lessons is not solely down to your club. Each child is different, and many factors affect their motivation - from interest to confidence to patience - and your club needs to recognise this.

Some children will be resilient and exceed with online lessons while others will value face-to-face teaching. There is no set formula on how to increase motivation for online lessons, but one key ingredient is keeping children interested in your content. Here are 7 ways to keep children engaged in online learning:




### **Build confidence**

Some children will lack motivation because they lack confidence. If you only hosted live sessions, try pre-recording class content where students can access it without having to be seen by others. Ask parents to send back a video of their child completing the task as this provides you with the chance to connect and provide constructive feedback.

### **Teamwork**

Another critical factor in all of this is your team. If your staff aren't motivated to teach, then this could impact children's motivation to learn. Have regular check-ins with your team to see how they are coping as they will be finding this time challenging too.

Having regular meetings will allow you to evaluate how lessons are going on a week-to-week basis, and the chance to brainstorm as a team. 

### **Review Competition**

If you're lacking motivation, research and see what other clubs are doing well - monitoring other kids activity clubs is healthy. By doing this, you can find motivation and inspiration for class content you may not have considered before.

[Complete Coaching](https://www.facebook.com/CompleteGroupUK/)  over in the UK has made fantastic use of social media during this time by keeping their messaging upbeat and adding value for customers through interactive, fun and creative sessions.

### **Reduce Class Time**

Consider reducing the time of your online lessons to keep attention spans engaged or have different lesson lengths based on age and ability. With younger children, you may reduce the teaching time but have another lesson during the week. With older children, your teaching time may be longer, but you may include a break for discussion. Try a variation for all classes and see what works best for both you and the kids.



### **Add Value to Lessons**

Keeping skills up to date is essential, but why not add something different to your lessons? You could include a '_show and tell_' time to lessons or a discussion time for a '_highlight of the week_'. Create a space for conversation and socialising as this is what children are missing most during this time.

### **Adapt Lessons**

By now, you'll be familiar with adapting. But consider whether you have adjusted your lessons well enough to harmonise with virtual teaching? Look at what your competition is doing well and what trends are popular within the kid's activity industry. Remember that children are missing the social interaction with you, your staff and their friends.

Why not consider integrating various elements into your lessons each week for social interaction and fun? We've provided with some starting points for you to consider:

-   Birthday Parties;
-   Dance parties;
-   Escape rooms;
-   Storytelling/drama sessions (consider activity type and try to interpret into sessions) to create interaction;
-   Scavenger hunt;
-   Lunch session with games;
-   Themed weeks;
-   Trivia.

### **Something Different**

Give yourself and children something to look forward to by planning for a  **virtual camp**. Whatever you propose for your virtual camp, it needs to be interesting for children and beneficial for parents. Begin by creating a themed event and developing resource packs around this which can be delivered online. Carry out activities in a group setting which provides interaction for children.

For children to engage online, activities must be fun and provide the opportunity to socialise. Keeping skillsets up to date is crucial, but your club needs to understand what parts of 'normal life' children are missing. Use this as a chance to integrate different elements into your online teaching to motivate children.

For ideas on how to adapt your business model,  [get in touch](https://busybee.nz/contact) with one of our friendly business coaches today.

7 Ways to Increase Online Class Attendance

Any kid's activity club needs to have a defined marketing strategy to help grow their club and refine processes. Making use of Facebook advertising is an effective way of achieving long term growth as existing data from BusyBee shows that more than **45% of bookings** come through Facebook. In this blog post, we will discuss what to consider when creating your ad, the different Facebook ad types, how to build custom audiences and the ways to analyse results.

### **Take aim and hit the right target**

Activity clubs who see a steady flow of new students coming into their clubs are the ones designing highly targeted adverts. So what is targeted advertising and how can it make a difference to your club? Simply put, target advertising is about engaging with specific groups (parents) with clear information and useful details.

As an example, you might create an advert to connect with the parents of preschool-aged children which would be very different from an advert that you’d create for your teenage classes.

1.  To create an engaging ad, begin by looking at what’s happening in your business to inspire you. For example, if you have availability in certain classes, then that should be a priority;
2.  You should clearly define what age groups and styles you want to target as this will help you be more focused in your approach;
3.  To ensure you are not wasting money targeting areas and people too far from your club, Facebook allows you to determine which locations and specific postcodes you will target. Focus on areas where parents will be willing to travel from for their children to participate in your activity type.

**Top Tip:** Who, Why, What, Where is a good strategy to apply to your ad. If you can confidently answer these questions, you have it covered.

### **Synchronicity**

Once you have decided who your advert is targeting, ensure that your image and copy (text) are aligned. For example, if you are a dance school wanting to fill a ballet class, use relevant images to engage with parents. You could include the appropriate age group to provide an example, but make sure that you have the right permissions from parents before posting any images online.

You should also consider the copy you’re placing in the advert. Think about the posts and ads that you engage with and consider why. With your ads, you want to inject the right tone of voice that suits your brand to help you stand out from the crowd.

**Top Tip**: Introduce emojis to liven up your copy and also add social proof - this will add credibility to your message.

### **Which ad type is best for you?**

There are a variety of options when it comes to setting up Facebook ads. Decide at the outset what is most important to you. Do you want to gather leads via Facebook forms or drive traffic to your website? If it’s the latter, take time to ensure that your website is easy to navigate and there are clear calls to action. Sending potential customers to your website only for them to be distracted by a poorly designed journey can be a costly mistake. Alternatively, you may rely solely on your Facebook page for advertising. If this is the case, you should select lead generation which will gather potential customers details directly on the ad.

**Top Tip:**  Use a Facebook lead generation objective if you are not confident about the design of your website

### **Test and measure**

After 24 hours, check the advert to see what your conversions are costing. You should examine the number of impressions and reach of the ad as well as the relevance score which is a measure of quality. Adverts can be edited easily on the Facebook ads manager area, so don't be afraid to take action. Consider swapping out images or making changes to the copy and then measure again.

**Top Tip**: Add the Facebook pixel to your website. This can be done in your CMS (or contact your web host) and will allow Facebook to determine what users are doing on your site and the journeys they are taking.

### **Test yourself**

Select one of your ideal student profiles and create a Facebook Advert for them. As an example, you might want to target an 8-10-year-old for a class. Start by writing relevant copy (the text), source an image and create your advert in the Facebook business manager with a strong call to action.

### **Our offer to you**

We hope this guide has provided insights into the best ways to use Facebook ads. If you need more help, for a limited time we will be offering the first 10 businesses who contact us a one-on-one coaching session on Facebook Advertising. This quick 30 minute session will cover everything you need to know about what was covered in this blog post as well as the below Facebook help guides. To book your spot now just send an email to hello@busybee.nz with all your details.

1.  [**Ads Guide**](https://www.facebook.com/business/ads-guide/) for design specifications for ad format;
2.  [**Advertiser Help Centre**](https://www.facebook.com/business/help) for step-by-step instructions;
3.  [**Facebook's Blueprint eLearning**](https://www.facebook.com/blueprint/courses) for free online training courses.

Your Guide to Mastering Facebook Advertising

These are unprecedented times, and the move to online purchasing certainly has ramped up many notches under lockdown. Total spend for the first week of lockdown compared with last year was up [16.49%](https://marketview.co.nz/free-reports/). New Zealand of course lags behind the rest of the world and is frantically playing catch up in the digital economy. Our online sales only account for 6% of total spend, whereas in countries like the UK it is closer to 20%. Unfortunately during lockdown this has disparity as become worse. A new [Covid-19 commerce insight tracker](https://ccinsight.org/) shows the stark differences between the New Zealand ecommerce market, where retailers’ online sales revenues have plunged 20 percent year on year in the past seven days, and Australia where revenue has jumped 54 percent. It’s a similar story for pure-ecommerce players: In NZ they’ve logged a 16 percent decline in revenue, while in Australia revenue has jumped 49 percent.

And now with level 3 restrictions set to loosen up the economy a bit more, retailers are frantically setting up online stores and click and collect services. This all means the movement to online purchasing has changed dramatically and businesses need to now start accepting payments online or suffer.

The current situation has all businesses feeling the pain to varying degrees, but it’s independent traders that are hurting the most. At BusyBee, our immediate priority is to help our businesses shift from brick-and-mortar and manual payments to online, so they can weather this storm and build a more resilient business.

Below, we’ll outline the essential steps to get your traditional business setup and running classes online.

**How to go about it**
Moving your classes online may require a bit of creativity and effort but the benefits of having continuity are endless. Just because face-to-face lessons have  come to a halt temporarily, there are still lots of ways you can teach online. Put your innovative cap on and start thinking about how you can translate your physical lessons online. You can see some of our top picks below:
-   **Pre-recorded Lessons**: Start thinking about pre-recording classes and what type of content might work well. Is this football drills, dance routines or a gymnastics move? This option would be good to issue to parents to work through lessons with their children and they can record and send back their results. Your club could then use this as content which can be shared on your website and social media - whether its video or written testimonials - this will show how your club is still running efficiently.
-   **Homework**: This is a very practical option but important nonetheless. It offers the opportunity to assign work that is more theoretical and also work that is fun. It could be anything from quizzes to creating drawings of their favourite move associated with your club type to written work to colouring activities. It may even supplement pre-recorded lessons and shows parents the value in still paying for your classes!
-   **Live Streaming**: There are a variety of different platforms to teach lessons via live stream which we’ll cover later in this article but live streaming will allow you to be accessible to parents and those you are teaching in real time. You will need to be considerate in selecting the right content of your live stream but this could be a good opportunity to go over homework packs that you have assigned and answer any questions parents or children may have. It’s also a great way to get the children to collaborate together and adds a social element to the classes so that they don’t miss out.
-   **Private Tutorials**: Some parents may be happy for one-to-one lessons happening from their homes, so include this in your planning process. This option is one you will need to speak about with parents on an individual basis to see if this would work for them and allows you to schedule lessons to fit your day.

Once you know how you will move your classes online, it is important to learn how to get setup with our [online classes feature](https://busybee.nz/blog/entry?id=HuXSXQtxAx1P5P4avDhn).

Our system aims to have you running online classes in a few simple steps. 

1.  **Create an activity like normal.** And from within 'further details' post a link to your online streaming system of your choice. 
2.  **Use an online streaming service of your choice.** For example if you are using Zoom, you’ll be able to include all meeting details including time and meeting ID. As with any classes you run using our system, you’ll be able to access a register of children who will be attending online classes so you know who will be turning up.
![enter image description here](https://i.imgur.com/ObeXwAe.png)
4.  **Use our invite function** to invite any existing parents to signup for your activity

If you have any questions or just need some help why not speak with one of our online specialists? We can provide you with some helpful tips and ideas around how this feature could help you. You can find out more about how the online classes feature works and how it can assist your club by clicking [here](https://busybee.nz/contact)

Being future ready - engaging learning in an online New Zealand

The importance that educators play in the mental health of our  students has always been an interesting topic. Upon the re-opening of our classrooms and facilities after what has been such a distressing time for everyone, how might this impact our learners? How might educators rethink their approach to the daily rhythms and flow of our days?﻿﻿ How will we everyone help to create a learning environment which continues to foster a calm, safe, educational space for children to explore?

This blog post aims to address at this point in time, the importance of free play, rhythm and routine, and outdoor play in nature. And when life starts to return to some sense of normality, how might educators help with the mental health of our tamariki.
 

## The future mental health and development of our kids

Continuing to take this pandemic seriously and limiting everyones contact with others upon doors re-opening will be a big challenge - especially if those others are family. Please do continue to listen to the experts and practice social distancing but there are some things we can do which will make things easier.

1. **Encourage independent play** using open ended materials around the facility such as play silks, tea sets, play kitchens, sand play, water play, sensory bags/bottles, dress up, small world play with figurines, climbing domes etc...  
  
2. **Less is more when it comes to materials** - be creative and allow kids to explore with paint, water and sand for example. Do a clean sweep and **rotate materials** to maintain interest. If the space is clutter free, tidy up for the child is easier and they are able to understand how the room is kept. This will keep some sanity!  
  
3. **Keep exercise up! Have lots of water available.** **Walks in the parks** (practicing social distance and safety rules) - avoid parks where play structures are touched and not cleaned... enjoy the calm and be active together. There is a reason why education trends are going back to the basis of nature play and free authentic play theories.

4. **Make sure kids have healthy snacks and meals**. It is important to continue to foster healthy eating habits for the everyone in order to keep mental health up.

Don't underestimate your role in resuming some sense of normality when lockdown is over. Kids will be looking for rhythm back in their lives, and now more than ever encouraging healthy mental habits will be crucial. 

Do you have any other suggestions? Please share on our [Facebook page](https://www.facebook.com/BusyBeeMarketplace/) or drop us a line [here.](https://busybee.nz/contact)

When the doors re-open: How do educators restore rhythm and balance?

The words ‘online classes’ have been well used buzzwords for a couple of weeks now and at BusyBee, we’ve been busy thinking about how online classes can help keep children's activity businesses running throughout these challenging times. With many businesses now beginning to find their feet in the virtual world and establishing their online lessons, we wanted to take time to focus on whether you should be considering discounts.

### **Will discounts benefit my business?**

Generally speaking - setting COVID-19 aside for one moment - discounts may seem like a good idea in the short term to boost sales but they won’t always benefit your business in the long term. Spending time planning discounts is essential for them to impact your business in a positive way. Whilst discounts may help your club attract people through the door, it’s likely that your expenses will be higher and you’ll be working harder. If you do want your business to provide discounts, try limiting it to one-offs so that it is not something customers will expect every term. As well as this, always ensure the discount amount you settle for has taken into consideration all of your overheads so you are still receiving a fair price for your lessons. In essence, your marketing strategy should not be based on low pricing points or on discount models - instead you should be focusing on what makes your business unique and stand out from the crowd.

### **Are discounts good when my business faces uncertain times?**

Before we get into the nitty gritty, we want you to take a moment and consider whether your business is still providing a service. If you are running online classes, then your answer is yes. You are still working hard to keep your classes going and chances are, you’re working harder than ever! At BusyBee, we are aware businesses are spending a lot of time focusing their efforts on live streaming and pre-recording content which takes a huge amount of time and effort.  **Ultimately, the point we are trying to make is that you shouldn’t undervalue yourself or your business.**  With that said, we know many of your businesses will likely have received requests about discounted lessons since the move online or it is something that you are seriously considering without any prompting. The decision on whether or not your business offers discounts will be down to individual choice but we do want to help you tackle this topic at an incredibly difficult time so you can make an informed decision to suit your businesses needs.

Firstly, if you are running your usual class content only online, one of the most important things you can do from the outset is remind your customers that your business is still providing classes, that your class content is still relevant and continues to educate children. Many businesses may have been working towards recitals or competitions prior to this crisis, so remind your customers that your online lessons will still be helping children work towards this. These recitals or competitions which are currently postponed will eventually be rescheduled, so you want to keep the momentum going in classes. It is also important to make it clear in your own mindset that when you return to your physical space, your club will still have progressed and parents shouldn’t want their children to miss out as they won’t be able to return to normal as content will have advanced.

We also understand that while many of you are reading this post, you may find yourself thinking that offering discounts is the lifeline to your business right now. However, we want to share some alternatives with you before you immediately start discounting online lessons - we’ve listed our top 4 alternatives to discounts below you may find helpful:

1.  It’s important to remember that like you, some of your customers may find themselves in difficult situations. Parents may have lost their jobs or have had employment significantly reduced, so it’s especially important to be sensitive throughout this time. If customers approach you about a discount, consider having a one-to-one conversation with them. They may come to you with the reason why they are looking for a discount, so judge it on a case by case basis. For customers who are experiencing financial difficulties, you could consider offering payment plans where customers can pay more at a later date when things return to normal.
2.  As opposed to offering discounts, your club could provide free resources alongside your online classes. When customers are offered something for free, there is something very appealing about what’s on offer. Now we’re not saying a free resource pack will help you avoid discounts completely but they do offer customers something extra which also keeps their children entertained. Your resource packs could be activity based which include quizzes, colouring pages, research questions, a challenge and so on which all relates to your activity type. By putting effort into this, it shows how much you care about your community and that you’re offering more than just online content.
3.  These are unprecedented times and if you are not offering discounts or refunds, then you do need something in place which you can discuss with your customers. As opposed to discounting lessons, your club could offer extra opportunities for children with further lessons next term or additional holiday camps which will run when you're back in your physical space.  **Why not suggest that payments for online lessons will be carried forward to cover the cost of extra lessons?**  Whilst you may effectively be offering financial incentives, it will be at a later date where you have managed to see your business through this period and you are feeling a sense of normality in your businesses operations again.
4.  Consider offering a loyalty discount as a one off which could be applied to future sessions when classes return to their routine. A good way of proposing this to your customers is through a loyalty discount with a message of “As a thank you for sticking with us through these difficult times and for your continued support, we are offering our loyal customers a one off x% discount of lessons next term”. Make sure that whatever discount you offer, you have factored in your expenses to ensure that you will still breakeven from your lessons.

The choice of discounting will be entirely down to you and what you feel is best for your members. You may feel discounts are essential and will be the only thing to retain your client base during this crisis but we would remind you to make sure you are offering one which will still allow you to return to your space. Alternatively, you may feel some or all of the above options are worthy of consideration and discussion. **Most importantly, we want to remind you how well you are doing at this time and to never undervalue your business and your work**.

BusyBee is working hard to find innovative ways for businesses to navigate their way through this challenging time. And as always if you have any questions don't hesitate to reach out to us [here](https://busybee.nz/contact)

Should I offer discounts for online classes?

With the ongoing and rapid changes presented to the children’s activity sector by COVID-19, we know many of you are facing the biggest challenges in the history of your business. At BusyBee, we have been hard at work thinking of innovative ways to help keep your classes running. We know many have moved their classes into the virtual world, so our product team has been busy working to produce our latest booking system feature - **online classes**! In this blog post, we want to share how we can help your business get ready to open its digital doors and allow you to seamlessly run classes online.

Opening the digital doors of your business may seem like a daunting task but with our invite function, you can invite parents with the link to your online class with a few simples steps. Following this, parents will receive an invitation straight to their devices to signup to your class and start taking part.
 
It’s really that simple but let's provide you with more insights into how this feature can benefit your business. We have developed this feature with many benefits for you in mind but here’s our top 3:

1.  **Stay connected with your community.**  Your business prides itself on its community and with online classes, you can stay connected with pupils and parents throughout this time. Not only does it allow you to continue running classes, it also allows you to continue giving quality feedback, educating children and developing your pupils - the list is endless!
2.  **Maintain your cash flow.**  You’re already able to charge for these classes through our system, so focus your time and energy into delivering great sessions that will maintain your cash flow. Parents will value your skills and be prepared to commit to sending their children to your classes if it is easy for them to do.

3. **Run your classes any time, anywhere.** Enjoy the flexibility that online classes provide you for managing your schedule. Take classes wherever and whenever suits you - whether it's in the living room or the garden - our online feature means you can still teach while on the go.

Our system aims to have you running online classes in a few simple steps. 

1.  **Create an activity like normal.** And from within 'further details' post a link to your online streaming system of your choice. 
2.  **Use an online streaming service of your choice.** For example if you are using Zoom, you’ll be able to include all meeting details including time and meeting ID. As with any classes you run using our system, you’ll be able to access a register of children who will be attending online classes so you know who will be turning up.

![enter image description here](https://i.imgur.com/ObeXwAe.png)

3.  **Use our invite function** to invite any existing parents to signup for your activity

If you’re thinking about running online classes and you’re not sure if it’s the right thing to do, why not speak with us? We can provide you with some helpful tips and ideas around how this feature could help you. You can find out more about how the online classes feature works and how it can assist your business by messaging us [here](https://busybee.nz/contact)




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Lessons for life Blog

Learnings, teachings, and musings for any educator to reference during their career. Helping everyone to be better one lesson at a time.

7 Ways to Increase Online Class Attendance

Why adapting your online classes is key to getting children to attend.

Your Guide to Mastering Facebook Advertising

Why Facebook advertising is important for your club and how you can master this process.

Being future ready - engaging learning in an online New Zealand

Things have changed forever

When the doors re-open: How do educators restore rhythm and balance?

When life starts to return to some sense of normality, how might educators help with our tamariki's mental health

Should I offer discounts for online classes?

Why it's important to consider whether discounts will help your business during times of crisis

Running online classes with BusyBee for free

During this uncertain time we're excited to help our businesses get online

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