According to the Pew Research Center, social media usage has increased by nearly 1000% in 8 years among students between ages 18 and 29. Consumer insight service Experian Simmons had reported that more than 98% of college students use social media. These statistics prove how reliable and connected college students are to social media. In fact, the first thing that most college students do after waking up is to look at their social media profiles. Marketers can implement appropriate social media marketing strategies to make the most of this connection between college students and social media.
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Make an impressive & compelling video
The CEO of Flippze, Geoffrey Fox, said “Videos are an effective way of communicating to college students – informative, fun, and entertaining. On 3rd August, we released our first video as part of a four-week video series that is now available on YouTube, in order to help promote Flippze at each college.” At least 500 million hours of videos are watched on YouTube each day. Imagine the traffic you can generate if your video is a hit on YouTube, Instagram, or Facebook. Here know Effective Social Media Marketing Tips.
Tips to make a video targeting college students:
- Tell a story- Nobody wants to watch a straightforward promotional video. Make sure your videos convey an emotionally resonant story relevant to your product or services.
- Create something different– Your videos should be different than the rest of your competitors. See what’s trending and try to use a light-hearted approach.
- Perfect your opening scene first- Remember, you get only 5-10 seconds to convince students that your video is worth their attention. Make the most of your opening scene.
Marketers using video content noticed 49% faster growth in revenue than the non-video users. 64% of consumers make a purchase only after watching branded social media videos. Let’s say you want to promote your product ‘APA referencing generator’ So, create a video showing how the generator can help college students. You can even compile a client testimonial video to grab the attention of college students towards your product.
- Pick the right type of ads
Would you pay attention to ads that don’t interest you? No, right? It’s the same thing with college students. They won’t even look at the ad that doesn’t align with their interests and beliefs. There are three main types of social media ads that can grab the attention of your target audience (students in this case.) all the following ads have the potential to boost your social media marketing strategies among students to a great extent.
The three main types of social media ads are:
- Personalized content- You can conduct surveys or polls to understand what your audience wants. This will help you deliver personalized content easily.
- Livestreaming– This has become increasingly popular on different social media platforms. Livestreaming can spike user engagement and interaction.
- Quality content– Your ad will attract students only if it provides entertainment or value. So, you need to create something that is both fun as well as educational.
Let’s say your business is related to beauty products. So, you can conduct a survey on YouTube asking the kind of product students use daily. So, with that information, it will be easier for you to bring forth the products that are popular among your target audience. Whether it’s personalized content or live-streaming, make sure the ad consists of quality content. The content should be relevant to the student’s interests.
- Connect with student ambassadors
Influencer marketing generates nearly 89% of revenue and that is quite better than other marketing channels. You can enjoy the same revenue but using student ambassadors instead of influencers. Student ambassador programs are very effective when it comes to reaching out a wider set of audience. All you have to is ask students to be your advertisers. Provide them with some beneficial perks and ask them to promote your business instead of on social media platforms.
Benefits of student ambassador programs on social media:
- Effective & efficient- The student ambassador program gives you direct access to your target audience. The brand ambassadors like your product. So, the chances are their friends will like it too.
- A stronger bond- When student ambassadors promote your products, they feel a stronger connection with your brand.
- Direct feedback from consumers- These programs encourage other college students to share their feedback with you directly.
The thing is college students are often looking for part-time jobs. So, you can hire a couple of student ambassadors (probably the popular ones) and ask them to talk about your products on social media platforms. If one student posts about it, several others are most likely to like, comment, and share it. Some of them may also visit your website and take a look at your products.
- Provide discounts or other perks
As mentioned earlier, most college students suffer a stringent financial situation throughout their academic lives. Introducing discounts for your products can serve as an effective social media marketing strategy. Discounts or such extra perks have two purposes. One, it encourages students to participate in your social media campaigns. Two, it assures them that your brand cares for students’ budgets.
Besides discounts, here are other perks you can offer to students:
- Usual freebies- You can send personalized free gifts to students on their first purchases.
- Promos – Provide them with promo offers such as ‘Buy 1 Get 1 Free.’ College students can always work with something extra.
- Referral rewards– You can ask them to refer your products to their friends and provide them with exciting referral rewards once they do so.
Discounts and other such offers develop a sense of loyalty in the minds of students. You can even use hashtags such as #75%off or #buy2at$299. The students feel more motivated to work with you as ambassadors or promote your products on social media. They don’t have anything to lose but a lot to win if they do so.
Wrapping Up,
Implement the strategies as discussed above to target college students on a wide slew of social media platforms. Once you win over the trust of students, you have a higher chance of retaining them through their graduation, professional life, and even after that. Make sure the strategies serve the purpose of meeting your social media goals. Whether it is to promote your services or spread the word about your brand, your strategies should achieve that. Good Luck.