If you’ve determined that college students are your ideal customers, you’re in luck! College students are a customer demographic that is very accessible online and offline.
They are in a learning stage of life where they are open to trying new products and services. Here are a few tips to get you started in your marketing efforts for these increasingly educated customers.
1. Use social media
College students are heavy users of social media, so take a look at social sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest to see what’s popular among college students.
While you’re there, think of two or three companies who have similar products or services to yours, and take a look at how they’re utilizing social media outlets to drive awareness and engagement among college students. You’ll be able to see what’s worked and what hasn’t, and save valuable time, energy, and money toward current and future promotions.
2. Make your advertising and promotions a social event
College students are notorious for being hypersensitive to the actions of their peers, and customers who are not in college are also highly dependent on recommendations from friends or family members.
Of all the methods that consumers utilize to make purchasing decisions, personal peer-to-peer recommendations have repeatedly been the most trusted source of information among consumers.
So how do you make a promotion social? Here are a few ideas:
Friend gets (product/service) for free. Many friends will simply split the cost of the total expenditure, but that’s okay, because you accomplished your goal of getting college students to tell other college students about your business!
Discount upon showing college identification. Even a discount as small as ten percent can be enough to cut through the noise of advertising received by college students.
Promote your Facebook page. When a college student “likes” your Facebook page, that action is shown in the news feed of their friends, and becomes social. That’s a big part of why Facebook is so valuable to marketers.
Buy a social ad online. Google Adwords is a program that allows you to buy an ad that shows up in search results related to your business. Inside that ad, you can display how many “+1” likes have been given to your page, which constitutes social proof.
A Facebook ad can be shown as a social ad, which will display the name of the friend who likes your page, and it becomes visible to that person’s friends. Social ads often enjoy better click-through rates than non-social ads.
Okay, so you’ve got some college students visiting your business and trying it out. How do you keep them engaged and get them to return?
3. Attract repeat visitors and loyalty
A loyalty program typically rewards users with a free item or other perk, after a level of usage and business that is sufficient to cover the cost of the reward.
Delis and restaurants are famous for stamp cards and punch cards that earn the customer a free sandwich upon the tenth stamp. There are lots of different ways to reward customers for doing the things they love to do. The only limit is your imagination!
You can update your Facebook page and blogs. Whether it’s a new promotion or a photo of consumers enjoying your business, it’s important to update your social media outlets. College students are increasingly connected via smartphones and mobile content, so make sure to use formats that deliver mobile content to mobile users.
