How to Market to the College Crowd

Recently I made a trip to the Montana State bookstore. Walking from the parking lot to the bookstore I encountered many students going to and from classes. Almost everyone was engaged on a smart phone or computer tablet.

Inside the sub there were people sitting in the halls eyes glued to more tablets, laptops and smart phones. There is no question that today’s students are absolutely entrenched in the computer age.

In today’s blog I want to offer some suggestions on how to connect with today’s computer savvy students and turn them into a profit center for your business.

It’s a Visual Group

Every smart phone comes equipped with camera and video capability. These features are not loss on students. They take tons of pictures and video. Offer a prize or some special offer if they share pictures wearing something with your logo on it, or a photo of them in your place of business. The more shares they do the bigger the reward to your business and the more your name is exposed.

Cover All The Bases

Advertising is rarely done in just one medium and when reaching college students that rule still holds. Be on Facebook, Twitter, and others. The great thing in that being on all these is free and it doesn’t have to take all your time to post. I use “HootSuite” to post to several social media sites all at one time. I can schedule a week of posts in one evening. Make sure you post things that make you valuable to students. Where they can get deals, where they can find info, and more.

They are Joiners

College kids are big on groups. They join Sororities, fraternities, computer club, green groups, etc. Post things like concerts, football games, local events, and other fun things for college students to do. Try to tie your business to these events in some way that keep them coming back to your pages where they can learn about your products and services.

Some Final Thoughts

If you have college students working for you seek their advice. What are students looking for? What are popular Facebook pages on campus? A wise college professor of mine once said, “To catch a tiger; learn the ways of a tiger.” That’s good advice when going after the very elusive college customer.