Why Brands Should Use Back-To-School Campaigns
The summer holidays will soon be over, which means we’re approaching September and the time for students to return to school and university.
With this in mind, a back-to-school campaign that incorporates influencers and celebrities couldn’t be timed better for your brand.
Students are ideal to target through social media, with such a large proportion of them using multiple platforms. In fact, 84% of 18–29-year-olds use social media, making students a very accessible audience for both brands and influencers to target and reach out to.
And, the platforms that are most popular with a younger audience are TikTok and Instagram, often being used multiple times a day.
Growing up with social media means it’s familiar and easy to navigate and seeing like-minded people and influencers of a similar age makes them much more approachable and trustworthy.
So, promoting back to school campaigns on social media through the powers of influencer marketing, combined with the added impact of student influencers should reap the hoped-for rewards for any brand. Not forgetting parenting influencers, too...
The benefits of a back to school campaign
There are various benefits to a back-to-school campaign, so here are some reasons why your brand should consider implementing one...
Increased brand awareness
As a crucial time in the weeks running up to the start of the upcoming academic year, increased brand awareness can be achieved through back-to-school campaigns. Students, whether getting ready to go back to school, college, or university, will be seeking to consume content about all things school related – such as products, activities, and advice. Therefore, back-to-school campaigns would be targeting the best-suited audience at a very key time.
No seasonal limitations
However, as well as the main summer holidays throughout the year there are various dates that are important for students and therefore, ideal for brands considering a student-targeted campaign. There are multiple school holidays, including half terms, and there are other poignant times, such as exam seasons and university applications, all proving to be key moments for students. This means that school related campaigns can be done all year round, irrespective of season or time of year, which is far less limiting for your brand.
Product promotion
Back-to-school campaigns are a great way to promote products that would be useful for students. Whether it’s sharing stationery, uniforms, bags, or online platforms, showing its link to schools, universities and education as well as how it can benefit the return to the academic year can give the product extra appeal, encouraging further purchases.
Accurate targeting
As previously mentioned, a large proportion of people who regularly use social media are younger, and are often students in some capacity. So, putting out back-to-school campaigns would be the perfect way to target Gen Z and even their parents to some degree, by tapping into the content they like and serving it to them directly.
Things to consider with a back-to-school campaign
When planning your back-to-school campaign, there are certain things to consider in order to ensure it’s not lost on the wrong audience, is structured correctly, or simply has the right influencer. Here are some tips on how to make sure your campaign can be a success…
Finding an influencer
Picking the best possible influencer is a key element for your campaign and choosing from student influencers is the obvious starting point. Student influencers are seen as authentic and can be viewed as more of a ‘friend’, making them the ideal fit for your back-to-school campaign. Depending on exactly who you want to target and the type of campaign you’re doing, there are various student influencers available, and with over 2000 influencers and celebrities on our database, we can help with finding you the perfect match.
Whilst the obvious choice is, of course, a student influencer, we also recommend brands consider working with parenting influencers as part of their back-to-school campaign. Often, the target audience of specific products or services may be too young to use social media, and therefore, the target audience becomes parents, carers and guardians. And, more often than not, it is the parents that end up spending their hard-earned cash on the very things being promoted – and therefore, should be considered much more than they are.
Target audience
Your campaign may be angled towards school, college, or university students, or perhaps the parents of students - millennial parents are inclined to purchase products they’ve seen online, with 37% saying they’ve bought something for their children after seeing it on social media. Therefore, the chosen influencer must be appropriate for your campaign and target audience, whether that’s students or parents, as they will differ on preferences. So, selecting the influencer should be a process that’s carefully considered in order to reach your desired target audience.
Briefing and logistics
Looking at the back-to-school campaign as a whole is also important to ensure that your key messages don’t get lost and that your targets, KPIs and goals are achieved. Creating a brief for your campaign can give some direction and structure, particularly across multiple social media platforms, which can help the campaign run smoothly and successfully. A campaign will ensure results are met and guarantee that the influencer’s content and output is in line with the brand.
Why you should use an influencer marketing agency
It may seem like a lot to think about, or a lot of pressure to choose the right influencer, but that’s where an influencer marketing agency, such as us, can help.
With a team at hand to help, an influencer marketing agency can assist with multiple aspects of the back-to-school campaign. With so much experience in pairing brands with influencers, ensuring the best possible influencer is chosen for your back-to-school campaign is something agencies are well equipped to do.
An influencer marketing agency’s capabilities don’t stop there. We can ensure that the products at hand are perfectly aligned with the desired target audience, as well as help you discover who the best audience would be to target and more importantly, how to do that.
We always keep in mind your brief, sticking to it during every step of the process, and we handle all logistics such as travel and contracts, too.
Beyond this, we have the services to collate your results and monitor the success of the campaign. So, you can simply allow us to make sure your campaign is a success, without having to worry about every step involved.
A back-to-school campaign holds various benefits for your brand and considering one for your influencer marketing strategy could prove to be very successful. There would be no better time than trying this out before the looming start date of the next academic year, so take on board these tips or get in touch for a rewarding back-to-school campaign.
If you’re a brand seeking to work with a student influencer on an upcoming back-to-school campaign, or if you’re an influencer looking to collaborate with a brand, then get in touch today.
