Students across the UK are turning towards Snapchat over other social networks to communicate with their peers. In the past Facebook and Twitter have proven essential platforms for marketing to Students and now, as a majority of users begin to access from mobile devices, apps such as Snapchat could prove just as lucrative.
Whenever a new mobile app-based social network gains traction, it’s usually down to Millennials. Students take to social networking as a crucial method of communication and information sharing. As a generation of influencers, whenever they discover modern apps that serve their purposes in an original way, popularity follows as a result.
While not so much “new” per se, Snapchat does have something of an edge over larger networks that have become increasingly mainstream. Facebook and Twitter has grown in usage among older generations and, let’s face it, these were the people that as teenagers Millennials originally turned to social media to avoid.
The reason that Snapchat has become such a successful network is that it, in a sense, emulates everyday student behaviour. Conversations between friends on campus are often passing and momentary, yet energised.
Universities Cotton on to New Marketing Avenues
Many Universities have begun to appreciate the importance of these new networks in reaching out to Students. According to Times Higher Education, despite some initial concerns about utilising what was initially considered the ‘Sexting App’, the University of Loughborough has begun to use Snapchat to compliment recruitment. According to their Director of Marketing and Advancement Emma Leech, the platform proved useful in addressing queries in a timely manner during the admissions window. Similarly, Senior Digital Communications Officer at the University of Central Lancashire Alistair Beech believes that both Snapchat and other networks such as WhatsApp and Yik Yak “can be essential for students adjusting to a new community and environment.”
Marketing to Younger People and Students
Understandably, these tools could occupy an increasingly lucrative position within the digital marketplace where students and younger people are concerned. Millennials subconsciously consider the authenticity of a brand through Social Networking. They are simultaneously less likely to be swayed by social advertising and more likely to become an advocate of a brand that they consider authentic than other generations. This means that an element of meeting them where they are is integral in marketing efforts; a business’s presence on these networks could prove to be the boost to brand awareness among their target audience that they need.
