Snapchat as a Marketing Tool in Higher Education?

Snapchat is big … I mean really big. In over the course of two years I have noticed my Facebook Newsfeed instead of being filled with spontaneous photos of my friends having fun to being filled with serious world news or invitations to sign up for events. My friends gradual decline in Facebook activity to other social media such as Instagram and Snapchat is probably because Facebook is a victim of its own success. With our parents and close relatives on our friend list, Facebook is no longer a place for reckless status updates about Friday night “activities”, but only a necessary communication tool that millennials and generation Z use because everyone else is doing too.

Enter Snapchat, students (high school and college student) have flocked to Snapchat for one simple reason. They have realized *finally* that Internet is forever and anything they post can be dug up in the later future for a collective social shaming by friends. Their move to Snapchat allows them to share their spontaneous activities (sometimes embarrassing or straight up weird) with their private network in an ephemeral manner and they can choose who sees what!

Snapchat and Instagram are definitely going to be the hottest platforms in higher education due to an incredible student engagement rate. With such an active target market (potential students, current students, alums) it makes sense for institutions to jump on-board to keep their audience engaged and updated to all things happening.

Here are a few ways higher ed institutes can use Snapchat with their student audience:

• Use the Snapchat geofilter creation tool to get your institute a classy geofilter. Student love to show off what they are doing and where they are doing. A cool looking geofilter (essentially visually striking design that represents the institute and reveals the location the user is at). Not only will students share their snaps with fellow students but also with people outside the student body, resulting in increased brand awareness
• Add Snap stories so that everyone following the institutes account gets to see it. Show off cool university events that are happening (it’s all about being in the moment). Show behind the scenes of upcoming events to build up hype and keep students updated on what is about to come.
• Use the stories feature creatively and offer students exclusive discounts on football tickets. Not only will it increase the word of mouth for the event but also build your account a loyal fanbase. Snapchat is an amazing app for crowdsourcing user-generated content. Snapchat brings content to you from all over campus (maybe collect all these submissions and make a cool montage).

Just like with other social media outlets when they were first launched, there is hesitation in higher education institutes to join this “newest and greatest” platform. But keeping up-to-date with what’s relevant and what’s not in social media is essential and Snapchat certainly is pretty hot right now among the younger crowd. Institutes should understand their student lifestyle, college culture and discover what differentiates them from the rest.

Dive in now and impress!