To Be or Not to Be? Back-to-College Marketing in 2020

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For the most up to date stats and insights on Back-to-College marketing in 2020, please see the latest post HERE.

By Katrina Campanale

Imagine yourself as a college student in 2020. Your classes have shifted to online learning, your graduation celebration is going virtual, you’ve moved out of the dorms, and your favorite Thursday night happy hours have been replaced with Zoom or House Party hangouts with your BFFs. College life as you knew it (or expected it to be) has been flipped upside down, and no one truly knows when it will be the same again.

However, the college experience has not up and vanished. There are STILL 21 million college students and incoming freshmen in America. And they are relying on us at Her Campus Media more than ever to give them the college experiences they are craving.

This leads me to the questions on every marketer’s mind - What does this mean for Back-to-College marketing in 2020? Will schools open this Fall? Should we still be planning for and investing in Back-to-College campaigns?

At Her Campus Media, we don’t have all the answers, but as the #1 media portfolio for college students and Gen Z with 10+ years of experience with this demographic, we know how brands can win this Back-to-College season no matter what happens.

Let’s Start with the Facts

The college audience is still here and they are looking to Her Campus Media to serve as that college experience they are craving. Just look at the facts; since the COVID-19 crisis began:

  • HerCampus.com link click-through is up 51%

  • Monthly unique visitors across our portfolio of sites is up 11%

  • Time spent with content is up 6%

  • Social swipe-ups have reached all-time highs Registrations for our new virtual events such as Her Conference and #ImStillGraduating have hit record-breaking numbers

  • 71% of our audience tells us that they are online shopping right now with food + beverage, clothing, and beauty leading the pack

Historically, our traffic spikes 30% during the Back-to-College window from July through September, which we like to call our “Super Bowl” at Her Campus Media. We are predicting this Back-to-College season to be our strongest yet based on historical performance and our increase in engagement since quarantine began.

In addition, this is not the first time that Back-to-College marketers have had to market to a college-aged consumer that did not live on campus. In fact, before 2020, at public colleges, only about 40 percent of full-time students lived on campus (64% at private colleges), while 40 percent lived in off-campus housing, and 20 percent lived with their parents (19%, 17% respectively at private colleges). Even if students are living off-campus, they are starting to make their own purchasing decisions and are building loyalty with brands that will last for decades to follow.

Further, Dr. Fauci predicts that schools will be able to reopen this Fall although it is smart to be prepared for the alternative.

Contingency Planning

At Her Campus Media, we are remaining optimistic that colleges and universities will be open this Fall. However, like any smart marketer, we are planning for the alternative and not letting uncertainty get in the way of accomplishing our goals.

If colleges do not open as planned this Fall, we are still moving full steam ahead with our Back-to-College initiatives, but it will look different than it has in years past. Although not on campus, college students will still be in college and looking to have a college experience:

  • They will redecorate their childhood bedrooms or off-campus spaces to support a happy and productive study from home environment.

  • They will get involved virtually with student organizations - be that sororities, clubs, and communities (such as Her Campus, College Fashionista, Spoon University, and the InfluenceHer Collective) and take to virtual experiences to stay connected and support the brands and causes they are passionate about.

  • They will start to decide what brands define them, seeking out products that align with their core values.

How You Can Plan a Successful Back-to-College 2020 Campaign

In five words - do not ignore this audience. Whether students are back on campus or studying from home, their passion, their influence, and their point-of-entry buying power ($55 billion during Back-to-College alone), is not going anywhere. If anything else, these students now will not only have influence over their individual purchasing decisions but will become a primary influencer over their households, with 85% of our audience saying they influence their parents’ purchase decisions.

At Her Campus Media, we are succeeding with our audience by meeting them in their own environments during COVID-19, including:

Gen Z has an appreciation for advertising and values brands that engage with them, be that with inspiration, education, entertainment, or even distraction. This strategy is winning for us, and it can for you too.

Be the brand that showed up for college students this Back-to-College season when everyone else disappeared. You won’t regret it.

Katrina Campanale
Vice President, Sales & Business Development at Her Campus Media

Questions? Contact me at KatrinaCampanale@hercampus.com

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