Exploring Twitter Keyword Targeting to Advertise Student Discounts

Last week Twitter announced the launch of Keyword Targeting for Promoted Tweets. If you currently advertise on Twitter using Promoted Tweets or Promoted Accounts, you already know that you can target your paid content by targeting by interest categories like stage of life, education, etc. or by targeting specific users’ followers.

So to create a campaign to inform college students about a new student discount using Twitter’s previously existing tools, you could use a combination of interest categories and users whose followers are likely to be college students. Your targeting might look something like this:

Odds are good that using these techniques you’d reach an audience that was mostly college students.

With Twitter’s new keyword targeting you can insert your branded tweets into the conversation that Twitter users are currently having about student discounts by displaying ads to people who have included your keywords in their recent tweets, or tweets users engaged with through retweeting, favorites, or replies.

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Students’ Video Message to Retailers

Be honest. How long has it been since you’ve actually been in college? 5 years? 10 years? 20 years? Yeah, us too. Being a college student now is a lot different than it was a decade or two ago. So while it’s perfectly acceptable to reminisce about the good old days with your fraternity brother or college roommate, thinking back on your own college experiences isn’t going to help you market to the class of 2015.

That’s why we teamed up with Kevin Brett’s PR class at the University of Oregon to interview their fellow students and provide old fogies like us with some insights into the shopping behavior of college students. Without further ado, here is the final product.

Clearly, one of the most effective ways to reach college students is with a student discount that you can market far and wide. And to do that, you need a protected discount that only college students can redeem. See where we’re going with this? That’s right. We can help by verifying that only enrolled college students can use your discount. Go team!

Want a Student Discount? Ask for one.

As the third in our series of guest blog posts by college students, Danielle Schmitt, a student at Lane Community College, talks about why students should unapologetically ask for a student discount.     

Broke As a Joke

“I’m a broke college student” is a common phrase you hear from a young scholar. We
kelly gets a college student discountspend loads of time doing homework, in our lectures, studying for tests and extra curricular activities. Many of us do not even have time for a part-time job. And those who do, well they must have some great time-management skills. So for most of us, we are and will continue to be broke college students who are always looking for good deals. I would say a majority of college students have no shame in shopping at second hand clothing stores and Goodwill in order to get what we need for cheap. It’s hard to go out and do anything “extra” when you’re on a tight budget. Extras could be anything from seeing a movie at the cheap seats for $1.50, splurging on a manicure, or going with your friends to get froyo every once in a while. For many of us, we think twice about these extras before we do them. Seeing as how our pockets are typically quite empty. What businesses need to do is: Offer student discounts!

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Deals, Not Debt

Enjoy the first guest blog post of the year, by Ms. Dallas Abraham. Thank you Dallas for giving us the perspective of a current college student.

I am a unicorn of the student world: rare and wonderful. I will graduate from college soon with no student debt. None. Not a single dollar owed.

It has not been easy navigate this path. I have scrounged for scholarships, served in the military, and hoarded every penny that I use for tuition. I’ve saved on vacations by beaming a bright light on myself while playing a free MP3 of ocean sounds. Graduating with no debt has been my mission, and I’m almost there.

As a debt-free unicorn, I have learned a thing or two about finding a deal –information that every student in every financial situation could learn from me. What is this great wisdom that has helped me stay debt free? The frequent use of the Epic Student Discount.

The purchasing decisions of a demographic that cannot work a full-time job is predictable. We need to find the product that will do what we need and cost the least. There are so many choices in software todya. Knowing who has the best student discount often becomes the deciding factor. Some of the most expensive software purchases I’ve made were based on the lower cost of upgrading the software even if you purchased it with a student rate. This means that I will never have to pay the full freight price since I will always be upgrading my student version. Pricing options like that make it impossible to not spring for the purchase.

If you’re interested in offering a student discount to reach this valuable market and cultivate brand loyalty among college students, we can help.

Don’t You Want My Business Too?

We’ve got another guest blog for you. This one was written by a very talented writer, Dallas Abraham, who also happens to be a non-traditional college student. Thank you Dallas, for sharing your story with us.


I am a college student. However, I’m not a 20-year-old, free-spirited, “find-yourself-because-you-have-no-responsibilities” college student. I’m a married, home owning veteran of foreign wars. This difference can be substantial and companies should understand that this does affect my shopping habits.

The main way that being a non-tradition student affects what I buy is socializing. Football tailgaters, sorority parties, beer-pong tournaments, and roommates are part of the college experience that I never experience. I don’t view the other students as my off-campus peer group. I have more in common with their parents. I don’t care to hear about Halo and hookups, and they don’t care to hear me complain about my husband or my property taxes.
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What Student Discounts?!?!

Teacher and student discountsToday we’re excited to bring you a post by guest blogger, Michael Nickless. Michael has been kind enough to share his unique perspective on student discounts, as a non-traditional college student at Lane Community College. Michael is not alone, a growing percentage of college students don’t fit the mold of the “typical” 18-22 year old most people envision when they hear the words “college student”. For more statistics and facts about non-traditional college students, check out our infographic, College Students of 2012.


The major goal of offering targeted discounts is to establish new customer relationships, and hopefully build brand loyalty.  Your business may spend a lot of money on this strategy, and you want it to be as effective as possible.  Student discounts are a well-established tool that can be a very effective way to reach a targeted audience.  After all, students are a group whose earning capacity is only going to increase with time, and they will remember companies who were “there for them” when they needed the help most.   The only problem is that most marketers don’t truly understand the student market. One marketing question almost totally missed today when discussing students is “Who is your target audience? Who are students today?”

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Reaching College Students 101

As much as we love stats and metrics, sometimes it’s necessary to take a step back from our calculators and survey results and think about what all those facts and figures actually mean. All that crunchy data isn’t worth much if you can’t suck the juice out of it and translate the numbers into meaningful, actionable steps.

For example, maybe you’re fascinated by the fact that 83% of college students say social media is the best way to reach them. But assuming that your company already has a Facebook page and a Twitter account, what do you do with that fascinating tidbit of information? Maybe you’ve read our previous blog posts and infographics (Big Marketer) that reported that 55% of students suggest you advertise your company discount on your website and you’re willing to take their advice, but how do you ensure that college students are looking at your website in the first place?

We hear ya, and we’ve called in the big guns. We’ve wracked the brains of some of the greatest masterminds we know, and we shook loose these pearls of wisdom that are going to help you turn those intriguing stats we keep flinging at you into a to-do list.

First up, Kelli Matthews, a social media marketing expert and instructor at University of Oregon (GO DUCKS!), has a tip on how to succeed at social media:

Be genuine. “As tastemakers, college students drive social media trends–they create the rules and define the ever extending landscape of new tools and channels. If a company doesn’t have a robust, genuine social media strategy, they will not successfully reach college students.”

That seems pretty easy, doesn’t it? If you need help being genuine, refer back to our white paper on how to reach college students, College Students Vs. Student Discounts, It Doesn’t Have to be This Hard. We suggest you pay close attention to page 6.

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An Infographic That Will Change How You Think About College Students

College. For me, that single word still conjurs up fond memories of late-night dance parties, 4 years worth of vegetarian cafeteria food, and dorm rooms that always smelled like damp socks. I was 18 when I was a freshman. I was 1,042 miles away from home, I was broke, and I was on my own for the first time.

Fast-forward 10+ years…If I was standing in line at registration today, there’s a good chance I’d be in the minority. Only 15% of college students attend a 4 year university and live on campus. That stat seemed surprising until I started thinking about my own family and friends. My super-smart sister is only two years younger than me, and she just got her PhD. Facing a pretty dismal job market, many of my friends have decided to go to graduate school or finish up their undergrad degrees after losing a job, and it’s not just my crew. Grad school enrollment is expected to increase 30% in the next four years according to estimates from a private equity firm. Even among my employed friends and acquaintances, it’s not unusual to take an online class or two for professional development or take evening classes online to get a Masters degree and the pay bump that comes with it. These are people in their 30′s, with dogs, kids, mortgages, and responsibilities- not exactly who comes to mind when most people think of college students.

Intrigued, we did our homework, and came up with some pretty interesting facts and statistics about college students in 2012, and used the results to create a new infographic. It’s a real eye-opener.

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Infographics Are Too Much Fun

excerpt from SheerID InfographicI have a geeky confession to make. I love stats. This declaration will come as a surprise to my mom and my college statistics professor, since I’ve claimed to detest math since I was old enough to learn long division and I did not get an A++ in statistics 101. However, in the past few years I’ve come to respect the power of percentages- nothing could boost my email marketing numbers like advertising “40%” off books in the subject line or earn the admiration of upper management like a 152% ROI.  But I don’t think my love affair with stats really began until the dawn of the Infographic.

Sophisticated color schemes, witty text, gorgeous graphics, and mind-boggling stats all pulled together in one snack-size deliverable? Yep, I’m hooked. My favorite infographics are like emotional rollercoasters tied with a pretty bow. They use fun fonts to deliver tidbits of information that are scandalous, shocking, depressing, thrilling, hilarious, and even, inspiring.

I’m pretty proud of the infographics we’ve been producing lately at SheerID. While some of the numbers are downright disheartening (for example, if you sell academic software, you’re probably not thrilled to hear that 66% of students don’t even know they can buy it…) we always try to include helpful tips and solutions to any problems we present. Plus, they look awesome.

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Staples Gives Students $100

Although Xboxes, PS3’s, and iTunes gift cards are nice, sometimes what you really want most is cold hard cash. Staples understands, and true to their tagline, they’re making it easy for students to earn a little extra dough.

Staples Gives Students 100 dollars for back to schoolHigh school and college students have until September 15th to get in their cars, dash to the nearest Staples store, and select one of four shiny new laptops. Two of the four currently have mail in rebates to sweeten the pot, but with the purchase of any four, students will receive a $100 Visa prepaid credit card.

Students are required to either show a valid high school or college ID in person, or to bring an acceptance letter to a post-secondary institution and a valid photo ID to corroborate that you are indeed the student who will be gracing that campus with your presence this fall.

Pros:

  • Who doesn’t like cash?
  • The acceptance letter + photo ID is a nice workaround for recent high school graduates who won’t receive their college ID until orientation

Cons:

  • You can’t redeem this offer online, it’s brick-and-mortar only
  • Wow, that’s a lot of fine print

Somebody give Staples a call and tell them that if they want to reach ALL students, not just students within driving distance of a Staples, they should get in touch with SheerID.