Students Hate Your Marketing… Here are 4 Ideas to Gain Their Trust

More than likely, your students don’t trust you.  Do you blame them?  Half of you have not been in the classroom in past 15 years.  But don’t worry; it’s probably not your fault.  It’s those crazy Millennials.

 

According to AdWeek’s article entitled “Marketing toMillennials and the Necessity of Social Brand Advocacy” Millenials don’t trust advertising.  In fact, the only people they do trust are the people they know.

Here are two statements from the article that really stand out:

…Millennials don’t trust anything except the people they know.

…if you aren’t getting Millennials past the ‘Moment of Trust’ using social brand advocacy and word-of-mouth, your marketing efforts are screwed.

So what do we do?  Is school public relations and marketing really screwed?

Here are four ideas that might gain the trust of your millennial students:

1. Create a Student Ambassador Program

This program has been a huge success in our district.  We currently have students from our five high schools helping us spread the good news about our district to the community.

This year they focused on the over 65 population by holding senior citizen proms at nursing homes and senior community centers inside the district boundaries.  It is a great way to interact with the demographic that is most likely to vote in local elections.

We could use this same group of student leaders to hold events for our other students in the district.  They could be mentors to our elementary school students, or they could hold dances or events with our middle and high school students. 

By taking adults out of the equation, you build trust and a comfort level with our content and our messages.  Students are more likely to trust their peers than some old guy in a suit.

2. Student Social Media Takeover

If students don’t trust us, why are we the ones sending out the messages?  This might be fine on Facebook, or maybe Twitter, but if we are trying to reach students on Instagram or SnapChat, are we really the best to do that? There’s gotta be a better way.

Why not hand over the keys to your social media to the experts… 15 year old kids?  I’m not saying let your students have full control over you content, but for special events like a big football game or a pep rally or a graduation, why not invite student guests to post content including pictures and video?  Of course you will need to train them a bit over the legalities of using social media in a school district, but I am sure they are going to train you on what works best on social media.

3. A Student Blog that Looks Like 17 Magazine

It’s no secret; I am a fan of Content Marketing.  I love our parent blog called School-A-Hoop, and I am also a big fan of our other useful content such as e-books and how to videos.   However, our students might not be all that into it because their adult teachers write most of our content.

Just like the above social media takeover, why not have a blog that is written for students by students with articles they want to read. For example, why not have a high school student write an article called, “How I Survived my Break-Up with my Boyfriend of Two Years” or maybe “How I Scored $1.3 Million in Scholarships my Senior Year”.

Students are more likely to read a post from a kid their age than a thirty something PR guy who is still way into Eighties Movies.  Goonies Never Say Die!

4. Testimonials from Students

This is probably the easiest idea to get started.  Take the time to find the students that are passionate about what they do and have them tell you their story.  You are going to find some awesome nuggets to share with other students trying to find their passion.  And since it’s coming from their peers, they are more likely to give you five seconds and listen to your content.

Hopefully some of these ideas will help you gain the trust of your students and help your content spread amongst your student population.

In conclusion, I give you a paragraph from the Adweek article that drives home my point:

Only 3 percent of Millennials look to traditional media – television, magazines, and newspapers. They look to blogs, what their friends say on social media about a brand, and other sources where they find an authentic look at a product or a brand. What others are saying about your brand defines it and is 8 to 10 times more powerful than your ads or content.

The four ideas above are only a handful of things you can do to more successfully reach your students.  What is your district doing to engage with your Millennials? Leave your ideas in the comment section below.