How to Amp up Marketing Efforts During Winter Break

By Danielle Wirsansky on December 19, 2016

College students constitute a prime demographic for many businesses. They are online a lot and, with their newfound freedom, like to go shopping. The holidays are also the busiest time of year for most businesses.

So the best way to amp up your business during this time of year is to amp up your marketing efforts and to target college students. Winter break is the best time to catch students and to lure them to shop at your store and buy your products. Read on to learn how to amp up your marketing efforts during student’s winter breaks!

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Sponsored social media ads

Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram used to be completely free for businesses to use and, to some degree, they still are. You can use the platforms for free but if you want to reach further then you have to pay. This is especially true with Facebook which switches up the algorithms for the reach of business pages pretty often in attempts to curtail viral reach in order to force business to pay to reach their audience. These platforms offer ads that businesses can purchase to show off their business. They can actually be pretty effective if you are willing to put the money into it. Depending on the reach you want to achieve, you can create ads and plans that fit your budget.

If students are a prime demographic of your business then these social media ads can be especially effective at targeting this group. It’s well known that students and youth of today are those that engage online the most, so by using social media ads, you are especially targeting these students who, on their winter break, are even more likely than ever to be online.

With no school and everyone at home for break, what else is there for them to do? Winter break can be one of the most effective times of year to use this marketing strategy.

Social media campaigns

If you are against paying for your marketing on social media you could always try a different approach. Try and create your own campaign to help market your business! There are so many options to what you can try and the best part of creating your own campaign is that you can make it tailor made for your business. You can make sure the campaign reaches the demographic you want it to and achieves the outcome you are looking for, whether that be more likes on your Facebook page, an increased audience reach, more Instagram followers, or an uptake in business.

Whatever goal you set, you can create the campaign with that idea in mind. It leaves you in charge of what is happening and whether you fail or succeed is contingent upon the amount of work you are willing or able to put into it. You can ask your followers to submit pictures of themselves using your products in order to be featured or you could try and start a viral hashtag trend that will promote your business. There is a lot of flexibility in what you can do to use social media in your marketing.

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Giveaways

Another great way to market your business is to host a giveaway! At first this might seem unorthodox — giving your product away for free, how will that help to increase your business? Well, if your prize is tantalizing enough then many people will clamor and compete for it. No prize in a giveaway comes completely free to the winner.

You can have requirements set up that an interested party has to complete before they are put in the running for the prize or that will increase their chances of running. You can collect email addresses and have people sign up for your newsletter, you can ask them to like and follow you on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other forms of social media. You can get them to write a review of your company. Whatever stipulations you want to put on allowing people to enter your giveaway is completely up to you. Just make sure you have a way to follow through and make sure people are actually completing the tasks necessary.

Giveaways just give off the illusion of free — you can reap plenty of benefits if you can get enough people to participate. And do you know who giveaways often appeal to the most? College students! They are always on the hunt for cheap deals and bargains and what price is better than free? Students are very likely to participate in a giveaway for free items, and with winter break giving them a whole lot of free time to participate in a giveaway and the need for gifts to give, it could be the perfect time for you to host one for your own business.

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