Although I can speak from experience in saying that social media is my generation's lifeline, a recent study substantiated this reality in a more conclusive (and extreme) way.
According to the study, which was conducted by LiveScience.com, students at the University of Maryland experienced symptoms of withdrawal when they were asked to give up all of their media for one day. The results essentially show that students, in addition to being addicted to Ramen Noodles and caffeine, are reliant on social networking technology to the point where we are social media addicts.
The Internet has been ubiquitous in our live since we were kids, and sites like Facebook and Twitter are thus important factors in our social connections and the decisions we make. The results of this study, taken in conjunction with the fact that marketers want to reach college students (with high disposable incomes and the potential for becoming lifelong customers), makes social media campaigns aimed at college students seem like the next logical step.
At my school, the University of Michigan, student groups hosting activities on campus create Facebook events in order to invite attendees. Student publications have their own websites, Twitter accounts, and Facebook pages, and dance clubs and bars create Facebook pages to promote discounts, events, and drink specials.
Even the University itself has gotten in on the action, with a page of its own, and 118,630 fans to date. It seems as though every brand, organization, and company on my campus is taking advantage of social media marketing in some way, however basic.
Almost all college students visit Facebook on a daily basis, and creating a free social media campaign on the site has the potential for big results. Why, then, are bigger companies failing to recognize this potential?
Social media platforms are valuable in that they localize brands and create awareness within smaller communities (such as college campuses), and allow for a transparent source of information on a brand of product. Since college students regularly rely on Facebook to interact with their peers, obtaining a few fans could quickly lead to more: if Student A "likes" your page, Students B, C, D, E, will likely see your page on Student A's profile and chances are, some of them will also "like" your page. Better yet, if a college student is hired as a student rep or has some incentive to promote a specific brand or company on Facebook, he or she can quickly increase student support by suggesting that their friends "like" the page.
To use my Facebook profile as an example, my current fan pages include: March of Dimes Michigan, Ann Arbor Fiber, Michiganensian Yearbook, Michigan Association of Communication Studies, and The New York Times. Four out of the five pages are relevant to me in a location-based way, and they are all organizations attempting to promote themselves in some way. I've joined half of the pages because I am a member of the organization, and the other half because my friends have suggested that I "like" them, or because I've noticed that a friend "likes" a page and chosen to do the same.
Obviously I am just one student, and I only really know about the Facebook habits of my immediate friends, but research within the past year has also supported my point. An Anderson Analytics study recently revealed that Facebook remains the top site among college students, and identified a possible correlation between Facebook fan page members and the popularity of certain brands with college students. Coca-Cola and McDonald's, for example, ranked first in their categories between both genders surveyed, and both brands also had significantly more Facebook fans for their pages over their number two competitors.
Although both Coca-Cola and McDonald's are large companies and rarely focus on reaching individuals in location-based way, other smaller brands could benefit from this tactic. If there is a relationship between college student approval of brands and the number of fans on the brands' Facebook pages, obtaining fans on college campuses could be valuable for marketers. Marketers should think about reaching college students through Facebook to reach students on a smaller scale. If they do, they could successfully reach the often skeptical college student cohort and gain customers who will be loyal for life.
Flickr photo courtesy of crazytales562
