Snapchat, college recruitingEver wonder why students apply to one college over the other? Ever wonder why some companies are valued at billions of dollars? Social media companies that catch fire have traditionally been started by making themselves irresistible and essential parts of college-aged users’ lives. But can a photo that only appears for 24 hours and features a group of strangers wearing pirate hats sway a student to choose a college? Is there a correlation here? Let’s look at that little Facebook killer, Snapchat, that is rumored to be on the docket for an IPO at a $25 Billion valuation?

One reason Snapchat is killing it is the appeal to younger users. Among adults 18 through 24, 64% use the app. Only 37% of adults 18 through 29 use Twitter. It makes sense why colleges are tailoring their marketing to this app and audience, and helps explain why people are high on Snaps and a bit down on Tweets.

If you’re not up on Snapchat, I’ll give you the rundown.

  1. Create an account on your mobile phone–it’s all mobile, and that’s another reason it is a darling in the mobile-first universe.
  2. Add your friends’ accounts so you can keep up to speed on their lives (the normal social media reason, but also the classic growth hack of incentives for spreading the word virally).
  3. Take pictures of everything/everyone. Again, the mobile and pic-sharing economy is a Unicorn race. (Ready point 4 to see why SC is winning…)
  4. Add a silly hat, mustache of other layer to the photo quickly from inside the app. What? A pirate hat is the killer feature? Yep. Personalization, fun, surprise and making it ‘worth’ sharing seems to be the golden ticket.
  5. Send these pictures to your friends on Snapchat from the app; or, add it to your ‘story’, which is a picture/video that all of your friends can see for 24 hours.  It’s easy, low-commitment, and often strangely hilarious.

However much fun, the key to being so highly valued lies in the potential monetization.

One early sign for Snapchat justifying its high valuation involves college recruiting. Early college adopters University of Michigan, MIT, Colorado State University, and Princeton University have become regular snappers. Many other colleges are now creating Snapchat accounts for potential students to follow as they make the biggest commitment of their lives thus far. They’ll have students run the account and post stories of life on campus, school traditions, etc. Anything that shows what the school has to offer. Snapchat connects prospective students to current students on a platform that they enjoy using. Some schools even have mini Q&A sessions on the admissions process or the college in general. They embed geotags on images like a school mascot or a logo and hope it gets shared, searched, and added to more people’s stories. This is used as a free advertisement/branding tool for the school. For now.

Traditionally, schools market to potential students with flyers, emails, and other forms of advertising. According to a study in 2013, “Colleges and universities placed a robust $570.5 million worth of paid advertising in the U.S.” But the bigger number is the total marketing budget, which is expected to grow from $10 Billion to $100 Billion in the next few years. With technology improving, social networks like Snapchat will be part of this cost. The difference is that only part of it will be paid, traditional media. The interesting part about Snapchat is that the audience itself does the tailoring–as the content is, after all, created and shared by the audience itself!  The Holy Grail of Marketing has always been WOM (Word of Mouth). The high volume sharing of content depends on it NOT being paid promotions. After a sizeable network is built, targeting that network with specific offers is the icing on the cake for social media companies. And that is where Snapchat surprised everyone. They are going to use their massive audience to sell their own products, such as the sunglasses attached to a user’s devices. This places the company in a unique position, and is one reason their IPO looks to succeed.

Should colleges use Snapchat? The question is, can they afford not to?

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