Opportunities for student influencer marketing strategies

Abstract

Corporations’ and big brands’ use of influencer marketing strategies has been growing and becoming more common practice since 2010. As they have come to understand that individuals are heavily influenced by their peers, effective peer marketing campaigns have emerged. This is no different for students, who listen to their peers more than us as higher education professionals. While opportunities exist for higher education, few institutions are taking advantage of this innovative marketing strategy. The Division of Student Affairs at Illinois State University has launched one of the only formal student influencer teams in Student Affairs divisions nationwide. On this team, influencers activate their personal networks, amplifying the division to engage with new communities on campus. As a result, the division’s social media accounts have increased by 245 per cent over the last two years. This paper shares the legitimacy of influencers in social media strategy, presents a student influencer programme in practice within a student affairs division and discusses how similar programmes can be implemented within higher education.