Recruiting and selecting campus reps can be tricky business. It doesn’t matter how much strategy and thought went into the campaign—if you select the wrong campus reps, it can be detrimental. With different brands looking for different qualities in campus reps, it’s important to do your research. Here are the five qualities to look for in every campus rep.
1. Brand Fit
To effectively represent a brand, it is vital that the student fits the brand. Every brand has its own personality—some are bubbly, pink, and fun, while others are green, wholesome, and all-natural. A campus rep for the former brand should come across as lively, feminine, and confident, while a campus rep for the latter brand should come across as environmentally conscious, inclusive, and genuine. In addition, potential campus reps should have interests and career goals that align with the brand. A student who is studying dermatology would be a great fit to represent a skin care line, while a student athlete would be great fit to represent an athletic wear brand. Finding a campus rep who embodies the brand doesn’t just lead to his or her individual success, it ensures the success of the entire program.
2. On-Campus Involvement
Strong campus reps are deeply involved on campus. Typically, campus reps are not freshmen; most first-year students haven’t yet developed a large enough network or the confidence needed to influence their peers. Upperclassmen tend to be more involved and have had the opportunity to take on leadership roles within their respective organizations.
Involvement in Greek life, in particular, is a major benefit. A sorority or fraternity chapter at a large school can have up to 400 active members, making it easy for members of these organizations to influence fellow members. In addition to Greek life, involvement in other on-campus clubs is very important. The kind of clubs that a student is involved in typically reflect their interests, which can help determine whether a candidate will be a good fit for a particular brand. Whether these clubs are academic, philanthropic, or social, these student groups make up a large and direct network that campus reps are able to influence.
3. Event Planning Experience
Event execution is essential to bringing a brand to life. Campus reps typically host 3-7 events per year to (re)introduce the brand, encourage student engagement, and create memorable moments with peers. For these events to be successful, having the proper experience is a must.
Campus reps must strategically determine where and when to host their events. Events executed in high-traffic foot areas typically perform better, as more students are able to directly interact with the brand and indirectly gain awareness. Prior event planning experience is particularly beneficial to informing these decisions. Students typically gain event planning experience from their involvement in on-campus organizations or through jobs and internships. Campus reps that not only have event planning experience but love the event planning process tend to execute their events at a higher level.
4. Digital Footprint
A great campus rep has a strong presence on campus and online—they’re micro influencers. Through their social networks, they are able to successfully reach and influence hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of their peers at once. This influence is created through an engaged social media following, a strategic and unique posting style, and an informed knowledge of the overall digital landscape gleaned from relevant internships and job experience. High-quality, brand-related posts often motivate and inspire like-minded students to further engage with the brand, increasing perception and purchase consideration for years to come.
5. Interview Skills
An interview further ensures that a potential campus rep is the correct fit for the brand. Interviews help you further understand the individual’s personality, evaluate how their experiences relate to the responsibilities of the position, and gauge their overall excitement towards the brand. The recruitment process is often lengthy, as finding the perfect candidates to meet the needs of both the campaign and the brand takes time. However, the benefits of hiring the correct candidates are exponential—a true influencer creates additional influencers, which can in turn take your brand’s awareness and relevance within the Millennial and Gen-Z market to the next level.
Many campus reps will go above and beyond the responsibilities of the position to ensure that the brand resonates with their peer networks. You’ll be able to easily spot this campus rep because of their outgoing spirit, expressed dedication to the campaign, and how well their aesthetic meshes with the brand. These reps can in fact be so on-brand and add so much value that they move into full-time positions with the brand following the completion of the campaign.
Want to recruit campus reps that are the perfect fit for your brand? Finding the right partner is key to your success. Here at YMC, we’ve been helping brands connect with 15- to 29-year-old consumers for two decades—we’d be happy to share our wealth of knowledge with you. Contact us today!
3 Ways Campus Rep Programs Pay for Themselves
Brands interested in reaching Millennials and Gen-Z shouldn’t rely on the trappings of traditional marketing. With this demographic, peer-to-peer is king. Simply put, peer-driven, word-of-mouth interactions have become the most effective method of moving the needle for brands on college campuses and online. What’s the best way to do this? Campus rep programs.
By recruiting a team of micro influencers who are genuinely passionate about your brand and training them to be campus reps, you’ll have legions of true believers who are ready to talk to their friends about your brand on campus. These campus rep programs pay for themselves by reaching new consumers, driving awareness, and increasing sales. In addition, brands are consistently seeing added ROI through an uptick in followers and engagement on their owned social channels, as well as spikes in user-generated content.
Below are three reasons why campus rep programs may be the best use of your marketing budget.
1. Reach New Consumers
Despite the small number of campus reps needed to maintain a presence on campus, their diligent work pays off in a big way. Through on-campus events during the school year, campus rep teams are able to directly interact with approximately 15% of the student population, while exposing 20-30% of the student population to the brand’s messaging. To put that in perspective, let’s take your average state school with about 30,000 undergraduate students. Campus rep teams usually interact with—and we’re talking face-to-face communication—about 4,500 students, while exposing over 7,500 students to the brand.
Those aren’t just numbers. Those are college students who are open to new products and services and are willing to engage. The key is having your brand introduced by an authentic, trusted source—their peer. By choosing your campus reps wisely, well-connected, passionate college students will be representing your brand, allowing you to tap into their vast networks.
Soap & Glory is a great example. After years of success building itself into a dominant beauty and personal care brand in the UK, Soap & Glory wanted to establish a strong presence in the US. Their team of “fearlessly female” campus reps increased brand awareness, encouraged product trial, and supported major national retailers Walgreens, Target, and Ulta. Their presence on campus was so impactful that they became local celebrities, with students spotting them on campus and enthusiastically identifying them as “the Soap & Glory girls.” Their celebrity status consistently secured them lines of 50+ students at each event.
2. Drive Awareness
In addition to exposing new consumers to your brand through on-campus events, activations allow students to interact with your brand in unexpected ways, building familiarity and trust. Once this relationship has been established, students are more willing to allow you access to their personal information (name, email, school year, etc.), which leads to higher open and click-through rates on your digital marketing efforts.
Students who have opted-in to a brand’s digital and social channels not only become customers, but also brand advocates, sharing what they love on their personal social channels and through word-of-mouth. This snowball effect creates exponential reach, which often extends beyond the borders of one campus as students are connected to family members, high school friends (who are now spread out nationally), and new friends made through internships, jobs, volunteerism, and study abroad programs.
3. Leverage Program-Generated Content
In a typical campus rep program, campus reps are happily sharing branded messaging on their social channels, often competing with each other to post the best shot. These campus reps are micro influencers on their respective campus, having amassed large followings and influence. Combine their social media activity with content created by students during brand events, and the brand’s reach skyrockets.
The #ExpressU campus rep program is a great example. A network of hand-selected influential campus reps generated buzz around EXPRESS by executing on-campus events and creating original and unique social content. With events ranging from free yoga classes and juice bars to pool parties, the brand has enjoyed impressive results:
30M+ total program impressions generated across all physical, digital, and social channels with zero paid media
12.3K+ social content pieces created by campus reps utilizing #ExpressU
60+ pieces of program-generated social content leveraged on EXPRESS-owned channels, which received higher engagement than non-collegiate content
Campus reps contributed multiple long-form articles to the brand’s blog
EXPRESS utilized campus rep content to launch Instagram Stories, which generated over 27,000 views and higher engagement than non-collegiate stories
Additionally, because campus reps are students, they are able to reserve space in the most coveted and high-traffic interaction points on and around campus. Whether your brand belongs in the student rec center, quad, cafeteria, dorms, Greek houses, or on the intramural fields, campus reps are able to cultivate authentic conversations and interactions in areas of campus that are relevant to their lifestyles, allowing students to naturally experience your brand.
When you couple the authentic interactions during on-campus events with the relevant social media content created by a program, you get authentic experiences that changes a brand’s perception from “seems cool” to “can’t imagine life without it.”
Looking to launch a campus rep program for your brand? Finding the right partner is key to your success (and ROI). Here at YMC, we’ve been helping brands connect with 15- to 29-year-old consumers for two decades—we’d be happy to share our wealth of knowledge with you. Contact us today!
