Ideas, information and industry news for collegiate retailers

Valentine’s Day is about more than chocolates and roses. It’s also an opportunity for you to "Make It a Date with Your Store" with a special sale and fun social media campaign.

A customer comes into your store and they always leave with a something: a product, a service and always a story. Stories are told everyday–from tales about traffic, lunch or the experience in your store. Look around. What story will your customers tell about you?

I have a 13-year-old child. I know I’m biased, but she’s brilliant, funny, articulate and extremely self-aware for her age. It’s hard to believe, honestly, considering she spends hours a day staring blankly at her electronic devices.

I’ve had my couch for three years, and it boasts tears in the leather, unstitched stitching and bald spots where the bonded leather detached from the fabric. I made a bad purchase decision. However, I did buy a five-year warranty package. Its purpose, to cover anything that is not wear-and-tear and pay for a repair or replacement. Problem solved? Not so fast.

Finding creative ways to interact with your students on Facebook isn't easy. To help, we've compiled a list of quick strategies you can implement that others have found successful.

• Calls to action: If you want interaction, ask for it. Adding a call to action to your Facebook posts such as ‘like this post if you agree!’ or ‘Tell us what you think in the comments section,’ encourages readers to be a part of the discussion.
• Questions: People love to talk on Facebook. Asking questions that are easy to answer and require one-word responses tend to get the most engagement. When you make it about them, they are more likely to jump into the conversation.
• Crowdsource: Give your students a say in their college store. Let them vote on which new items to carry, what product should be on sale next week or even what type of event you should hold next. Companies such as Starbucks and Dell have had success using crowdsourcing as a tool to build engagement, loyalty and business as a whole.
• Offers: Add an incentive to being a fan by providing exclusive discounts. Facebook’s ‘Offers’ feature makes it easy to spread the deal to your fan base and beyond. Facebook ads allow you to track the ad from the time it is clicked through redemption, helping you determine the success of your Facebook marketing.
• Photos: Prove your store is the place to be by snapping pictures at in-store events and uploading them to Facebook. Ask students to tag themselves so the picture, as well as your store’s name, appear in their newsfeed for their friends to see. You can also have students get involved by asking them to post their own snapshots to your page in a photo contest. Use the Spring Break Photo Contest as inspiration.
• Tips: Be the inside authority. Let students know of campus happenings, events and other local updates so they turn to your page for the latest.
• Trivia: Ask questions related to your store, campus, or a specific topic and reward the first to answer correctly with a fun prize. Weber State University created a social media event for their 100^th anniversary, complete with a music video and trivia questions to build engagement through Facebook.
• Caption contest: Ask your fans to caption a specific photo to enter. You can either pick your favorite caption as the winner or make the caption with the most likes the winner. This contest can result waves of comments, often with funny and creative results.

What other strategies do you use to get students talking on social media? Share them with other stores in the comments section below!

News about upcoming services to college bookstores. Fond farewells to longtime industry leaders. Stories from other collegiate retailers increasing rentals and on-time faculty adoptions in an increasingly competitive business. Monthly marketing plans to better promote your store.

We've published some great content in 2016 if we say so ourselves, and based on our viewership statistics, it seems you agree. In case you missed them the first time — or just want to read them all again — here's a list of our most viewed and shared store stories, Monthly Marketing Plans and other articles from 2016. 

Preparedness is an essential trait of running a successful bookstore. The best way to make sure you’ll be ready from day one is to find a comprehensive training program that will enable your staff to provide a smoother customer experience, maximize your store’s organization and turn your employees from novices into experts. A direct correlation can be drawn between well-instructed training and store success.

“Win free textbooks for a term!” This type of message will have a line outside your door because the prize has a high perceived value.

An interesting new statistic is reassuring news for private higher ed institutions that saw their "inevitable downfall" being forecast a few months ago: Distance learners are on the rise at institutions nationally, and it's proving to be a major revenue stream.

The college retail industry has changed significantly in the last few years. With the rise in big-box online retailers and shifts in technology, everything from marketing and advertising to inventory management and the title procurement process has evolved over the past decade. But that doesn't mean everything is different.