I recently invited Mariana Ashley to write about how to make a corporate website appeal to students.
The Corporate Appeal—How Corporate Websites Can Gain a College Audience
Working in the online realm can be a difficult game for small businesses and major corporations alike. With aspects of online business and online interests always fluctuating and changing, it can be difficult for business people and marketers working to stay relevant online to keep up. That being said, there are many things that corporations and businesses can do to gain wider appeal with their corporate websites.
It is essential that business owners never underestimate the importance of their corporate website. In today’s society, having a strong web presence is essential for any business regardless of whether your company works in the online realm or your website is profit yielding. One of the most influential and important demographics to gain exposure to is the college aged generation. Individuals who are in college or recently graduated play an important role in the survival of a corporation. Consider these website elements to create a corporate website that a college audience can relate and respond to.
1. Be Accessible (Always)
It is important that you consider the accessibility of your website, if you are hoping to attract or engage the 20-something crowd. Today, fewer and fewer individuals are accessing the web and websites in the traditional way. With the advent of smartphones and tablets, more and more people want immediate access to websites from smaller platforms. This is an important current trend for companies to keep in mind. While college students and recent grads are one of the primary users of mobile web and devices, many other demographics of consumers do as well. Work to create a site that translates well to the mobile realm. The current youth generation is very much about accessing what they want when they want it. Take cues from this. Be sure your website is always accessible.
2. Make It Easy
In the same vein as being always accessible, it is also important that you make things easy with your website. More and more web goers are responding to websites that are simple and easy to navigate. While busy sites with intricate movements and design were at one time valued, today there is a wave of interest in the simple and minimalistic. College students are looking for web platforms that are self-explanatory and simple because they have so many sites to frequent. Making things easy can be interpreted in many ways when it comes to websites. You want to be sure that your site is easy to maneuver. Web goers, particularly the younger generation, won’t put up with having to click around a lot to get where they need to go.
Making things easy also comes down to a general philosophy. Corporate websites can struggle to attract the college generation by the mere fact that they are corporate. Today, there is an appreciation among the youth for transparency. Don’t veil who you are or what you’re about just in the interest of appealing to a broader spectrum of people. Be more transparent with your corporate interests and objectives. This straightforwardness can be highly appreciated by college students and recent grads.
3. Think Social Media
Obviously, social media and social networking is an important part of the web world today. A huge (really huge) portion of the population among college students and recent grads are active and engaged in multiple social networking sites. This is absolutely something that corporations should consider when revising and managing their website and web presence. In many ways, the website itself has died because so many people access the information they need from a business site through their social media interfaces. Take this into consideration. You want to create a website that is Facebook and Twitter friendly. Make it easy for college students and recent graduates to translate your website to their social media platforms. By bridging the gap between social networking sites and your own corporate site, you can gain a significantly wider audience and likely appeal more strongly to this powerful generation of 20-somethings.
Thanks Mariana!
This guest post is by Mariana Ashley, a prolific blogger who provides web content to a number of blogs and websites. She’s most interested in providing guidance to prospective college students who wish to attend online colleges in Montana. When she’s not writing or researching online education trends, she enjoys riding her horse, George, and spending quality time with her four nieces. Mariana welcomes your questions and comments at mariana.ashley031@gmail.com.
Lucy is Editor at Corporate Eye
