Back To School: The Business of Teachers as Influencers
The Incredible Growth of the Teacher Influencer Niche
@theprimaryparty ready for back to school!
UNIQUE AUDIENCE
In total, there are about 7 million educators in the USA. (that’s a lot of Morning Joe!)
They are fiercely loyal to both the brands they like, and to one another. In fact, according to the Harris Poll Report, eighty-four percent of teachers prefer to hear about teacher discounts from other educators. This may be attributed to the trustworthiness of a teacher’s word amongst a general audience, but for the educator audience, it has to do with feeling seen and understood.
Teachers tend to use social media to communicate with one another for myriad reasons: to commiserate over shared stories, trade classroom activities or to jumpstart their creativity with planning and decor.
As 95% of teachers use Facebook, 82% use Instagram, and 72% use Pinterest (MDR Marketing Team, 2019), it is no wonder that harnessing the power of a teacher influencer has the potential to unlock access to a huge, receptive audience. Teachers follow other teachers, making this niche of influencers a prime marketing ground for DTC brands that can easily be used in the classroom.
2020 Key Takeaways: Ed Tech Teacher Influencers became high in demand.
2021 Trends: Teachers who are honest and share about how they overcome their trials and tribulations by using X product, in conjunction with their personal tips and tricks, are in high demand.
POWERFUL SENSE OF IDENTITY
Powerful sense of identity: @theartoffunology represented many brands that offered specific discounts and giveaways for teachers this past school year.
Nearly all (96%) teachers feel that being a teacher is an important component of their overall identity, more so than demographic traits like the city/neighborhood they live in, their religion, their national or cultural background and even their political affiliation (all under 65% percent).
This sense of identity is carried into all walks of life. For example, most teachers say they would use a teacher discount not only to buy classroom or school supplies (92%), but also for many other purchases/services like restaurants (73%), computers/mobile devices/electronics (68%), travel (65%), entertainment (63%), subscription services (62%), and clothing (62%) (2021, Harris Poll Report).
2020 Key Takeaways: Teacher discounts generate positive word-of-mouth for vendors.
2021 Trends: Brands tailoring messages to address the unique challenges of teachers are viewed in a positive light.
WIDE VARIETY OF CREATIVES
Much like any vertical of influencers, you have a wide variety of teacher creatives as influencers. From comic relief or raps about math on TikTok, to hack-based Pinterest boards and rainbow-filled Instagram feeds, the teachers all have their own flare, depending on their personality, as well as the grade they are teaching at the moment (yes, many teachers will switch grades from one year to the next).
2020 Key Takeaways: Influencers that are professional and take the time to cultivate their brand and audience size are worth your while.
2021 Trends: Sometimes, it’s about the excitement, dedication, and originality of the influencer, and not always the follower count.
NICHES WITHIN A NICHE
Niche within a niche: @Thetututeacher‘s follower base grew substantially this year as she carved out a unique niche for herself as a Kindergarten teacher and expert in literacy and children’s literature.
Remember how your math teacher, librarian and history teacher all had their own distinct personalities? Well, once they bring those to the world of social media as influencers, it’s an incredible opportunity to collaborate with influencers with unique perspectives on how to use a product or tell that brand story.
Niching down to teachers who are all about organization and classroom setups is prime for companies such as Staples, book-focused teachers are ideal for publishing houses during kid’s book launches, PE teachers can help promote a new shoe drop from Nike, and any teacher knows how coffee and snacks are key to get through the day, meaning tumbler, snack and coffee brands could tap into this niche as well.
2020 Key Takeaways:Select an influencer who is most likely to resonate with the specific end-user of your campaign.
2021 Trends: Micro-influencers and even UGC can pack a powerful punch with the right preparation.
BACK TO SCHOOL
Back to School: This influencer @thelimitlessclassroom often does collaborations not focused solely on classroom goods, but also snacks and other products that make the classroom a more comfortable place for her students
Last year, we truly kicked off our influencer efforts in the teacher space over the summer, in time for back to school season. Between being a prime time for education tech companies to promote their platforms, it is also kicking off a new year for teachers, where they are preparing their themed classrooms, securing supplies, and products aiming to help teachers “be better this year”, much like non-teachers’ New Year's resolutions.
2020 Key Takeaways: Any apps or products that had to do with EdTech became necessary.
2021 Trends: Making the classroom a “home away from home” stocked with snacks, comfortable seating arrangements, and all kinds of school supplies are also necessary.
This @lessons_and_lattes photo had a lot of success because the influencer spoke honestly about the obstacles she was overcoming in school with the product, and showed how the product could be useful on-the-go