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Back-to-School Social Media Strategies & Design Ideas

Last update: July 23, 2019

It is that time of the year that parents are starting their back-to-school shopping ritual. As the nation’s second-largest spending holiday, the back-to-school season offers incredible opportunity for retailers. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), total spending on K-12 schools and college is projected at $80.7B in 2019.

Apparently, parents are spending big bucks, and that means the retailers that cater to this market can take advantage of the spending boom too.

For you, gutsy entrepreneurs who would like to keep your brand top-of-mind when parents and students start to get ready for the first day of school, we have prepared 45 creative back-to-school social media design campaigns. You can use any of them to make meaningful connection on social media by telling visual stories to attract users .

You know that influence is all that matters in this world-of-month world. And influence doesn’t just flow from parent to child. Parents influence other parents, kids influence their parents, and you, as a business, can influence all of these groups with the right strategy for your social media marketing.

So, without further ado, let’s kick-start your social media marketing with our ready-to-use social media posts, ads and promotional ideas for the back-to-school season:

You can take any of the follow approaches:

Below, you will find ideas and creatives for each group:

1. Target moms

Armed with checklists from teachers and schools, parents and back-to-school shoppers turn to social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram to research potential purchases, evaluate customer reviews, and find recommendations, promotions and coupons.

Moms respond well to deals and offers on products, so make sure you have an enticing offer pinned to the top of your pages.

Back-to-school design templates – 50% off (use the design)

Back-to-school design templates – 30% off (use the design)

Back-to-school design templates – promotion: make more happen with less (use the design)

Back-to-school design templates – 60% off (edit the design)


School supplies sale (edit the design)


Last minute back-to-school deals (edit the design)


Start back-to-school preps easrly (edit the design)


Look awesome this school year (edit the design)


Shop now back-to-school essentials (edit the design)


Back-to-school huge sale (edit the design)


2. Offer incentives

Offer incentives, like coupons and promotions, to fans who participate in your visual marketing campaigns. When people know they’ll be rewarded for their efforts, they’ll be more excited to actively participate!

Buy back-to-school supplies and win a prize (edit the design)


Share the back-to-school offer and win a prize (edit the design)


3. Don’t forget to target students too!

And while parents have the ultimate say on most purchases (or at least think they do), teens and students play important part in decision making. So it pays to gain their attention too. They also use social platforms to make decisions, but in slightly different ways. Students in this age group are heavy users of Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, so think about creating beautiful and engaging content for these social networks as well.

They respond well to contests and other type of engaging content:

Back to School Giveaway (edit the design)

Back to School Challenge (use the design)

Post a pic social media contest (edit the design)


For more back-to-school social media contest ideas, check our post 4 Fantastic Back-To-School Social Media Contest Ideas You Can Run Today

4. Provoke curiosity and create anticipation Believe it or not, but curiosity has the power to urge people to come back to see what will happen. So, if you would like to keep people engaged with your brand and back to school promotions, you first should start with some sneak peaks or countdowns:

Back to school sneak peak idea (use the design)

Flash sale is coming soon (use the design)

Countdown for back to school (use the design)

5. Content is the king (it is not dead, on the contrary if well executed content is more powerful than ever). Develop valuable content on topics such as back-to-school tips, fall fashion trends, school lunch ideas, or college tech buying guides to attract and assist these busy consumers.

And do not forget to include Pinterest, as an invaluable social media means to reach potential buyers. Research conducted by the social media platform Crowdtap found that 27% of Pinterest users surveyed planned to use the platform to help organize and plan their back-to-school shopping lists.

Retailer’s guide to back to school shopping (edit the design)


Must-have back to school gadgets (edit the design)


Are you ready for school? (edit the design)


How to prepare for back to school (edit the design)


These design templates can be found in the perfect size for Pinterest and Instagram too in our DesignPro tool.