Have you stopped to consider whether your current marketing strategy is the best it can be to target your prospective student audience, or could it do with a refresh?
Here’s how you can align your Clearing campaigns to your students and make your ads stand out among the other institutions vying for their attention.
It’s generally good practice to have a range of channels in your media mix, but also knowing which channels your core audience is on is a one-way ticket to recruitment success.
Did you know, 47% of TikTok users are 10-29 years old. In fact, 25% of users are between 10 and 19 years old, meaning your prospective undergraduate students are on the platform! Let’s delve into what you can be doing to engage them!
Steps to success
1. Make use of retargeting options
With 92% of TikTok users saying that they take action after watching a TikTok (whether that’s liking, commenting, sharing, following) and 25% of Gen Z claiming they research a product after watching TikTok, the platform is built for awareness and engagement.
The average TikTok user opens the app 8 times a day, highlighting all the retargeting opportunities available. Imagine someone considering going to university sees your advert, then they open the app again and are exposed to your brand again. Repeat that a few times, and it’s brand awareness at its finest.
2. Increase your media mix
Users want to see brands engaging organically, showing that they ‘get’ the platform. By pairing your paid media with organic content, you can boost awareness of your brand by a whopping 173%!
So that means spending time creating engaging organic content is just as important as putting the time into your paid ads. Remember, brand awareness isn’t a one-time thing; students need to be exposed to your brand multiple times to build up that recall.
3. Combine ad formats
With so many ad formats to choose from and new ones cropping up all the time – it can be daunting to try out a new one. However, utilising these new formats will reduce ad fatigue and ensure your users are always seeing something new and different.
Why not try hashtag ads, in-feed ads or branded lenses – all native ad types to the platform! And speaking of being native…
4. Take a native approach
Being native to the platform means your ads look and feel like the other content on there. This can include video style to getting involved in challenges or dances. You want your ads to feel like they belong on the platform.
Instead of having your ads stick out like a sore thumb, what if your new campus or course advert felt natural among the other content on the discover page? Native ads will avoid being skipped by prospective students and get more eyes on your website.
5. Get started now
TikTok and Snapchat are expected to be the two most-used platforms among Gen Z in 2025, making them the two channels you should be experimenting with most. Coming up with a winning formula takes time, so by starting now, you’ll be able to build up a good idea of what works and what doesn’t.
Our Arkenauts have worked with over 120 institutions on various student recruitment campaigns, and we’ve already developed a tried-and-tested winning formula. At the same time, we’re not afraid to try out-of-the-box techniques. Just take a look at some of our recent campaigns here.
The clock is ticking down to Clearing 2022, so if you want to work with our award-winning team and take your Clearing campaign to the next level – don’t hang about! Get in touch.
