Increasing National and International Post-Secondary Enrollment

Summary

Time & Space was approached by a post-secondary institution to increase their admissions from both domestic and international students. 

Challenge

Understand the nuances between the different target audiences for domestic and international students, what they were looking for, how they searched, the unique privacy laws surrounding that country or area, and how to target accordingly. Targets included select Canadian provinces as well as select countries in South America and Asia.

Solution

Our first step was to understand each target, their habits, and where they spent the majority of their time online. Gathering three sections with the main target being those looking for post-secondary options.

Social

Using feeds, stories, carousels, and videos, our plan was to use social’s unique power of influence to create awareness among all target audience groups then retarget to those who showed interest over a 3-month period.

Most social platforms will not allow you to target high school students because many are below the age of maturity.

To make sure we were complying with privacy regulations and still reaching our audience, we targeted transfer and mature students and parents of teenagers (13-17). We then amplified interests from social programmatically on our main target audience based on their searches for international programs.

Programmatic Video

The average person watches 3 hours of short-form video per day. We looked to leverage the increase in video viewership and target short video based on interest, location, and demographics to create a more in-depth storytelling experience that displays life on campus and interviews with alumni.

Search

Search captures attention and keeps you top-of-mind. Within domestic markets we would target those looking for specific programs or subjects and for international students we would focus on phrases like “international programs” or “study abroad”.

Results

Both domestic and international recruitment outperformed expectations. Throughout the campaign, we were able to reach those looking for admission and move them toward taking action.

Our social tactics excelled in reaching mature and transfer students of those looking for graduate programs. High engagement was noticed on the video content with completion rates 33% above the industry average. Students in age group of 25-44 looking for transfer or masters’ programs were highly engaged with click-through rates 67% above the industry average.

Display outperformed expectations, especially in grabbing the attention of international students. Programmatic display drove domestic users to the site with a click-through rate 1.5 times the industry average and was even more successful in reaching and engaging with international audience with almost 3 times the industry average.

Search saw above-average click-through rates, with domestic excelling at 5 times the industry average and international outperforming as well at 1.5 times the industry average.

Overall, the campaign was a success and drove both domestic and international recruitment efforts, with a huge success in tactics that were direct and allowed prospective students or their parents a clear avenue to take action