Is TikTok effective for student recruitment advertising? An increasingly common head scratching good question.
Without giving it too much thought, you might assume, “Of course it is.” After all, isn’t TikTok the one surefire spot to find every Gen Z-er and their Gen Alpha sibs?
Opportunities to Meet In Person
The Intead team is gearing up for some amazing presentations and we hope you can join us.
- AIRC Annual Conference – we’ll be offering our full day digital marketing workshop here in Phoenix, Dec 6-9, 2023
- ICEF North America Workshop in Miami, Dec 11-13, 2023
Let us know if you’ll come share a cup of coffee and a conversation about all things global and digital (info@intead.com)
Continuing with the Tao of Tik Tok, statistics like these are telling:
- 76% of Gen Z say they use TikTok, surpassing even YouTube with a 71% Gen Z saturation rate, and Instagram at 66%. (source: YPulse)
- As of July 2023, TikTok had 122 million users in the US alone, followed by 100 million in Indonesia, 83 million in Brazil, 63 million in Mexico, 45 million in Vietnam. (source: Statista)
- As of November 2022, Douyin (China’s TikTok) had over 700 million active users, more than one-third of whom are under the age of 26. (source: Value Planet, Diesel Smart Numbers) Note: Douyin’s interactive format is the same as Tik Tok (same company), but the advertising platform in China is entirely separate from the platform for the rest of the world.
- The number of TikTok users are projected to grow to 955+ million by 2025. (source: Statista)
- 25% of the TikTok audience is under 20 years old, as are many of your prospective students. (source: Exploding Topics)
- 68% of TikTok users find its advertising content unique and different from all other platforms – a good thing if you want your brand to stand out. (source: TikTok)
Yet, there’s more to consider. For instance, unlike its organic For You feed, TikTok’s ad capabilities are, for now, more rudimentary, meaning you have to target a much broader audience on TikTok than you do, say, on Meta’s platform (Facebook and Instagram). There are simply less ways to find specific audiences on TikTok forcing you to cast a very wide net with your media buy. As a result, you reach more but less targeted eyeballs, which of course costs you. Not ideal. And then there’s the challenge of producing content that blends in seamlessly with the authentic, user-generated content. More on that in part 2.
Side note: there is a reason Meta’s media platforms are producing so much ad revenue. Meta has built the most user-friendly advertising management system (better than Google as a very close second). Marketers love these tools for their ability to design, launch, track, and optimize campaigns.
Still, we know you’re curious about how marketers can use TikTok. And your instincts tell you to give it a try. We’re right there with you. In fact, we’re having a lot of fun creating and playing around on its ad platform for a few of our clients even as we write this post. Stay tuned for our campaign learnings and results in a future post.
So, let’s talk all things TikTok advertising. Read on to understand how TikTok ad targeting works and what pitfalls to be aware of to make the most of this social media platform.
