Looking to enhance your acceptance experience for Gen Z? Leverage TikTok.
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3 reasons TikTok is a critical channel to leverage as part of your institution’s acceptance strategy — along with how to do so quickly and effectively.
Excitement. That great feeling students get when they’re accepted to a college or university is powerful — and one many institutions aren’t fully tapping into. Especially with Gen Z.
In an increasingly competitive higher ed landscape (there are a million fewer students enrolled in college now than pre-pandemic), letting students know they’re in has to be about more than just exchanging information. Particularly when college-bound students are applying to more institutions than before, with 40 percent of undergrads planning to graduate in 2025 applying to 6–10 institutions.
So how do you amplify the acceptance moment for Gen Z and others to build excitement, stand out from other educational options, and create a lasting positive impression at this pivotal juncture?
StudentBridge’s Accepted Student Experience helps institutions across the nation celebrate and welcome students, engage them throughout the decision-making process, and drive enrollment and matriculation. Besides enabling institutions to create interactive content cards to share via text or email, the solution gives accepted students a meaningful and fun way to share the good news with friends and others on social media.
That last part is increasingly important, yet it often goes overlooked by institutions who may not see the value. By enabling students to share their excitement in an engaging and natural way (such as on social media), you can bolster your institution’s marketing efforts, highlight your future class, and build a sense of community early on.
That’s why — in addition to existing branded filters and lenses for Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook — we’re excited to announce the launch of TikTok effects as part of our Accepted Student Experience. Used to customize and add details to TikTok videos, these effects can help newly accepted students share their excitement while also driving impressions for your institution. Institutions using our Accepted Student Experience can get access to free standard effects or can add a custom effect for a nominal fee.
Here are a few reasons this is a game-changer for institutions looking to engage Gen Z and other learners:
1. TikTok has a broad and rapidly growing reach
When accepting students, celebrating the accomplishment in a meaningful way is a critical initial step. With over 1 billion monthly active users and availability in more than 150 countries, TikTok is a fun way for students to share the good news with their community — and can help you gauge a student’s interest in attending.
This is especially true for institutions looking to reach US students. Nearly 80 million (78.7 million) TikTok users are in the US, and around 37.3 million of those users belong to Gen Z.
2. Gen Zers are abundantly present on TikTok — as both users and creators
Reaching students where they already are is important when striving to increase engagement and drive enrollment. TikTok is an increasingly valuable way to do this, with Gen Z and other adult learners active on the platform as both users and creators. Nearly half (47%) of TikTok users are 10-29 years old, and more than half (53%) of TikTok creators are 18-24 years old.
Plus, this audience isn’t always present on other key social media platforms. For example, around 40 percent of the platform’s users don’t have Facebook and 63 percent are not on Twitter — making this a key channel for increasing your institution’s reach and impact.
3. Users are on the platform regularly, with a strong majority checking in daily
Making it easy for accepted students to share their good news on TikTok can also help your institution increase exposure and broaden its reach. Studies show US TikTok users watch around 24 hours of content on the app each month, and 90 percent of users access the app every day. Among Gen Z in particular, 63 percent of Americans ages 12–17 use TikTok on a weekly basis (compared to 57% of Instagram users).
Not only does this increase the likelihood of accepted students sharing the good news on TikTok, but it also helps your institution reach more prospective students (including those in secondary school) — getting them excited to learn more about and apply to your college or university in the future. Talk about a win-win!