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Content at the rhythm of the target group: the targeted funnel for potential new students

studiekiezers-ugent-content-marketing

Every year, thousands of 17- and 18-year-olds choose a higher education program. Barely half pass their first year. The problem? It starts with the choice of study, which is still too often ill-considered. Informing future students better is the solution. With content tailored to their age and rhythm and a targeted funnel approach.

Students have a lot of questions and doubts before they choose a study program. And the offer is vast. You would get choice stress for less! It’s normal therefore that they don’t decide quickly, but go through an entire journey. By answering the right questions at the right moment, we lead them step by step to a well-considered decision.

From a broad to a personal approach

To get the content to young people at the right moment, we work with a funnel model according to the 3H principle. The hero, hub and hygiene content funnel. Hero content is used to generate reach. Hub content has traffic as its main objective, and Hygiene content is used for conversion.

In the Hero phase, we introduce young people to all aspects of higher education, without focusing on Ghent University. For example, “What will I eat as a student?” And “How can I handle those big courses?” We do this via Instagram, TikTok and Facebook with the format ‘Student Clap’. The videos are given their own editing style on each separate channel.

In the Hub phase, articles are shared. The content already becomes a bit more concrete and focuses on ‘the right choice’. We remove doubts and emphasize that you cannot make a wrong choice, as long as it is an informed one. An example is in the article “One direction, multiple roads”. Again, formats are adapted to the channel on which they are distributed.

In this phase, we introduce Ghent University. For example, with stories about remarkable students, who build their own electric car or start a company during their studies.

We deliberately keep some of the content light-hearted, such as the “survival kit for students”. With a smile, we list the must-haves for students: a lock to prevent their bike from being stolen, a dictionary of West Flemish and paracetamol for the day after a rough night…

At the Hygiene level, there are practical ads, leading to the answers to the very last, practical questions: when are the info days, registrations, try-outs, open classes, etc.

Never forget the Decision Making Unit

Parents play a big role in the decision-making process. Some of the content (e.g. the fact that one field of study can lead to different career paths) is created for them and targeted to parents on social media.

Durf Denken ("Dare to think") magazine

The study magazine Durf Denken (“Dare to Think”), which students receive during their final year of secondary education, is a mix of hero and hub content. The magazine contains articles about life at university, how to choose your studies, and of course, Ghent University.  In a light-hearted and accessible way, the pupils come into contact with the university and everything that goes with it for the first time.

Passed with distinction

The option to target 17-18-year-olds has been completely removed on Facebook and Instagram. This has made it impossible to remarket them. Despite this missing option, we did achieve very good results.

We reached everyone we wanted to reach:

Hero content: student clap

  • Reach IN/FB: 1.3 million
  • CPM: 1.13 euros (industry benchmark 3 euros)
  • Completion rate video: FB: 11.86% and IN: 4.63%
  • Reach TikTok: 759,202
  • CPM 2.03 euros (industry benchmark 3.5 euros)
  • Completion rate video: TikTok 3.70%

Hub content: all articles

  • Number of readers: 20K
  • Average CTR of 2.60% (industry benchmark 0.73%)
  • Average reading time: 3 min 23

We achieved valuable conversions:

Hygiene content

  • Average CTR to newsletter subscription: 4.55%
  • 1,250 newsletter subscriptions
  • We paid only 0.56 euro per registration (media budget)
  • Info days and try-outs were fully booked

The study funnel is what content marketing is all about: bringing tailored content to the target audience, with maximum relevance, on the channels they frequent. The funnel is fully detailed, stands like a house and delivers fantastic results. We pretty much reached our entire target audience and managed to get them to convert, well above industry benchmarks.

Awards

BOCA Awards Silver - Best content program not for profit
boca-awards Silver - Best Use of Social Media

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