Basic guide on digital marketing including search marketing, online display advertising and social media for traditional education marketers targeting Chinese students. If the slides don't display properly, you can download a copy here: http://ciw.me/XmXljV

1. incitez
CIW
Whitepaper,
March
2013
Digital Marketing Guide
for Universities
How to recruit Chinese students online?

2. China Internet Watch.com
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3. Overview
• Universities recruiting students from China
are advised to adopt both search engines
and social media to build awareness and
influence; for universities who’s never
launched online campaigns in China, 6
months’ pilot campaign is recommended to
start with.
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4. Data
About Chinese students studying overseas
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5. The Ministry of Education said
that from 1978 to the end of
2011, China sent 2.25 million
students abroad, 90 percent of
that coming after 2000
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6. Do you Know?
At rural Grinnell, nearly one of every 10 applicants
being considered for the class of 2015 is from China.
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7. China the No. 1 source for Int’l students in the U.S.
• Nearly 128,000 international students from China are
studying in American universities and colleges
during the 2009/2010 academic year, making China
the No. 1 source for international students in the U.S.
higher education system
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8. China the world's biggest source of overseas students
• China has become the world's biggest source of
overseas students, Beijing Times reported
• For the 2009 to 2010 academic year, a total of
229,300 Chinese students were being educated
abroad, up 30 percent from the previous year,
according to statistics released by the Ministry of
Education
• By the end of 2011, more than 1.4 million Chinese
students were studying abroad, an average
increase of 23 percent for three consecutive years,
according to statistics by the Ministry of Education
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9. How many studying abroad?
• In 2007-2011, the number of students studying
abroad in China grew by more than 20% for four
consecutive years
• In 2012, total number of students studying abroad
was over 399 thousand
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10. Chinese Students Spend Billions
• Foreign students spent eight billion U.S. dollars in
Canada in 2010, up from 6.5 billion dollars in 2008,
said a Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Canada study
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11. Objectives &
Measurement
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12. Engage students &
1. Identify Your Guide students
to apply for
Objectives Ac:on
Admission
Build an
influential Influence
brand online. Get your
institution
Awareness
heard.
An integration approach in
multiple digital channels is
recommended including: search
engines, social media and email.
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13. 2. Develop Your Strategy
Short Term (Direct response)
1-3 months Increase website visits
(graduate program pages)
Mid Term (Direct response with branding effect)
1-6 months Leads generation + Increase in brand searches
Long Term (Pure branding)
1-12 months Increase brand searches, admission inquiry,
and enrolment
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14. 3. Pick Your KPIs
• CPM
• CPC
• CPL (Cost Per Lead)
• Total Leads
• CPA (Cost Per Application)
• Total Applications Online
• On-site Conversion Rate
• ROI
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15. Analysis
15

16. Quick Analysis of Chinese Market
• “oversea • 700,000 study
study” is very abroad
competitive every year
Challenges Opportunities
Media Economic
Landscape Drivers
• Traditional • Better career
media prospect
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17. Audience Analysis
• Demographic profile
18-25 undergraduate students
• Emotional profile
ambitious, hard-working,
explorer
• Social Ecosystem
Social influence groups on
application: university ranking,
friends, online community/
forums
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18. Geographic Distribution
who’s
interested
to
study
overseas
1. Beijing
2. Shanghai
Male:Female = 54%:46% 3. Tianjin
4. Guangzhou
5. Xi’an
6. Hangzhou
high
7. Guiyang
8. Hefei
9. Wuhan
10.
Chongqing
low
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19. Popular Countries Attracting Chinese
Students
Search
trend
on
Baidu
Study
in
U.S.
Study
in
U.K.
Study
in
Singapore
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20. What info are China Internet users
looking for?
• Agency contact
• Tuition fee
• Lifestyle abroad
• Admission requirements
• Study loan
• University ranking
• Scholarship
• Student visa
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21. How to Target Chinese Students
• Build Chinese landing page (it’s a must) and ideally
hosted in China
• Expand online presence in Wiki sites
• Online display ads to increase brand awareness of
your institution
• Use search marketing to drive relevant traffic to
your website
• Utilize social media like Renren and Weibo to
engage targeted audience
• Listen and join the conversion in existing online
communities (BBS, online forum)
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22. Search Engine
Marketing
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23. Top Search Engines
• Baidu.com: you should use Baidu to get high
exposure
• Google.com.hk Recommended for
engineering college
• Sogou.com recruitment
• Soso.com
Sogou and Soso are
recommended if the
lower tier cities are
targeted
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24. What is search marketing?
• Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is keyword /
purpose driven, demand generation marketing. It
consists of search engine optimization (SEO) and
pay-per-click management (PPC)
• Almost half of all searches are to find a product or
service to buy, and advertisers can pay for a click-
through via sponsored search listing (PPC) for a
qualified lead to a potential purchase
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25. Example
Chinese Keyword: “study in Singapore”
Paid Search (PPC)
For quick win
As
people
are
looking
for
info
Organic search listing ac:vely,
search
marke:ng
is
very
(Free Traffic via SEO) targeted
and
highly
cost
efficient.
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26. Users’ Journey Online
Visit school Inquiry
viewing ads
website (Conversion Enrollment
(Impressions)
(Clicks) / Leads)
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27. What Matters in Search?
• Well designed account structure
– A search strategy
– Relevant keywords and ad copy
– Optimized budget split for different
campaigns
• Quality landing page for high on-site
conversions
• Web analytics
• Continuous optimization
• Integration with other marketing channels
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28. Social Media
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29. What is social media marketing?
• Social media marketing is not simply setting up a
Weibo or RenrenPage or banner placement on
those sites
• A thoughtful goal is needed and so is the social
media strategy. Engaging users in social media and
empowering them to promote your institutions can
often lead to high growth in brand awareness and
ROI
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30. Connecting to Students Community
• Create content worth sharing
• Encourage appropriate content from students
• Join the conversation
• Use relevant tools such as events for “College Open
House”
• Use social ads with demographic targeting (target
by education level & age) (available on Renren
and Weibo)
• Use API to integrate it with your websites
• Get help from alumni
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31. Purdue
University
HK
City
University
on
Kaixin
on
Renren
89,345
fans
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32. Sina Weibo
Hong
Kong
University
Toronto
University
NTU
EMBA
(Singapore)
RMIT
(Australia)
32
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33. Monitor & Engage on Weibo
A student is confused which country he should go for studying
and asked on Weibo
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34. Monitor Online Forums & Participate
A Chinese student asks questions
about studying in Singapore.
In China, online BBS and online forums are still very popular; it’s
important for education marketers to monitor the conversation
and respond when it’s necessary
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35. Incitez
|
Data-­‐Driven
Digital
Marke:ng
Online PR
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36. Online Display
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37. Online Display Advertising
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38. Baidu Brandlinks is a good branding
channel for well known universities besides
normal display advertising network in China.
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39. Recommenda:ons
Sample
online
marke:ng
package
Incit! | Data-D"ven
Digital Marketing
39

40. Recommended Tactics I
• Paid Search (PPC): USD 5000-10K per
month for six months
– Baidu: 70%
– Sogou: 20%
– Soso: 10%
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41. Incitez
|
Data-­‐Driven
Digital
Marke:ng
Social Media
• 6 months social media marketing
– Online PR
– Official Sina Weibo account
• Content creation & engagement campaigns
– Renren Page
• Content creation & engagement campaigns
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42. About
Incitez
Contact
us
for
a
proposal.
edu-­‐marke:ng@incitez.com
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43. About Incitez
• Incitez is a data-driven digital marketing company
headquartered in Singapore with another office in
China, providing digital strategy consultancy and
digital marketing campaign development
• We partner with clients to identify their opportunities
in digital space, address their challenges, and
advance their businesses with custom digital
solutions
• You can find out more about us at our website:
www.incitez.com
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44. Why Incitez?
• Long-term partnership with clients is important to us;
we are often willing to give up short-term profit
• Guarantee: 100% refund for what are not working
• Free training: we believe in integrated approach
and clients’ good understanding in digital
marketing is critical
• Value: adding value is what matters; we don’t
reinvent the wheel but creating something new that
adds value
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45. Thank
you.
For more on China internet, visit our blog:
http://ciw.me/chinaedu2013
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