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TikTok Essentials for Schools:
Top Tips for Organic, Paid
and Social SEO

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A Little Housekeeping

Your Presenters
Alexander Nachaj, PhD
Director, Paid Ads & Analytics
Higher Education Marketing
Valentin Wimel
Manager, Social Media
Higher Education Marketing

Agenda
1. TikTok in the media
2. Why your school needs TikTok
3. How potential students use TikTok and what this means
for you
4. TikTok marketing tips and best practices
5. Running TikTok ads: opportunities and tips

What sort of presence does your school have
on TikTok?
Organic Paid Both
Poll #1
Neither Unsure

TikTok in the Media
• In Q1 2023, USA and Canada banned TikTok from official
government devices*
• During the same period, numerous higher education institutions in
North America banned the app on staff devices**
• Some public schools also considering a possible ban***
* https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/government-tiktok-phones-ban-1.6761737
** https://time.com/6249522/public-universities-banning-tiktok/
*** https://toronto.citynews.ca/2023/03/10/ontario-tiktok-ban-schools-mental-health-impacts/

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Why Your School Needs
TikTok

TikTok by the Numbers
• Over 1 billion monthly users
• Approximately 100 million monthly app
downloads a month worldwide
• Country with most users: USA ~138 million
• Tripled number of daily users since Feb 2022

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How Potential Students
Use TikTok and What This
Means for You

Demographics and Behaviour
• 63% of users under age 29, approximately 40% are 18-24
• Roughly 40% of users in 18-24 prefer TikTok as their
primary search engine over Google*
• Estimated that 33% use it as their primary source of
news**
• 26% of young adults in the U.S. (18-29 year olds) regularly
get information from TikTok.***
* https://www.businessinsider.com/nearly-half-genz-use-tiktok-instagram-over-google-search-2022-7
** https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/social-media-and-news-fact-sheet/
*** https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/10/21/more-americans-are-getting-news-on-tiktok-bucking-the-trend-on-other-social-media-sites/

Demographics and Behaviour
Users use the app to :
✅ Film themselves singing
✅ Produce original shorts videos
✅Participate in challenges
✅ Share condensed educational content
✅ Consume videos according to interests with content
suggested by a very precise algorithm.
The application allows you to integrate trendy songs and multiple visual
effects to make dynamic and impactful videos.

Source: https://sensortower.com/blog/tiktok-power-user-curve
Use of TikTok on Average
• TikTok leads in terms
of daily usage time
• Users spend an
average of 95 minutes
on the ByteDance
application

Source: Hubspot 2023 Marketing Industry Report
Short-form video became the most
effective format for brand engagement
on social media
Video Content
While the web is still the #1 place to search,
users are starting to use social platforms like
Instagram and TikTok for search. Social is
no longer about connecting with friends and
family, it’s about discovering new things
Social = Search
89% of marketers plan to increase
their influencer budget in 2023
Influencers /
Creators Marketing
Biggest Social Media Trends in 2023

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Organic Content: What are
The Best Practices on
Tiktok for Schools?

Organic, Paid and Social SEO: What’s The
Difference?
➡ Organic Content
Organic social media refers to any unpaid content (post, photo, video, meme, Storie, etc.) that all users
share on social media.
➡ Paid Content
Paid social media refers to paid advertising. Exposure obtained through the purchase of advertising
space on social media.
➡ Social SEO
Social SEO is the practice of adding text-based features (captions, #, location) to a posts to help people
browsing social platforms easily to find specific content. It’s also about combining social media and
SEO techniques to improve position in search, website traffic, and conversions.

Organic Content Ideas for Schools on TikTok
✅Content created by student ambassadors
✅Storytelling
✅Educational content
✅Diversity and Inclusion
✅ TikTok trends

Organic Content Ideas: Student Ambassadors
✅Create a personal connection with students
✅Humanize the brand
✅Help to get hyperlocal
✅ Students trust other students
⚠ Schools aren’t completely in control
⚠ Ambassador students can overshadow the brand

What a year at Harvard! -
Harvard
Just a few things that make
Vanderbilt - Vanderbilt
Organic Content Ideas: Storytelling
Nothing better than a perfect
cup of coffee - New York
University
Came for a degree, left
with a family - York
University

Organic Content Ideas: Educational content
Tips for writing your
dissertation - The
University of Manchester
Steps to create a positive
workplace - University of
Phoenix
What role do SurgTechs
play in the operating room -
American Career College

Organic Content Ideas: Diversity and Inclusion
Proud to rise the rainbow
flag - LGBT History Month -
University of Glasgow
Chinese New Year
celebrations - University
of Melbourne
Womens History Month -
University of California

Organic Content Ideas: TikTok trends
Our campus is out of this
world - University of
Michigan
Don’t we have the most
beautiful campus? - New
Mexico State University
Never just a college -
University of Chicago

• ♻ Recycling or repurpose videos content
Organic Content Ideas: Recycling Youtube Videos

Source: Metricool https://metricool.com/tiktok-study/
Best Time to Post Videos on Tiktok
✅ Friday is the day, on average, where the
highest number of views are achieved on
Tiktok.
✅ The day that videos receive the most
comments is Tuesday, followed closely by
Friday.

Do’s
Organic Content on TikTok: Do’s and Don’ts
Don’ts
⛔ Promoting advertising in the traditional sense
➡ TikTok = authenticity + being natural.
➡ 65% of TikTokers say professional-looking videos from
brands feel out of place.
➡ 71% say creator authenticity has motivated them to buy
a product
.
⛔ Cover too many things in one video
➡ TikTok videos should not exceed 60 seconds.
.
✅Leverage students to star in your content
✅Highlight your school's strengths
✅Use popular sounds and targeted hashtags
✅Place on-screen text in an accessible area ➡
✅Follow Tiktok content trends
✅ Aways add a short caption and include location
Source: Hootsuite https://blog.hootsuite.com/tiktok-algorithm/

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Running TikTok Ads:
Opportunities and Tips

Running TikTok Ads: Why You Should Consider It
• Massive and growing audience pool
• CPAs for education leads are often
cheaper than Google / similar to Meta
• Paid ad conversion rates are also on par
or stronger than other social media.
• Budgets begin at $20/day per adgroup

Running TikTok Ads: Some Caveats
• TikTok should not replace other high performing paid channels (such as Google
Ads).
• By nature of the platform and expectations, advertisements will need to be
refreshed more often than other media.
• TikTok can easily fill top of funnel but need to keep these prospects more
engaged than other media.
• Many leads may not be in the “in-market” stage yet or expect different ways of
being nurtured.

Running TikTok Ads: Targeting Options
• Targeting components:
– Interests: Robust and similar to options on other
social media.
– Custom Audiences: Such as remarketing
segments
– Geographic: Not as price as other platforms.
Countries, state/provinces, and major cities.

Running TikTok Ads: Pixel Setup and Lead Forms
• We recommend using the in-app
lead form for lead generation
rather than a traditional LP.
• The pixel can be used for
audience building and Cross
Channel Remarketing.

Running TikTok Ads: Organic Optimization
• Paid Ads videos can still be
found organically
• Optimize:
– Description
– Hashtags

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Paid Ads Resources

Resources for Brands: Creative Center
Creative Center
• Main hub for video creation
resources and planning
• Tons of resources for brands
to craft more suitable video
content
• Data into trends
https://ads.tiktok.com/business/creativecenter/pc/en

Resources for Brands: Keyword Insights
Keyword Insights
• Still in early stages but points
to use of TikTok as search
Engine
• Expect the tool to develop
https://ads.tiktok.com/business/creativecenter/keyword-insights/pc/en

Resources for Brands: Trends
Trends
• Find the top hashtags to
improve visibility of videos.
• View top performing videos for
creative ideas.
• Snapshots of accounts part of
the trend.
https://ads.tiktok.com/business/creativecenter/inspiration/popular/hashtag/pc/en

Resources for Brands: Sound and Music Libraries
Commercial Sound Library (CSL)
Commercial Music Library (CML)
Eligible to be used in advertising
and branding

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Scott Cross
Regional Manager
514-312-3968 x 117
scross@higher-education-marketing.com
Philippe Taza
Founder and CEO
514-312-3968 x 104
ptaza@higher-education-marketing.com David Kynan
Director of Business Development
514-312-3968 x 116
dkynan@higher-education-marketing.com