Once you have established your Chinese website and set up your WeChat official account, there inevitably comes the point when you want to ramp up your demand generation efforts through paid media campaigns in China.

However, as with many digital marketing initiatives in China, it's critical to understand the nuances of the ecosystem and the online behaviour of Chinese audiences to increase the chance of a successful campaign.

Based on our experience of working with universities, schools and education service providers around the globe, this article covers our tips for running successful paid media campaigns to attract Chinese students.

Understanding your target audience in China and its implications for paid media campaigns

When we talk to universities about running paid media campaigns in China, they tend to come to us with a general idea of the geography and demographic they wish to target. 

Usually, it comprises the age bracket of students getting close to graduation and living in China's first-tier cities. And while there's nothing wrong with this level of targeting, it will generally take a more nuanced approach to gain traction with advertising efforts, particularly in times of tighter budgets.

In our experience, the most successful paid media campaigns take the entire Chinese students decision-making journey into consideration. 

For instance, brand awareness campaigns are best aimed at students at the very beginning of their international study research phase. On the other hand, retargeting for lead generation can be an effective tactic for students who are already a bit further down the decision-making journey and therefore more likely to be willing to submit their details in exchange for more information or register for an event.

Another pitfall education marketers commonly make when running paid media campaigns in China is to only focus on targeting Chinese students. While it's common for Chinese students these days to have a significant say in where they will pursue their overseas education, their parents are still very involved in the process. 

In fact, they often tend to attend recruitment events on behalf of their children, who are often preoccupied with preparing for the highly competitive Gaokao exam. For this reason, targeting Chinese parents should be part of a university's advertising strategy.

The challenge: Choosing the right channel

One challenge that this dual strategy of targeting both Chinese students and their parents throws up is choosing the right channels to reach them. The parent generation is still spending significant time on apps such as WeChat and Toutiao. And while students are still highly active on WeChat and QQ, we see the younger generations increasingly shifting toward trendy emerging channels such as BiliBili and Douyin.

Right now, this means that WeChat and Tencent advertising is still effective for education marketers to reach both audiences. However, universities may want to keep a close eye on how these new channels continue to evolve and what role they can play as part of a digital marketing and recruitment strategy for China.

Depending on how the diversification of channels continues to evolve in China, it may be more effective to further split the approach when targeting Chinese students and their parents online. When the time is right for this move will differ from institution to institution. It also depends on budgets and internal resources.

One trend that we observe across the board for organisations looking to attract young Chinese audiences is the importance of consistently creating engaging and entertaining content that fits the overall style of the chosen platform. Content creation will support a university's aim to increase brand awareness which can be boosted through paid media campaigns to increase followers and drive website traffic.

Resources required to create this type of content need to be factored into a university's long-term digital strategy for China.

On the other hand, parents are much more likely to be open to educational marketing messages and have more patience to read copy. They are looking for information rather than to be entertained. This makes them a more receptive target audience for lead generation campaigns that trade information in exchange for contact details.

Once you have gained an understanding of your target audience and have identified the best channels for your paid media campaign in China, it’s critical to spend some time planning and define the long-term goals of your institution’s paid media strategy in China.

Another challenge for universities running paid media campaigns in China is how to nurture leads effectively. This is because commonly used lead nurturing channels such as email are not effective in China. 

One more important thing to note when you’re running paid media campaigns in China with lead generation as the main objective, is that you should expect to receive some fake leads over the course of the campaign. 

What's more, spending consistently on paid media campaigns in China also puts you more in control as external factors such as a temporary strain in international relations and restrictions may significantly impact the performance of short burst paid media campaigns.