Should my School be on TikTok?
TikTok. It brings up a lot of thoughts among marketers - it was an exciting new platform which mixed up the existing social media mix, but can also be a black hole for productivity. For school marketers, the questions raised by the platform are even trickier - is it appropriate for our school brand, for our students even, should we be endorsing its usage. The growing popularity of the platform poses the key question for schools and education brands: “Should TikTok be part of my school’s social media marketing strategy?”. It’s a great question and no answer will be the same for each school so let’s break it down to help you understand more about the platform, what will work on there and whether it is viable and necessary for your school.
What is TikTok?
TikTok is a video-sharing app where users share short-form video content on a wide range of topics. Similar to reels on Instagram (reels were created by Instagram off the back of the popularity of TikTok), the platform allows users to get creative with their videos with filters, stickers, basic editing functions, fun audios, voiceovers and transitions. The platform first became popular during 2020 - 2021 (it was the most downloaded app in 2021!) and has been growing in popularity ever since with individuals and businesses alike. In 2022, TikTok surpassed 1 billion monthly active users making it one of the world’s most popular social media platforms.
Should schools be on TikTok?
We get a lot of school marketers asking if their school should be using TikTok as part of their social media strategy and the answer isn’t a clear-cut yes or no. There are lots of things to consider not least of all your schools’ capacity to take on another platform. Let’s break it down and look at some of the key points to consider:
Conversions
TikTok isn’t equipped to support traditional business conversions through a link in bio (or captions) for example making it difficult to drive traffic elsewhere (to your website for example). Although business accounts can have a link in their bio, you must have more than 1k followers to be able to add one. Hopefully, as the popularity of the app grows (with businesses in particular) this will also change.
Demographic
The demographic of users on the app is very young with 25% of users aged 10-19 years & 22.4% of users aged 20-29 years. This means that your students are likely on there and therefore could be considered a useful additional tool for visibility, student engagement and having more control over how your school is being talked about & viewed on the platform (especially if students are already using a # for your school). On the other hand, most schools’ target markets are parents meaning that demographic isn’t generally using the platform in the same volume, or in the same way that they are using others (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn etc). The most popular content categories on the platform include entertainment, dance & pranks which very much reflects the demographic currently on there. TikTok isn’t going anywhere, however, and its growing popularity means that in time, more & more people and businesses will diversify and move over to the platform, changing the audience and content on there.
Brand Image
The more relaxed and informal content popular on TikTok can help to show off your school’s personality but be careful not to sacrifice your brand voice and image. You will see lots of people jumping around on the platform, doing dances, and following trends but do not feel pressure to do this if it doesn’t fit with your brand voice or is out of people’s comfort zones, it is not essential. However, if staff, teachers & students are comfortable trying these things out, why not have a go!
Video Content
Video content is popular right now on socials as it captures the attention and is super engaging for audiences. This trend isn’t going anywhere anytime soon so the popularity of video on socials and video-sharing platforms like TikTok will continue to grow. Video content is a great way to show off your school’s personality, a more fun side of your school and take audiences beyond a traditional static image. Instagram currently fills the need for full-screen, immersive and edutaining videos, which are also share-able on Facebook. If you have the time and personnel resources however, TikTok could be a fun place to try this out as well.
Your Capacity, Strategy & Goals
When considering if your school needs to be on TikTok, first & foremost keep in mind your marketing department’s capacity and whether or not you have the resources & time to expand onto another platform. Stretching yourself too thin & compromising your content on other platforms is not advisable. In terms of content for your school on socials, quality over quantity is always key! Additionally, always keep in mind your schools' overall marketing strategy & goals and whether or not expanding to the platform fits in with these at present.
Conclusion
The arrival of TikTok on the social media scene has presented new opportunities for schools and businesses to diversify and gain more visibility. Our advice is if you have the capacity & resources, give it a go! If not, don’t panic, we consider more traditional platforms like Instagram & Facebook your primary platforms for leads and growing brand awareness at the moment, and for the coming years. We would however advise getting to know the platform as its popularity & capabilities for businesses will continue to grow and will likely be somewhere you will need to consider more seriously in the next 5-8 years. In terms of your target audience, Instagram is still the biggest player for schools, so we advise to prioritise getting to grips with creating engaging video content on there. If you want to feel more confident about creating reels and ensure you have plenty of inspiration for your school, take our reels mini-course for school & education marketers which teaches you how to create effective, eye-catching and education-appropriate Instagram Reels Videos. Find out more about the course here.