Education Marketing : How to attract Chinese students

After 3 years of pandemic controls, in 2023 Chinese students will finally will be able to cross the borders again to study abroad. Soon after the Chinese governement annonced the reopening of its borders, the online research on Baidu for study abroad related topics reached a high peak. As a matter of fact, Beijing is pushing students to return as soon as possible to their overseas campus for those who had initially started a cursus abroad.

Among the most popular destinations in early 2023:

• Australia
• UK
• Canada

So be ready, Chinese students will soon rush to overseas campus. But to attract them to your destination, you must understand how they are searching for the most suitable school or university.

How to attract wealthy Chinese students

Many Chinese students and their parents think that an experience in a university or in a company abroad will be a big plus for their future professional careers. Let’s take the example of Wang who is a student from Beijing. He thinks that without experience overseas, it could result in a big obstacle when there will come the time for him to get hired. Actually, 80% of his classmates think the same and add that overseas experience enhances your opportunities with getting a good position in a big company. The Chinese society and its economic situation are putting more and more pressure on young graduates, forcing them to get higher education to get a good job in the Chinese market, which has become very competitive throughout those recent years.

The booming of Chinese students going abroad

Among the first top destination preferred by the Chinese, it is without surprise to find English-speaking countries such as the USA, the UK, Canada, or Australia. Moreover different important industries like fashion in France, the mechanic’s industry in Germany, or design development in Italy are also very attractive destinations for Chinese students.

Service agencies on the internet: A growing market

With a growing need in the education industry for Chinese students who wish to go abroad, the number of agencies that will take care of all the paperwork for students is increasing on this online market. The bad side is that fake agencies have been known to scam their customers by overcharging them giving an overall bad image of those companies in that industry. It is without surprise that people are getting suspicious and we can observe that some of them prefer to ask their personal network to get any relevant information.

Big Universities, schools, and those who work in this industry have well understood the expectations of that potential customer and all have their own online services. A report from “iresearch” shows that the internet is the most popular way to get information and at least 36% of students will prefer to do some research on the web beforehand, next follows the close friend’s circle and the professional networking. It is essential for an education industry company to be on the internet, and optimization on search engines is the key to be visible and let the netizen get to know your company online.

Advertisements on search engines is the way to go

There are 2 ways to promote your company on search engines: SEM and SEO Those 2 strategies are slightly different but both can get you some result, let’s decrypt them:

• Search Engine Marketing will make your website appear among the first pages of the search engine. When the SEM contract with the search engine is ended, your visibility will end as well because not sponsored anymore.
• The Search Engine Optimization would get you the same result as the SEM but takes more time to achieve your goal, it is based on the keywords that you use in your website but on the other hand, this strategy is more reliable and stable.

Whatever your choice, you need to achieve a serious market study beforehand, choose also carefully the keywords you would use. This is the most important first step if you want to launch yourself into those strategies. Chinese use Baidu, but you already know that right? 

How the social media are important

List of Best Chinese Social Media Apps To Promote Your Business in China

Good media posts will build you a strong e-reputation

Students who want to find information on the internet will get them on several websites, in order to get the most accurate one. Keep in mind that each social media have a different way to communicate, so you need to adapt your message. For example, testimonies of alumni students could be a good lead, to begin with. You need to offer something else than your competitors, what you do has to give you an added value. Need some help or advice, don’t hesitate to contact us!

Increase your ROI in China with Good Online Reputation Management in China

We are professional Marketing company based in China. 

Promoting your school or university in China, can be daunting.

Our team can help you:

• Work on your reputation
• Build a solid website
• Promote effectively and target the right audience
• Build social media awareness

Let’s book a free 30min call to discuss your project and get accompanied by our team of experts.