According to recent reports, there are now over 1.27 million students attending foreign universities. In 2010 alone, more than 284,000 Chinese went abroad to study, most of them privately funded. According to the Institute of International Education, China is the largest supplier of international students worldwide.

I recently took part in an extensive research initiative which studied the role and impact of social media on Chinese students when deciding which foreign university to choose for their master’s degree. While traditional media such as newspapers and television continues to play an influential role, social media is the number one information channel for students and their families. Research has shown that the new generation of students spends significantly more time on social media (2-4 hours every day) than watching TV (less than 3 hours a week) or reading a newspaper (less than once a week)[i].

The resilience and tenacity of the Chinese social media is amazing. Despite the government banning foreign social media tools such as Facebook, You Tube and Twitter, state approved tools and technologies are thriving and advancing rapidly. In 2011, Ogilvy created an infographic to show how local social media platforms are thriving in China. As this market is changing rapidly, Asia Digital Map updated this map to reflect the current state of social media in China.

Figure 1: “Chinese Social Media Infographic”. Source: Ogilvy, 2011. Updated by Asia Digital Map, 2011

These home grown social media tools are very agile and appear more intelligent that their western equivalents. These platforms are enhanced with unique features to create awareness, increase attractiveness, target the right audience and create connections that last.So why aren’t more international universities on Chinese social media? The answer is quite simple. Social media efforts in most cases are random and not backed by a strategy. Going out and creating an account on Renren or Sina Weibo is going to do more bad than good if you don’t have a social media strategy in place. This is often the deal breaker for many universities. Investing into a social media strategy doesn’t always hit the priority list, despite its proven benefits and effectiveness.

There are a number of successful examples from UK, where social media strategy has played an important role in foreign student recruitment and where the investment is paying off. The universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Bath, Edinburgh, Bristol, York, Sheffield, Durham Business School and Warwick Business School are banking on their social media efforts in China to attract talented Chinese students to their Master’s course offering. These universities recognise that social media is a powerful channel which supports information dissemination and assists in generating a social effect. Social media caters for user diversity and has outstanding coverage, particularly in its target market of China. All of these institutions have a well thought plan with respect to their social media efforts.

This is not about putting bums on seats. The universities that pitch to the Chinese market want to attract the brightest and the most talented Chinese students. In China, Project 985 and Project 211 were introduced by the Chinese government to set the parameters in how to evaluate student quality coming from Chinese universities. Both initiatives aim at improving national education levels, accelerating economic progress and enhancing international competitiveness. The Chinese educational institutions that appear on this list are regarded as prestigious, exemplary and their graduates are highly sought after.

There are a number of points to consider when developing your social media strategy for student recruitment in China:

• Understand your target audience, their behaviour and preferences
• Assess the suitability of local social media tools and technologies. Determine which Chinese social media platform is most suitable to achieve your goals, enhance student recruitment efforts, boost you public profile and improve your organisation’s reputation in China.
• Conduct current state analysis to understand whether your organisation has the right infrastructure, resources and processes to support your activity on Chinese social media. Can you integrate Chinese social media with your existing technology?
• Consider scale and cost. Implementing a social media strategy for international student recruitment can be time and resource intensive despite its low upfront investment requirements. You may need to hire a local Chinese PR agency to manage your social media efforts.
• Develop guidelines and policies to support your social media efforts internally. Consider how you are going to manage and control risk.

There is a vast array of local and global players in the Chinese social media market. A foreign university hoping to attract Chinese students is spoilt for choice when it comes to which social media platform to use. If you don’t have a strategy in place, you are missing out on engaging and attracting your future students. These students are probably already talking about you on Renren. The time has come to join the conversation.