Education companies in China such as private businesses, online services, and formal academic institutions are often burdened by the costs of commission when it comes to student recruitment. Chinese agents who work on behalf of education schemes take a high percentage in terms of commission. Therefore, it is a highly competitive environment. For overseas universities, language training centers, student accommodations, how to save agent commission in recruiting Chinese students? In this article, Deep Digital China shares you a more cost-effective way to recruit Chinese students online in China.
An overview of China’s study-abroad situation
China is the country with the most students studying abroad. 2022 has seen a record of Chinese students studying abroad. In 2018, there were around 520.000 students enrolled in international universities, and in 2021, just three years later, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the numbers already doubled, accounting for a total of 1,061,511. In addition, another 200,000 students were taking part in exchange programs.
Around 40 million students in higher education and a growing amount of Chinese parents with big disposable income. China is the largest study-abroad market in the world, offering great opportunities for many schools and institutions abroad.
Average Annual Budget for Chinese International Students
The average annual budget of those who intend to study abroad is rising in the past four years. This year, it’s about 535000 yuan(about 76650 USD). On the one hand, the economic conditions of Chinese families are constantly improving.
Source:xdf.cn
Agents do not market your services online
The truth is that by not developing a direct recruitment strategy you are missing out on the largest market segment. Agents very rarely market online. It’s an offline process through their networks which simply cannot drive the same numbers of leads when compared to qualified search traffic from Baidu.
How to recruit Chinese Students online and save agent commission?
The Chinese invest heavily in their Children’s future with an ‘international education’ highly prized. The question is how do you grow the visibility and reputation of your institution in China. If you market your offerings directly, you will spend less on agent commission for sure.
To recruit Chinese students online in China-You need a Chinese website
A quality Chinese landing page and version of the site are very necessary. This should be optimized for search engines and hosted on a local server in China for faster loading. You should optimize your website for mobile as the vast majority of online users browse on their smartphones. And it is also essential to optimize your mobile content for ‘WeChat’ -China’s largest social network.
Content on the site needs to be in the Chinese language with the Chinese reader in mind. Additionally, Chinese people are used to good customer service, so it’s best to have someone at school who can speak Chinese and also respond in Chinese to all the possible questions coming to the website and school’s emails. We also advise adding a chat on the page, so that Chinese and international applicants can get their answers fast and conveniently.
Search engine optimization on Baidu
Search engine optimization is the bedrock of any comprehensive student drive in China. Most of all online research is via Baidu, China’s largest engine. Search Engine Marketing is one of the best tools to recruit Chinese students.
Baidu can be seen as ‘China’s Google’ and over time you need to rank highly in the natural search results. This is where the most qualified students & parents are searching for information. As the choice of schools is huge, you can expect through research. Most Chinese students spend months choosing their dream university. So you can be sure they will check ALL the information there.
Using social media to recruit Chinese students
Coverage on Chinese social media platforms is vital for student enrollment. There are over 1.26 billion users on WeChat and platforms like Little Red Book or Douyin (Chinese Tik Tok) are used by young Chinese every day. Social Media in China is the most active in the world.
Your institution needs to be present on social media with an ‘official account’ set up that can be linked to a ‘micro site’. A lot of traffic can be driven to a WeChat page, particularly when you embed QR links in posts on other social media.
Branding your school – reputation is everything
‘Branding’ is not a word typically associated with education. But in China, branding is everything. The Chinese need to buy into your courses and education offering, in short.. they are looking for a prestigious reputation. If you want to recruit students from China, you won’t see any recruitment efforts if you don’t work on your reputation.
Placing a school on the Baike page (Chinese Wikipedia) and other such trustworthy platforms is a good way to build your status. Also ensure you feature positive, accurate, and ample information that is highly visible for Mandarin keyword searches.
There are also many education forums to consider with specific threads dedicated to discussing different schools and courses abroad. It is important to create positive conversations between Chinese users as this is 5 times more effective for student lead generation.
If you work with a partner in China, you can also take care of good online PR. This way, you will increase your ranking in Baidu by having more backlinks and mentions of your university. And you will also look more trustworthy to most Chinese parents and students.
Deep Digital China: Your Education Marketing Agency in China
We are a professional Chinese digital marketing agency, focus on working with international education sectors. We know exactly what Chinese students are looking for, the kind of platforms they use and why. For the education market, we have worked for many schools, to help them promote their reputation in China. If you are looking for ways to recruit Chinese students and save agent commission, do not hesitate to contact us.