The student recruitment market is quite different to other markets around the world and it needs a totally different strategy. For international universities and high schools looking to recruit from China there are a number of challenges and differences.
Probably the main issue and barrier is the language. The difference in language and the difference in the internet means that China has a totally different internet and recruitment ecosystem.
These are the main differences.
- Agent led market – the first is that it is an agent led market.
Or at least, everyone will tell you that it is an agent led market for recruitment. But in reality this is just how the market has grown. There are an increasing number of students who are using agents but also doing their own research online. They might go to agents at some point, and they might apply directly. Agents are important, only because thats how it’s been in the past. But I don’t think it is in the interest of universities or students to use agents. It would be better for universities to focus more on direct channels, and their own social media presence.
- Social first (not search first)
There are lots of people who say look at what works in the west and then compare it to China. It is extremely important for a university in the west to be listed on google but the Chinese internet is completely different and not as search based as the west. For one, it is harder to search using Chinese characters, and baidu does not work as efficiently as google. I have tried using both and baidu is a far inferior product to google. It is quite hard to find accurate results. There have also been trust issues of paid websites showing higher in organic baidu results and blurring the line between what is paid and what is organic.
As a result of culture, in China, people use the internet totally differently. The country is huge and it is generally a low trust environment online. There are apps for different use cases, and it is much more heavily relationship based. People tend to trust reviews, and ask friends for recommendations especially for important decisions such as studying abroad. While in the west it is extremely important to show social proof, in order to succeed in China it is much more important to have this social proof or recommendation. That is why agents are so important, but it also opens up opportunities to use social connections in the social media companies and “influencers” such as on the sites weibo, wechat, xiaohongshu, and video platforms which would be much more effective than baidu.
- Mobile first
The other difference is a minor one and that is that mobile usage is much higher than other countries. All websites and material need to be adapted to mobile.
