24 July 2014 at 9:00 am
New social media launch in China
Off the back of a marketing campaign targeting students actively considering studying in New Zealand, new social media channels will be launching in China in August to raise general awareness of New Zealand education amongst Chinese youth.
“Last year our awareness levels in China grew 17 per cent between April and December,” says Kathryn McCarrison, General Manager Marketing and Channel Development.
“With year-on-year growth in enrolments and student visa approvals from China, we want to continue building on this momentum in a top priority market for New Zealand.”
The number of Chinese students studying at a New Zealand institution was up 3 per cent in 2013 on 2012 and this growth looks set to continue, with student visa approvals from January to March this year increasing by 24 per cent.
In August new ‘Study New Zealand’ Weibo and WeChat sites will launch, targeting a youth audience with fun, informative and interactive content about studying in New Zealand.
Weibo is a microblogging platform, similar to both Twitter and Facebook, with more than 129 million monthly active users and more than 61 million average daily active users. Described by Forbes magazines as the world’s most powerful app, WeChat is a similarly popular mobile messaging app used by more than 350 million monthly active users.
The China team will continue to support the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Embassy’s Weibo account – supplying all-important content about bilateral education and research collaborations which demonstrate the depth of New Zealand’s strong education relationship with China.
“We are focused on profiling the dual opportunities New Zealand offers to China, as a high-quality and committed strategic education partner for our education products and services, and as an exceptional study destination,” says Alex Grace, Regional Director – Greater China.
Whereas social media activity will reach a wide audience, recent campaign activity in China was targeted at those actively considering studying abroad, particularly at university level.
The campaign, which remains active until the end of July, matched prospective students to an agent to find out more information about studying in New Zealand.
To date, over 6,500 prospective students have registered to find out more about New Zealand and these enquiries are being actively followed up by four agencies, who will in turn provide these qualified leads to New Zealand institutions.
