Auckland University of Technology

The objective

Enrolling over 26,000 students in 2023, Auckland University of Technology is one of the largest universities in New Zealand. As they wanted to captivate their target audience consisting of prospective undergraduates, of which a large amount use TikTok regularly, they decided to leverage the platform and its tools. On top of engaging with their audience with dynamic hook-driven videos, they also wanted to explore solutions to drive traffic to an interactive landing page where students can explore tailored academic programmes.

The solution

To drive traffic to their website effectively, AUT launched an ad campaign with the Traffic objective, designed to broaden reach and direct more users to their landing page. The ad was optimised for Landing Page Views, which identifies users who click on ads and remain in session until the page fully loads, allowing AUT to serve ads to high-quality leads who would engage with their web content. 

In addition, AUT also tests between 3 to 5 ad creatives per campaign to discover the most effective creative format and type to drive website visits, reducing creative fatigue and learning insights about their audiences in the process. This allows them to refine their creative strategy over time and create more effective organic content as well. Organically, AUT experiments with different creative types, ranging from campus interviews to humorous point-of-view (POV) videos, complemented by pop culture trends, memes and music. Such content would not only build a sense of community with existing students, but also present prospective students with a glimpse into their university culture and environment.

The result

AUT’s campaign recorded over 707K impressions, with more than 28K clicks to their website at a 30.5% landing page view rate. The success of the campaign demonstrates a positive audience fit between their target demographics and users reached on TikTok, ultimately fulfilling their objectives of engaging prospective students towards consideration of applying to their academic programmes.