Higher ed admissions teams rely on social media campaigns to connect with prospective students. In 2025, their target market is mainly Gen Z. As a recent Forbes article points out, 46% of that generation even uses social media platforms as their primary search engines.
Chief among these social media platforms are those that engage audiences with “visual storytelling,” as the Forbes piece puts it. It’s therefore no surprise that highly visual Instagram dominates Gen Z’s social media consumption at 65%, followed closely by YouTube and TikTok at 63% and 58%, respectively.
A robust social media strategy that emphasizes visual content is precisely what will capture that audience. Discover how 10 higher ed institutions’ social media campaigns ticked off all the right boxes to impress their Gen Z prospects.
With a college social media marketing campaign that targets Gen Z’s favorite platforms, Clemson University leverages visual storytelling to draw prospective students to campus. Focusing on actual student experiences, the university’s social media team has realized unbridled success.
From students’ experiences with acceptance letters to the best restaurants on campus, Clemson’s TikTok account grew its audience from zero to 35,000 in its first year alone. Its followers now number more than 126,000.
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Playlists like “Fun Times at Clemson,” “Academics,” “Traditions,” and “Athletics” provide prospective students with an authentic taste of life as a Clemson student. Clemson’s Instagram account has attracted even more followers with a similar focus. Now numbering 313,000, it shows no signs of stopping.
The university’s social media strategy isn’t only paying off in followers. According to a recent press release, 2024 saw a “record-breaking 61,000+ first-year undergraduate applications.” Its new campaign, “Fiercely Forward,” looks to attract even more young prospects.
It’s no wonder that this university’s TikTok campaign scored the top position in Rival IQ’s Social Media Engagement Report. Its “Picture yourself here” tagline portrays USC’s social media team’s strategy: enabling prospective students to step into the shoes of actual students – virtually.
@uofsc The students who bring Cocky to life spend their entire college careers keeping a big secret. That’s why this graduation day tradition is so special. Congratulations on your final 2001 in the yellow feet, Nicole! #mascottok #mascotreveal #southcarolina #uofsc #graduation #usc ♬ original sound – U. of South Carolina
With pinned videos of ecstatic students celebrating graduation to student stories that showcase life from a student’s point of view, USC’s TikTok campaign “tug[s] on the heartstrings.” Talk about impact: this campaign earned 27 times the engagement of average Division 1 schools’ campaigns.
Such viral engagement often leads to conversion, as a Littledata post noted. In USC’s case, that proved true. Its 2025 freshman class topped last year’s number for a record high of 7,829 new students.
There’s a saying that everything’s bigger in Texas. That saying played out in real life in the University of North Texas’ Instagram campaign.
A total engagement of 2,141,490 made UNT the top school in the Rival IQ’s annual engagement report for Instagram accounts. What sets UNT’s Instagram strategy apart from most of its competitors is that it has multiple Instagram accounts. Its Division of Student Affairs, too, has its own account.
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Instead of competing with the main account, the UNT Student Activities account complements it. As it immerses followers in all the activities they might participate in at UNT, the second account builds enthusiasm about the school’s student life.
Although the school hasn’t yet released its 2025 numbers, its Instagram strategy netted a total enrollment of 46,309, making it the state’s third-largest institution of higher learning.
Topping the Rival IQ’s engagement report for Facebook, the University of Iowa’s outreach extends beyond the typical Gen Z favorites into a platform that Gen X parents favor. Since 92% of the US’s GenX population has a Facebook profile, it’s a wise strategy that targets not only prospective students, but their parents as well.
After all, it’s the parents who usually pay the bills. They’’ll want to see that the university prepares students well for their future careers. With a total engagement of 1,170,273 on the legacy platform, the university likely reached many parents of prospective students.
However, that’s not to say that the school’s admissions team neglected its Gen Z prospects. Far from it. Its social media specialist, Shuchita Poddar, “speaks fluent Gen Z,” spurring her to greater heights on the more Gen Z-friendly platforms.
Poddar’s expertise in reaching her own generation paid off in spades. The school also ranked sixth in Instagram engagement and second in X engagement on the Rival IQ report. With Gen Z increasing its presence on X, it’s a wise move for schools that want to reach both students and their parents.
An Instagram story well worth repeating reached across generations to catapult Notre Dame into the national spotlight for more than its famed sports teams. In 2017, Notre Dame alum Erik Eglite sat in the stands with his 12-year-old daughter, Lauren, during the halftime of one of the school’s football games.
But the halftime show didn’t only showcase bands, majorettes, and cheerleaders. It featured one of the school’s professors, Başar Bilgiçer, and his research on peanut allergies. Little did the video’s producers know that their work would drive a breakthrough in immunology research.
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Lauren had severe allergies to peanut products. She turned to her dad, a medical doctor and businessman, and asked him if she could participate in the research project. Dr. Eglite arranged a meeting with the Turkish-born researcher in his lab. There, Lauren, her dad, and Bilgiçer forged a partnership that could change the world.
Lauren landed a summer job in Bilgiçer’s lab during her high school years. But the story didn’t end there. Her dad partnered with the researcher to launch Artin Immunology, a company that focuses on developing medications that could cure peanut and other allergies.
After high school, Lauren herself enrolled at Notre Dame, where she remains a student. Her story – amplified on Notre Dame’s social media channels – will likely bear fruit for years to come.
Following up on its viral 2023-2024 campaign featuring one of its most famous alumni, the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK) launched a new campaign to capitalize on the previous campaign’s success. The campaign, featuring a YouTube video of TV personality and former pro wrestler Tyrus, helped the university spearhead its top spot in the Division 2 Rival IQ X engagement report.
The new campaign, dubbed the “D.R.E.A.M Team,” plans to engage alumni, faculty, and staff as social media influencers to help recruit more students to study at UNK.
Driven by a commitment to health care Athletic Training graduate student Megan Bradford has found a second home in @UNKKSS Her hands on experience helps keep Lopers healthy and gets them back on the field as soon as possible. #PowerOfTheHerd pic.twitter.com/tn4ZdZRbWP
— University of Nebraska at Kearney (@UNKearney) September 16, 2025
Their experience at the university, like Tyrus’s, will likely steer prospects toward becoming UNK students themselves.
Having made its appearance on Rival IQ’s “Best of Instagram” list for its targeted hashtag campaigns, this faith-based Midwestern school focused its social media on reaching prospective Gen Z students on that same platform. IG takeovers, captivating portraits of student life, and more took the school’s social media presence to a whole new level.
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That strategy paid off with the school’s first-place tie on Rival IQ’s Division 2 engagement report on that platform. Since statistics show that Gen Z has shown a growing interest in religious faith, targeting that generation’s favorite platform was a wise use of the school’s social media budget.
Sharing first place with Cedarville for the top Instagram-using Division 2 school, Bemidji State University focuses on a lighthearted approach to woo prospects.
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For example, its frigid Minnesota location could deter some students from considering it as a place to study for four years. However, Instagram posts like “We’re just a very chill university” use the cold weather to inform prospective students about the tunnels that shield Bemidji students from the cold as they trek from their dorms to the classrooms and back.
Earning top honors in the Rival IQ Division 2 TikTok category, this Minnesota university uses videos to help prospective students build a connection with the school even before they arrive for a campus visit. Showcasing both its diverse student body and the distinctive features of its campus, SMSU’s TikTok team took the school’s social media to the next level.
@smsuofficial We go to SMSU… of course we love brown and gold 🤎🐴💛 #smsu #letsride #mn #college #university #ofcourse ♬ original sound – SMSU
Building a burning desire in prospective students to apply for admission, the SMSU social media team took the school from 64th place to number one in a single year. As one of SMSU’s TikTok followers, yurfav_morgan, put it, “I want to come here so bad.” That’s social media strategy at its best.
With a 13-to-1 student-to-faculty ratio and a Southern California setting, one might think that Point Loma Nazarene University wouldn’t need a killer social media campaign to attract prospective students. That didn’t stop the school’s social media team from going above and beyond the norm to top Rival IQ’s Division 2 engagement report for its Facebook campaign.
Since the campus itself is so attractive to prospects, it was an astute move for PLNU to focus on a platform where students’ parents are more likely to congregate. Posts that emphasize the successful career paths PLNU students can expect give parents confidence that their children will have a bright future there.
What Do These Effective Campaigns Have in Common?
Whether they’re topping the Rival IQ engagement list or plucking on their followers’ heartstrings, these compelling higher ed social media examples share several essential characteristics.
First, authentic student voices dominate the conversation.
- Sharing career opportunities that please both parents and students
- Showing how university programs changed their lives
- Helping prospective students virtually immerse themselves in campus life
- Celebrating graduation – the apex of their college years
- Alumni testifying that their education was the starting point for a successful career
Second, video-first strategies demonstrate the success that “visual storytelling” brings to higher ed social media campaigns.
Finally, engaging students and followers in conversations, hashtag sharing, or question-and-answer forums drives more followers – and ultimately increases enrollment.
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