SECTOR - Leisure

Education marketing that fills courses,
not just feeds.

The education sector is one of the most competitive marketing environments there is. Every course, every cohort, every open day is a commercial deadline. SOCIALLYWITHIT. has worked directly in further education and alongside specialist higher education agencies, building the strategies, content, and campaigns that drive applications, enrolments, and long-term growth.

FE Marketing

HE Agency Partnerships

TikTok & Social Media

Paid Media

Content Production

Strategy

0 %

INCREASE IN APPLICATION VOLUME, YEAR ONE

0 %

REDUCTION IN COST PER APPLICATION

0 k

TIKTOK FOLLOWERS BUILT FROM ZERO IN 12 MONTHS

0 x

GROWTH IN APPLY NOW CLICKS, 2020 TO 2024

WHY EDUCATION M ARKETING IS DIFFERENT

Every academic year is a new deadline.
Every cohort is a commercial target.

Education marketing operates on a cycle that waits for no one. Enrolment windows open and close. Open day registrations need to convert. Apply Now clicks need to turn into submitted forms, and submitted
forms need to turn into enrolled students.

The audience is uniquely complex. You are often marketing to young people making their first major life decision, while simultaneously reaching parents, carers, and guidance counsellors who influence that decision. The tone, the platform, and the creative all have to work together across very different audiences at once.

SOCIALLYWITHIT. brings both direct FE experience and broader education sector knowledge to every brief. We understand the pressures of the academic calendar, the nuances of student recruitment, and what it takes to build a digital presence that genuinely moves the needle on applications.

TikTok and social

Platform-native content that reaches prospective students where they are and builds genuine affinity with your institution.

Paid media

Targeted campaigns that drive open day registrations, course page traffic, and 'apply now' conversions within your budget

Content production

Student-life video, talking head content, and behind-the-scenes creative that humanises the brand and builds aspiration.

Application
growth

A data-driven approach to the full funnel, from first awareness through to submitted application and enrolled student.

CASE STUDY | FASHION RETAIL ACADEMY - further education, london

FASHION RETAIL ACADE M Y — THE BRIEF

From a standing start to a leading FE brand in one of the most competitive creative sectors

Fashion Retail Academy is a specialist FE college in London, offering courses from Level 2 through to undergraduate level in fashion, retail, and creative industries. When SOCIALLYWITHIT. began working with them, the challenge was clear: build a consistent, commercially focused digital presence that would drive genuine application growth across a highly competitive student recruitment market.

Our role covered the full marketing mix: strategy, social media, TikTok growth, paid media, and content production. Crucially, we aligned everything tightly to the academic calendar and the specific enrolment targets for each course level.

The results over the period from 2020 onwards have been transformational across every measurable metric.

63%

increase in application volume in year one, against a 10% annual target

6x the target growth rate

36%

reduction in cost per application, maintained even as total volumes grew

Efficiency sustained at scale

THE CHALLEGE

From zero to 20,000 followers in twelve months. Organically.

Fashion Retail Academy had no TikTok presence when we started. The brief was to build one from the ground up: spark awareness, inject personality, and make the academy feel relevant and on-trend to a generation that decides which colleges to consider based on what they see in their feed.

12 MONTHS. ZERO BUDGET. ORGANIC ONLY.

0 to 20k

TikTok followers built entirely through content strategy, trend participation, and a consistent posting cadence grounded in audience data. We built a content engine that leveraged trending audios, challenges, and formats aligned with the academy's ethos, created micro-series showcasing student work and workshop behind-the-scenes, and ran a data-led content calendar posting at peak audience activity windows, iterating continuously on what performed.

Four years of sustained growth across every metric.

From 2020 to 2024, every key indicator moved significantly in the right direction. Application volumes up. Enrolments up. Engaged sessions more than doubled. Bounce rate more than halved. Apply Now clicks grew five-fold. This is what a long-term, strategically consistent digital marketing programme delivers in education.

"They changed everything for us. They understood our audience and tailored the messaging for conversion, whilst remaining analytical about everything they did" - Amanda Colvin, Director of Marketing and Sales, Fashion Retail Academy

4,600

FE APPLICATIONS 2023-24 (FROM 2,800 IN 2020-21)

260k

ENGAGED SESSIONS 2023-24 (FROM 120K IN 2020-21)

40k

APPLY NOW CLICKS 2023-24 (FROM 11K IN 2020-21)

33.7%

BOUNCE RATE 2023-24 (DOWN FROM 79.24% IN 2020-21)

130k

ORGANIC NEW USERS 2023-24 (FROM 55K IN 2020-21)

20.3k

TIKTOK FOLLOWERS BUILT FROM ZERO

OUR WIDER EDUCATION EXPERIENCE

FE expertise, and a track record that extends into higher education

Our direct experience in further education is underpinned by a broader understanding of the education sector as a whole. SOCIALLYWITHIT. has also worked with agencies that specialise in higher
education marketing, giving us insight into the distinct challenges of HE student recruitment: longer decision
timelines, more competitive clearing periods, and the increasing role of digital touchpoints across a more
complex applicant journey.

That breadth means we can bring genuine sector thinking to any education brief, whether you are an FE college with an urgent enrolment target, a specialist institution building a brand for the first time, or an HE provider looking to strengthen your digital performance alongside an existing agency relationship.

What we understand about the education audience

Prospective students are not passive recipients of marketing. They are active researchers, heavily influenced by peer content, social proof, and the authentic feel of an institution’s online presence. 

 

Parents and carers are a parallel audience with entirely different information needs, platform habits, and trust signals. Both have to be reached, and both have to be convinced. 

We build education marketing programmes that speak to both, across every relevant platform, at every stage of the recruitment cycle.

WHAT WE BRING TO EDUCATION

Six capabilities built for education sector growth

Whether you are running an FE college, a specialist academy, a training provider, or an HE institution, the fundamentals remain constant: reach the right prospective students, build trust and aspiration, and convert interest into applications.

TikTok and social media

Platform-native content that reached prospective students where they are and builds genuine affinity with your institution.

Paid media

Targeted campaigns aligned to your academic calendar, driving Open Day registrations and Apply Now conversions.

Content production

Student-life video, course showcases, and behind-the-scenes content that humanises the brand and inspires applications.

Application growth strategy

Data-driven strategy across the full recruitment funnel, from first awareness through to submitted application.

Performance optimisation

Continuous improvement of cost per application, engagement rates, and on-site conversion across all channels.

Full marketing strategy

Integrated programmes that align creative output, paid activity, and organic growth to your enrolment targets.

Marketing an education institution?

We know the pressures of student recruitment and we know what drives applications. Let’s talk about what a proper digital strategy could do for your enrolment numbers.

Get in touch