What you need to know to start your campaign, why it’s important, and some helpful tips to improve your campaign results.
With four years of experience and significant investment in TikTok advertising, we’ve developed a deep understanding of online students' behavior and needs during the crucial time when they are searching for higher education.
This expertise enables us to identify and connect with the right student profiles on TikTok, helping match them with schools that best fit their goals.
Below, we’ve outlined what we need from you, why it’s important, and some helpful tips to improve your campaign results.
Your creative choices are important — clients who follow our recommendations often reach the top end of our performance benchmarks, even when their brand is relatively unknown in target markets. That’s why we’ve shared some additional best practice below the creative requirements.
Creative Requirements
'Visual Requirements:
We accept both videos and images for TikTok campaigns. You may submit either format (or a mix of both), depending on what works best for your content and resources.
To give your campaign the best chance of success, we highly recommend submitting 3 creatives per campaign, ideally in different formats or styles. This allows us to optimize based on performance and engage students more effectively.
Videos
- 9:16 ratio (vertical)
- No longer than 60 seconds (under 30 seconds highly recommended).
- Subtitles highly recommended but not required.
- If you are only submitting videos, submit at least 2.
Images
- 9:16 ratio (vertical)
- If you are only submitting images, submit at least 3.
Sensitive topics:
- Cannabis programs are not permitted to be promoted.
- Healthcare programs can require creative adjustment between our team and yours before launch or mid-launch.
These types of text can trigger TikTok's AI moderation, which may delay your ad launch or result in suspension, disrupting your campaign.
Copy Requirements:
Provide maximum 100 characters of copy for your ad’s primary text.
We’ll adjust the text to third person if necessary and ensure it meets TikTok's guidelines.
Please note that emojis cannot be used unless done through a SparkAd.
For Program-Specific Ads:
If you’re promoting individual programs (up to five), please provide:
- The exact program names as they appear in SmartHub.
Note on Mixed Degree Levels:
We do not target students from different higher education levels (e.g., Master's and Bachelor's programs) within the same campaign. That's because when your campaign is only relevant to part of the audience, it drops in visibility and performance.
For TikTok Traffic Ads (NOT collecting leads):
- Provide a tracked link to the landing page where you want to direct students.
Best Practice for TikTok
When it comes to running successful TikTok ads, following best practices can make all the difference in achieving impactful results. Whether you’re promoting a university or specific programs, understanding how to create engaging content and effectively target the right audience is key. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the essential strategies and tips for designing compelling TikTok ads that not only capture attention but also drive meaningful conversions. From optimizing visuals and copy to refining your targeting, these best practices will help you maximize your ad performance and reach the students who are searching for educational opportunities.
Creatives That Convert
Visuals:
Your visual content is the first thing your audience sees, and its effectiveness determines whether they will engage with your ad. Strong visuals are key to grabbing attention.
- Use bright colors: As students scroll, sharp color contrast or bright hues will stand out and drive higher engagement.
- Jumping on TikTok trends is a great way to capture student attention - but if you don't have an on-trend video don't let that stop you from running your campaign. Adding trendy music to your video or an engaging narrator voice over is a great compromise.
- Keep the video short! We can only publish videos that are 60 seconds or less, but we recommend the video be actually 15-30 seconds.
- Avoid generic or commercial imagery: Make it personal. Images that reflect campus life, classroom moments, or a fun student lifestyle resonate best.
- Add subtitles to videos: Many students watch without sound. If you don’t add your own, TikTok will generate them, so ensure your audio is clear.
- Make the first three seconds of the video count: Eye-catching and engaging starts give you the best chance to capture attention in this critical three second attention window.
- Branding matters: Include your school’s name or logo in all creatives. Where possible, add the program name or other key details to reinforce your message.
Images
We always recommend videos rather than images to get best results from TikTok. If you are running an image-based campaign here are our top tips to get the best engagement.
- Use TikTok-friendly design. That means bright, high-contrast images and minimal text on images (use captions instead).
- Eye-catching colors grab student attention. Use bold, high-contrast colors to stand out. TikTok users engage more with bright blues, purples, and reds than muted tones.
- Faces & emotions draw the eye. Using real students in action - smiling, studying, celebrating graduation. Authenticity works better than stock images.
- Use big, bold text overlays (but keep it minimal!). Use 4-6 words max for key messages: “Scholarships Available! Apply Now ” “Study in [City] – Admissions Open”
- Keep text aligned to top or bottom third of the image (to avoid TikTok UI covering it).
Text content:
While visuals capture attention, the text reinforces your message. The right words can clarify your value proposition and drive student interest.
- Avoid generic text: Make sure the copy is relevant to what you’re promoting. Like strong visuals, strong words communicate what makes your institution or program special.
- Keep it concise: Students will only spend a few seconds reading your text, so make it count. We accept up to 100 characters to ensure clear and effective messaging. Note that Keystone will post third person copy, referring to your institution as our partner.
- The best performing copy themes for university ads are about:
- Campus Experience – Show vibrant student life, libraries, events. - Global Opportunities – Highlight exchange programs, career benefits.
- Program Highlights – Showcase in-demand courses (Business, Tech, etc.).
- Scholarship & Admissions CTA – Use urgency: “Limited Spots Available”.
Converting Students on Your Landing Page
For schools running traffic campaigns (not lead generation), we want to help you make the most of the students we send your way. Converting students off of a social platform can be challenging, but here are some tips to maximize the impact:
- Design your landing page for newcomers: Your landing page should appeal to students who may have never heard of your school before. Social campaigns introduce your brand to a new audience.
- Use UTM tracking on your landing page link: Although we can generate a tracked link that you can check, we recommend you generating your own link according to your campaign reporting structure. Tracking the performance of your campaign will help you evaluate value and improve student experience in your future ads.
- Capture leads effectively: If you’re using the page to gather leads, remove unnecessary links and simplify your lead form to just a few information fields (ideally five or fewer).
- Bold branding: Make sure your branding is prominent and incorporates your school’s colors.
Targeting That Fits
Targeting the right audience is essential, and we handle most of the targeting for you. However, there are some things you can do to make your campaign even more effective.
Geographic Targeting:
If you’re looking for a balanced geographic distribution of students, try to target countries within the same economic tier. Social platforms value student attention differently based on perceived purchasing power, so results can vary significantly between regions.
Also, consider how your creatives might be perceived by students from different cultures. For example, an ad that works well for both Brazilian and Japanese students may require a balanced tone. We’ve seen schools successfully target diverse regions like Japan and the Nordics by being mindful of cultural nuances.
By following these guidelines and best practices, you'll be well-equipped to create effective, high-performing campaigns that resonate with your target audience. Our team is here to support you throughout the process, ensuring your Meta ads deliver the results you’re looking for. Let’s collaborate to connect students with the educational opportunities they’re seeking.