Clearing is just around the corner and across the sector strategies are taking shape. With the combination of regional shifts, subject specific demands and financial pressures, Clearing 2025 is set to be the most competitive yet.
Given the current landscape, the need to stand out has never been more critical. Yet the more marketers I speak with, the more I’m hearing of a similar strategic approach. This is the year when scaling back plans means doubling down on search and social platforms.
Sound familiar? I’d be surprised if it’s not. As cash-conscious institutions look for efficiency, most have defaulted to the same narrow channel strategy. This has me wondering, are education providers overestimating the ability of search and social alone to recruit students through Clearing? Let’s find out.
Together we’ll examine the general strengths and weaknesses of search and social platforms, apply what data is telling us about Clearing research preferences, and dissect the factors driving such high adoption.
The ubiquity of search and social
From brand awareness and community outreach to product launches, search and social form the bedrock of online brand activity. It’s not hard to see why. These platforms offer mass reach, fulfill multiple objectives, and come equipped with a suite of technological tools to power operations.
As someone’s who’s spent more than a decade media planning for brands, I know the strength of both channels well. I myself have used them to successfully promote contests, recruit subscribers and sell everything from office supplies to running shoes. But we’re talking about higher education marketing strategies here, so where do these platforms work best for universities?
Where search and social shine for HE
Let’s start with search platforms, which at this point, almost exclusively means Google. Users come to Google pre-qualified. They arrive with an idea of what to look for, making them prime targets to be influenced and redirected with keywords. This is helpful when a student has a shortlist of subjects but is unaware of their options. It’s this type of upper funnel, exploratory action where search excels best. Google also happens to know an awful lot about people through their search history, providing helpful targeting levers to refine audiences.
There are several ways we can consider social media; online communities, messaging platforms, a general time void, but for the sake of discussion let’s call them news and entertainment hubs. Social media sites are places to spend time, allowing advertisers to capture engaged eyeballs. It’s the act of stumbling across something you never knew you wanted until you suddenly do.
For HE providers, I’d argue that social media functions best not as a conduit for advertisements, but rather a community center responsible for capturing all forms of daily life. These platforms are effectively microsites separate from institutional websites, which reflect the curated culture of each institution. Current students want to see themselves represented, while prospective students tune in to perform vibe checks on the city and campus.
Shoving a square through a circle
While education providers have tapped into the audiences on search and social there’s an inherent conflict at play. That’s because the point where search and social align best is not for education purposes, but rather e-commerce. This is particularly true for products purchased in just a couple clicks. It’s what these systems have been built for. They capture mass attention to drive sales efficiently, consistently moving users down the funnel from awareness to conversion. And they do it well.
Now it’s not to say these platforms don’t have a role in education advertising. They can, and should be used to promote research and events, hire employees, and encourage consideration early in the student journey. The thing is, none of these use cases are of major importance during Clearing.
The downsides of search and social in Clearing
Though education marketers have bent these tools to fit their needs, certain cracks form when relying on them alone through Clearing:
Expansive competition
Education marketers think of their competition as other universities, but on search and social platforms it’s anyone targeting the same audience. Who else might want to reach student and parent audiences in mid-August? Think clothing brands selling autumn lines, stationary stores marketing back-to-school supplies and supermarkets promoting school lunches. And they all come with advertising budgets which dwarf those of a university. All this activity, particularly on social, drives up CPMs and reduces chances your ads will even be seen in student’s feeds.
Difficulty owning USPs
With over 180 institutions in the UK alone, it’s tough to stand out. This is especially true on search and social, when your ads are limited to generic keywords and hashtags. Taglines like “Voted best in accommodation” may capture attention, but they don’t explain why you should be chosen over another.
Restricted targeting
While social platforms would love to provide specific audience segments, enhanced privacy laws, such as the UK Data Protection Act 2018, have prevented targeting of under 18s within ads. Marketers have turned to interest targeting instead, but those too have been limited to those outside of identifiable demographics. Surely search is better right? Similar under 18 targeting restrictions apply while the deprecation of cookies and user opt-outs severely limit the ability to monitor success across the web. In short, education targeting on the platforms isn’t as precise as it used to be, leading to inefficiencies in ad spend.
Relationship building
Student recruitment happens in the soft moments; a chat with a mentor, a feeling while on campus, dreaming about future careers with a friend. It’s not about broadcasting a message to a wide audience and hoping it sticks. There’s a reason students prefer a phone call on Clearing. They’re seeking a 1-2-1 connection; a chance to explain their unique situation with a real person who’s listening.
Exposure to conversion time
It takes on average 7 exposures to make a purchase, a number which increases given the importance and cost of an item. Search and social ads work great for lower cost items purchased in a few clicks. It’s far harder to convince someone to attend your university with just a couple of ads on Results day. It’s a next to impossible task if they’ve never heard of you prior to it.
Emergence of AI
There’s also the steep rise in AI usage, which has pushed sponsored search terms lower in the user’s view. This placement is having an impact, stealing views away from paid ads as students take AI summaries at face value, skipping landing pages altogether.
What student research data tells us
We have an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of search and social platforms, but what about student behaviour on them? To what degree do students leverage these platforms to scout potential universities?
Our first indication comes courtesy of Keystone Education’s State of Student Recruitment. This report outlines yearly education trends, including which tools students use to research university options year-round.
The good news for social media is that on a global level, 78% of prospective students follow a university profile. That’s an impressive cut-through rate, at least until you consider students’ motivations for subscribing. Hint – It might not be for research.
Keystone actually found just 13% of global respondents prefer to use social media for education research purposes. It ranks third, after university listing platforms at 17% and far behind the top choice of online search engines at 42%. Students also rebuked social media as a communication method for universities, as just 3% prefer to be contacted on social, vs the top choice email, at 61%.
So search is a hit for initial research, while social requires a more nuanced approach. While university websites and organic social pages require regular maintenance for ongoing results, paid activity has a lot heavier lifting to win over student audiences.
Conversion media mapping
We can also examine data from the SMRS 2025 Media Mapper Report which outlines the most influential media in a student’s path to conversion.
From it we learn students overwhelmingly prefer lifestyle content on social such as events and activities, day in the life videos, and campus tours. There’s also a place for study tips and financial info, however, university announcements, updates, and testimonials ranked lowest in preference. That’s quite disappointing for university marketers trying to fill seats at open days. Then there’s course information content – arguably the most important factor in Clearing, which accounted for just 16% of the content students want to see from universities on social platforms.
On the other side, University websites absolutely dominate across all content categories, receiving the highest preference scores for general and course info, location, and reputation. Note that’s not general search terms or ads on search, it’s the specific university websites themselves.
In the rankings for the most influential media channels, university websites came out on top, followed by UCAS events, education and university listing sites, and online chat with university staff. Social media was only ranked 5th on the list, suggesting its importance may be overestimated.
Social media during Clearing
We now know how students are using search and social, but what about their impact on Clearing specifically? Let’s take a look at a survey from The Student Room Survey, taken back in May of 2024.
Heading into Clearing we asked students what sources they would use to find out information about Clearing. With an overwhelming majority, students chose the UCAS website as their preferred platform, followed by university websites and online forums.
Note in this breakdown, social media ranked fourth at 39%, while search was again to be used for specific websites, not general discovery. The percentage of students relying on social media for info drops even further on results day itself, while direct websites hold.
We can compare these intentions with a 2024 End of Cycle Clearing Report from UCAS, which surveyed over 6,000 Clearing students. Within it, roughly one in five students used social media to look for Clearing information ahead of time. As for search, again students specifically mention UCAS or university websites direct as their source of information, not broad search terms.
UCAS also asked where students first heard about their Clearing placed University or College. Here the results from search and social were even more bleak, with only 3% finding their institution on social, and 7% through search engines.
Combining this information it’s clear search and social have their role, but students prefer other, more reliant channels used to make major decisions in Clearing.
How we got here
So if the majority of students don’t use social or generic searches to make decisions in Clearing, why the big investment? There are a few factors driving high adoption this year:
- Financial barriers – Inflation is expansive, devaluing the income from tuition fees while increasing costs on virtually every platform. This shortage of cash against rising media costs is forcing marketers to choose between otherwise yearly staples. In short, marketers are trying to do more with less, so something’s got to go. It won’t be search and social.
- It’s familiar – Marketers often fall into the trap of using things they already understand. A confirmation bias if you will. Since we use social platforms and web searches to make decisions, the thinking goes, students must prefer them as well.
- They are resource friendly – Every institution already has a website and an organic social presence. Why not top off on these channels using assets you already have?
- The illusion of trackability – Within the current financial climate there is even more need for marketers to prove their impact. Search and social both provide reporting which unsurprisingly, favour their own platforms under last click attribution models. Everyone loves an evidencable story to take to their boss, even if it’s inflated.
- Push for innovation – Innovation is one of those lasting buzzwords in our industry, driving a demand for new opportunities. Social media never seems to run out of new platforms. Maxing out on meta and TikTok audiences? Try lesser-known platforms like Bluesky and Weare8 to show an innovative approach.
All of these factors point to the logic behind the popularity of search and social in Clearing. The question remains, are they actually effective in reaching students in a meaningful way or are we just hoping they will be?
Looking ahead
It’s easy to understand how we reached this point. But are we doing a disservice to our students by not reaching them in the right moments? If we’re providing all this information in places they aren’t looking, what’s the point of our messages at all?
In the end, I do still like search and social as education channels. By no means would I recommend cutting your search and social budgets entirely, but I would reflect on their overall impact. There’s still time to re-evaluate if an all-in search and social strategy will actually help achieve your recruitment goals this Clearing.
Sources
TSR Matters – Clearing 2025: TSR Data Student Trends
Keystone Education Group – State of Student Recruitment 2024
SMRS – 2025 Media Mapper Report
The Student Room – Student Survey (May 2024)
UCAS – 2024 End of Cycle Clearing Report: Understanding Clearing Students’ Motivations and Mindsets
UK Government – Data Protection Act 2018
Google Ads – Ad Policies: Targeting Restrictions for Under-18 Users
Meta – Detailed Targeting Options Removal from Ad Campaigns
B2B Marketing – The Marketing Rule of 7 and Why It’s Still Relevant in B2B
Further reading
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