Marketing to Gap Year Students
For decades, students have opted for the gap year route, taking time off from studies to travel, work, volunteer, or indulge in passion projects. Some universities, like Harvard and Princeton, even promote it, encouraging students to take a year off before starting their studies.
Harvard’s admissions page claims that every year, around one hundred students choose to take time off and are happier for it. Princeton University offers a “Bridge Year,” in which incoming students can opt for a free, nine-month community-based experience sponsored by the university.
In Ontario, 43% of students take more than four months off between high school graduation and post-secondary education. However, this demographic seems to have fallen off the marketing radar of most colleges and universities.
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Why Should You Care About Gap Year Students?
43% is a significant chunk of the student population, and by overlooking them, you are losing out on a sizable number of potential enrollments. Remember, even while gappers are off exploring foreign countries or crossing the country on road trips, they are still keeping an eye out for the next steps in life-like college enrollment.
With their experiences, gap year students could be valuable additions to your institution. There aren’t very many studies that have looked at the advantages of taking time off, but some research, as well as anecdotal evidence, suggests that taking time off helps students develop and mature while increasing college readiness. Gappers also often claim that taking time off gives them more self-knowledge and increases focus on their academic paths.
Harvard University reports that gappers find their experiences “so valuable that they would advise all Harvard students to consider it.” A study at Middlebury College discovered that gappers nearly always academically outperformed their expected grades. Princeton’s Bridge Year program claims that taking a year off expands perspectives so that students “gain not only an ability to think outside of [themselves] and the limits of [their] knowledge, but also a greater capacity to understand the changes our world needs.”
So, how do you grab the attention of youth who might be enjoying themselves abroad, climbing in the workforce, or simply relishing their freedom from the study grind? In this blog, we’ll walk you through four ways you can market your higher education programs to gap year students.
How to Market to Gap Year Students
1. Talk about the gap year path
Though Ontario has plenty of gappers, gap year culture is rarely discussed. If it is, gap years are often seen as the “lesser” option, with most students considering enrollment in university straight out of high school as the successful route to take. However, the enrollment landscape consists of more than just 18-year-olds fresh out of grade 12.
Make gappers feel seen
If you have data on students who elected to take a gap year after high school, reach out. Email campaigns are a great idea. Send out personalized content with downloadable brochures about programs, courses, financial aid, sports, and extracurricular activities. If the numbers are not overwhelming, phone campaigns would add a nice personal touch.
Include gap year information on your website
How would taking time off affect enrollment and admissions?
Would my gap year experiences improve my chances of acceptance?
What does the transition into higher education from a gap year look like?
These are questions that gap year students want answered when they visit your website. Devote a page of your website to answer them. Include information about campus tours and events, financial aid, and admissions.
It is essential to make this information quick and easy to find. Plowing through messy, convoluted websites that lead you around the block is not fun. Ensure that your website has a mobile-responsive design with well-organized navigation.
Don’t forget parents and families
Many institutions focus on students as their target audience when considering higher education marketing. However, it is just as important to include parents and guardians in your marketing frameworks, as they often influence where their child chooses to attend school. Many parents worry that taking a gap year may be:
Too expensive
A waste of time
A way of academically falling behind their children’s peers
Create gaps in a resume that may harm future career prospects
Include information on your website or email campaigns tailored to parents of potential gap year students and towards busting these myths. For example, Princeton’s Bridge Year program has a web page dedicated to information for families with frequently asked questions, links to information, and contact details.
The Canada Gap Year Association has a “How to Talk to Your Parents About a Gap Year” cheat sheet to help students approach the topic of taking time off with their parents. You could also organize virtual or in-person information sessions to support parents and families and answer any questions.
Testimonials
In Noetic Marketer’s previous blog, “Why Student Testimonials are Important for Higher Education & How To Gather Them,” we explain how testimonials are a valuable recruitment tool. Ensure your website has video and written testimonials from previous gap year students to help current gap year students connect with the institution. Let them talk about programs, campus life, extra-curriculars, and their transitions from their time off to starting school. Hearing from peers who most likely share some of their experiences could make gap year students feel like they are not alone and give them an idea of what to expect if they apply for your programs.
Gen Z individuals prefer organic content to blatant commercials, so it is important to ensure that testimonials are as natural and unscripted as possible. Scripted videos could appear phony and insincere, and it is often easy to spot them.
2. Utilize social media
The Gen Z population is made up of diligent social media consumers. Nearly 99% of Canadians between the ages of 18 and 24 use social media. This means that the gap year student sightseeing in Europe or volunteering in Vietnam is most likely checking in with Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok, so you need to meet them where they are.
Here are some ways you can market to gap year students on social media:
Be multi-faceted
TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube…use them all. See our previous blog post on lead generation for higher education institutions for a list of popular social media platforms on which you can maintain a presence. It is also advisable to funnel more focus into platforms your target audience will most likely use. For instance, TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat are the top three social media apps used by GenZ and millennials as of January 2022.
Post video content
Visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text and are 1200% more likely to be shared than an image or text. Including videos on your website would also be a good idea since the average user spends 88% more time on a website with videos than on a website without one.
Video content can include:
Accredited gap year programs: Briefly feature accredited gap year programs and resources, international volunteer programs, and travel opportunities. You could also include international exchange opportunities, language programs, and summer abroad curricula that might interest students passionate about travel and foreign cultures.
Interviews with and testimonials from previous gap year students: Students could discuss their experiences or share guidance, resources, and ideas. You could also feature success stories. Highlight successful students and alums with gap year stories to share. Videos from previous gap year students should include answers to questions like:
What is their story?
How did their time off contribute to their current success?
Do they have any advice to share with current gap year students or hopeful gappers?
Interactive media: Instagram Live could be used to host Q and A sessions with parents and students. This feature of Instagram is used by millions of people every day and is a way of broadcasting real-time videos to followers. Viewers can ask questions or post comments.
Instagram Live is a great way of facilitating authentic conversations and building strong connections with followers. Going live also means that an in-app notification will be sent to all your followers while your Instagram story is moved into first place.
Resources aimed towards gap year students: Maintain a database of useful resources and feature them on social media or on your website. These could include organizations such as:
International Experience Canada: a government program that gives individuals between the ages of 18 to 35 opportunities to travel.
Financial aid and scholarships: Talk about scholarships, financial aid opportunities, work-study positions, part-time jobs, and paid internships.
See our blog post on boosting enrollment for more tips and ideas on posting video content.
“Nothing says ‘yawn’ more than an interminable text-based email or 50 slide attachment. Including a video within a brief email and delivering content in multimedia formats can help drive response rates, improve information retention, and make your company or offer more memorable” – Andy Zimmerman
Diversify your content
It is important to vary your social media posts. The average Gen Z individual has been reported to spend about 4.5 hours a day on social media. This means they are quickly bored and will scroll past your content if it gets dry, tedious, or repetitive.
Conduct campus tours, promote university events, and spotlight alums who took the gap year route. Host some fun contests with prizes. You could also opt to have a regular gap year feature post. For instance, you might consistently showcase an exciting gap year activity or organization each week. Alternatively, you might feature an alum who took time off to travel or work before transitioning into higher education.
You can also use social media to promote student organizations, groups, and clubs. Expand your platform so that there is something for everyone. For instance, a potential student might not be interested in the university basketball match but might find the biology department events fascinating.
Let’s take the University of Toronto Mississauga, for example. There are countless Instagram accounts for various departments, student associations, and clubs. Some of them include:
The Erindale Biology Society
Student Association for Geography and Environmental Studies
The English and Drama Society
The Health and Counseling Center
UTM Registrar
Mental Health Association
Global Health Organization
UTM Athletics
Anthropology Society
UTM Child Lab
Department of Visual Studies
Conduct takeovers
A social media takeover is when you give a guest posting rights for a short period (ideally a day). For instance, your institution's Instagram page could invite a student leader, student association representative, professor, alumnus, or some other individual of interest to take over the account for the day and post content regarding their department or organization. Maintain connections with student group leaders on campus. Some effective takeover content could involve speaking about campus events, organizations, clubs, or “Day-in-the-life-of” videos.
When marketing your institution to gap year students, you could partner with organizations that specialize in gap year activities, like the Canadian Gap Year Association, a not-for-profit organization that helps educators and families with resources for taking time off. You could also partner with institutions that offer gap year programs.
3. Start a Gap Year Association
Harvard boasts a Gap Year Society whose aim is to “serve as a community for students who have taken, or are taking a gap year….” Their website features blogs, testimonials, and tips and tricks for taking time off. If your institution has a sizable population of gappers or potential gappers, starting a club or society would be a great way of marketing to gap year students.
4. Make Changes to Accommodate Gap Year Students
As an institution, you could make a point to have more events, seminars, and resources tailored toward gap year students. Host an online tour for someone who might be backpacking across the province. Organize virtual information sessions. Alter your financial aid programs so that they aim for a diverse range of potential enrollments rather than only 18-year-olds straight out of high school. Remember that making them feel included, involved, and remembered can go a long way.
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About the Author
A creative, hard-working, and dedicated individual, Radhia has over three years of writing and journalistic experience with digital media platforms, blogs, and social media. She is now further honing her skills with words by studying Professional Writing and Communication at the University of Toronto, alongside Biology for Health Sciences.