Bahçeşehir University
The problem.
BAU's social presence read like a brochure. Prospective students were scrolling past — competitors with weaker programs were winning the feed.
The strategic insight.
Prospective students don't trust university ads. They trust other students on their feed.
The method.
Repositioned the channel around real student creators. Built a content engine that produced campus-native UGC weekly, then amplified the top 10% with paid.
12 creators · 96 organic videos · 28 paid campaigns across Meta + TikTok in a single semester.
- 01
Diagnostics
Audited the existing feed against competitor accounts and the actual language prospective students use. The gap was voice, not budget: institutional copy against a peer-to-peer platform.
- 02
Creator casting
Cast 12 enrolled students across faculties instead of professional creators, so campus detail and dialect stayed authentic. Briefs were shot lists, not scripts.
- 03
Weekly content engine
Moved to a weekly production cadence: shoot, publish, read the first 48 hours, brief the next batch from what held attention. 96 organic videos shipped over the semester.
- 04
Paid amplification of proven organic
Only the top ~10% of organic performers entered paid. 28 campaigns on Meta and TikTok ran against already-validated creative, so spend never subsidised untested assets.
- 05
Measurement
Tracked cost per application inquiry as the single decision metric; reach and engagement were treated as leading indicators, not goals.
The verified result.
- The reach lift came from creative format change, not from a larger media budget.
- Application inquiries are the commercial metric here — the number the admissions team acts on.
- Cost per lead fell because paid only ever amplified creative that organic had already proven.
The forward play.
Roll the creator program into Erasmus markets and turn alumni into a second content tier.