Student storytellers and creator schemes gain ground in higher education marketing

Kim Martin's piece for The PIE News looks at how universities and test providers are formalising student creator and digital ambassador roles as Gen Z and Gen Alpha tune out ads. Mark is the main voice in it. His points: the best creators for a university are its own current students and alumni, follower counts mean very little, and what counts is credibility inside a niche, the business student in Lagos hearing from someone like them on a campus in Toronto.

He also separates classic ambassador schemes, which work at the bottom of the funnel, from student creators, whose content spreads through hundreds of small circles of friends and compatriots long before anyone books an open day. The article names Carleton, Arizona State and UCL as universities already hiring student storytellers, and closes on Mark's warning that students are posting about your university whether you are involved or not.