CASE STUDY

CMU TikTok Strategy Update 2022

Role: Social Media Strategist & Project Manager
Timeline: Urgent, November 2022
Platforms: TikTok

What were our challenges?

CMU was posting identical content to Instagram and TikTok, assuming both platforms would support follower growth and prospective student engagement. But TikTok’s culture, audience expectations, and algorithm behave very differently.

We faced two major obstacles:

  1. Leadership hesitation: University leadership was concerned that leaning into humor or trends would feel “off brand” and reinforce CMU’s historic “party school” reputation.

  2. Operational limitations: Growing TikTok required content that was fast, authentic, student-led, and trendy, but we were understaffed.

TikTok performance lagged, watch-through rates dropped, and the algorithm deprioritized our content.

What did we want to accomplish?

  • Develop a TikTok-specific strategy that reflects student life authentically.

  • Demonstrate why TikTok cannot function as a duplicate of Instagram.

  • Build leadership buy-in around a more cultural, humorous tone.

  • Increase watch-through rates, engagement, and algorithmic performance.

  • Position TikTok as CMU’s early-funnel awareness channel.

What data did we measure?

I performed a full audit comparing CMU’s highest and lowest performing TikTok videos (based on watch-through-rate) from May - October of 2022.

Top 5 Videos (Watch-Through Rate)

  1. Applications Are Open – 99%

  2. POV: It’s Fall on Campus – 94%

  3. Cardboard Boat Races – 93%

  4. Don’t Step on the C – 81%

  5. Grad Fair – 72%

Pattern:
High-performing videos were 7–15 seconds, featured real students, used trends/sounds, and felt like organic student-generated content.

@cmuniversity The cardboard boat races put on by our engineering students is one of our favorite homecoming traditions! 🔥⬆️🛶 #FireUpChips #homecomingtraditions #studentlife ♬ original sound
@cmuniversity Fall is the best time to schedule a campus visit 🍂 #campusvisit #collegeapplications #fireupchips ♬ original sound - Hugo
@cmuniversity Every CMU student knows to not step on the C by the biosciences building 🙅 #StudentLife #FireUpChips #campustraditions ♬ original sound - Central Michigan University

Bottom 5 Videos (Watch-Through Rate)

  1. Dietetics Spring Rolls – 9%

  2. Gabi Internship – 10%

  3. Fish Taco Salad – 11%

  4. Register to Vote – 11%

  5. Drone Campus Shot – 16%

Pattern:
Longer videos, food content, internship content, and anything without student faces performed poorly.

@cmuniversity Looking for the perfect gluten-free summer dish? Our Dietetics faculty have you covered! 😋 #glutenfree #summerrecipes #foodtiktok ♬ Sia - Xeptemper
@cmuniversity Fashion Merchandising and Design student Gabi Salais’s internship took her all the way to Washington D.C. 🔥⬆️ Where will your experience take you? #internship #education #studentlife ♬ original sound - Central Michigan University
@cmuniversity Make a healthy summer dish with Dietetics faculty member Jeff Fisher! #LifeAtCentral #Dietetics #HealthyRecipes ♬ Kyoto Flow - Official Sound Studio
@cmuniversity It’s National Voter Registration Day, and we’re Fired Up to make a difference! 🔥⬆️ Are you registered to vote? #FireUpChips #CampusLife #collegevoters ♬ QUIET DOWN 2 - Madison Malone

What did we learn?

  • TikTok requires a dedicated strategy, not recycled content that we post on other channels.

  • Watch-through rate is one of our most important success metrics, and it’s driven by authenticity and short clips.

  • Leadership buy-in is essential for brands that need to be relatable and culturally relevant.

  • Tone and pacing matter as much as the topic.

What did we change?

I developed a TikTok-only strategy that features our brand humor in student centered short-form videos. Since the TikTok algorithm categorizes accounts by interest “buckets,” the CMU TikTok account needs to have a student life focus. If we create academic focused content centered around every topic that we offer as a course, it will become boring to our audience and confuse the algorithm. Our strategy moving forward after this study became trends and content formats that tied into student stories, campus culture, relatable moments that resonate with our students, and micro-stories. I moved all of our posts around internships, academic experiences, career outcomes, and more polished content to Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn only. Our content creators were given guidance on TikTok creation, including the following best practices:

  • Content should include student faces as often as possible

  • Ideal length of videos should be between 7-15 seconds

  • On-campus settings and brand colors should ideally be in 75% of our content (leaving room to showcase students doing amazing things off campus, online learning, etc.)

  • Content should include trending audio (with the exception of voiceovers)

  • Content should be expressed in an energetic humorous tone

  • Content should be filmed with a phone, and feel casual and authentic

What were the results?

  • Leadership and campus partners aligned with the student-life-focused strategy.

  • We hired more content creators and grew our team.

  • TikTok performance improved through adoption of shorter, trend-based, student-led content.

  • Instagram Reels retained its strong performance with less trends and more student storytelling.

  • The Central Michigan University TikTok channel secured #1 in the Top Higher Education Institutions on TikTok, as per 2022 analytics compiled by Rival IQ. This was achieved without relying on licensed music or sounds to navigate copyright complexities.