They Don’t Want Your Perfect Campus Photos
- Gerben van Niekerk
- Sep 9, 2025
- 2 min read
In the age of authenticity, ‘data-informed empathy’ is the most powerful tool in student recruitment. It starts by listening to what students say they’re missing: the realistic struggles.
We all know the photo.
It’s the one splashed across the cover of the viewbook and pinned to the top of the university’s social media profile. The sun is shining, the lawns are impossibly green, and a carefully selected, diverse group of students is laughing on the steps of the library, books in hand. It’s perfect. It’s polished.
And it’s starting to lose its power.
We have mountains of data on student media habits. We know they spend hours scrolling through TikTok and Instagram. We track the metrics, we monitor the engagement, and we try to meet them where they are. But simply showing up on the right platform isn’t enough. The more subtle, and arguably more important, question is whether we understand why they are there and what they truly value in the content they consume.
The answer isn’t in the analytics dashboard. It’s in the comments section.
When a prospective student says they want to see the “realistic struggles” of university life, it’s not a complaint. It’s a gift.
This is a powerful piece of qualitative feedback that quantitative data alone can never provide. It signals a collective fatigue with the endless stream of overly aspirational, picture-perfect content. It’s a quiet but clear call for empathy and relatability from the institutions vying for their attention.
This suggests the need for a new kind of analysis in understanding the student experience. We need to evolve from being purely data-driven to being data-informed with empathy.
What does that mean in practice? It means:
Recognising that a comment asking about mental health support is more valuable than a thousand likes on a photo of a new building.
Understanding that a student-run Instagram takeover — complete with late-night study sessions, messy dorm rooms, and pre-exam stress — is more compelling than a professionally produced marketing video.
Shifting our focus from broadcasting a polished image to curating and amplifying the genuine, human stories already happening on our campuses every day.
The goal is not to eliminate beautiful photography or celebratory success stories. It is to balance them with the texture of real life. Students aren’t looking for a perfect institution; they are looking for a community that will support them through challenges. They don’t want a flawless highlight reel; they want an honest documentary.
As higher education leaders and communicators, our role is changing. We must become better listeners, moving beyond the spreadsheets to find the stories, fears, and hopes hidden in the nuances of the student voice.
The question we must ask ourselves is no longer just “Are we reaching them?” but rather, “Are we genuinely listening?”
