How Tricoci University Grew Student Enrollments Through Paid Social Campaigns with PX
Tricoci University and PX began their partnership in 2020, initially to support and grow paid search and pay per lead (PPL) efforts. What began as a focused engagement quickly evolved into a long-standing marketing partnership, expanding beyond paid search and PPL in the fall of 2024.
Introduction
Tricoci University of Beauty Culture is one of the Midwest's leading beauty education institutions, with 15 campuses across Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin and over 15,000 graduates trained over more than two decades.
This growth reflects a partnership built on accountability and performance. After over four years of managing PPL and paid search, PX earned the trust of Tricoci University’s marketing team and the opportunity to expand into paid social, becoming a true extension of their team.
Prior to PX taking over paid social, Tricoci University had seen limited growth on the channel for nearly two years with two previous partners. The expansion to paid social was a natural next step, driven by the strength of their existing relationship and a proven track record in paid search.
Managing all paid media channels under one team did not just unlock paid social growth; it created efficiencies across the entire media mix, allowing spend to shift seamlessly between channels based on which channel was driving performance.
In their Own Words
Since 2020, PX has become an integral part of how we reach and connect with prospective students across all our campuses. Over the years, they have helped us grow enrollments consistently while continuously finding smarter, more efficient ways to use our budget. What makes this partnership work is their willingness to test, learn, and evolve alongside us. Whether it is refining our Meta strategy, developing UGC creative that genuinely resonates with prospective students, or being early adopters of new platforms like TikTok and ChatGPT ads, PX is always one step ahead of where the market is going.
Challenges
- Managing customer acquisition across 15 campus locations, each with unique enrollment goals, budgets, performance tracking, and market dynamics.
- Growing lead volume and enrollments while keeping CPL and CPE under control across multiple programs and markets.
- Adapting campaigns continuously to changing platform algorithms, shifting consumer behavior, and evolving media performance trends across Meta and Google.
- Reaching diverse prospective students in highly competitive local markets, with relevant, timely messaging.
- Continuous need for new creatives and formats across multiple platforms.
Goals
- Ensure every campus has active, optimized campaigns for driving quality prospective student leads.
- Grow student enrollments year-over-year through scalable and data-driven digital marketing strategies.
- Sustain enrollment growth while managing spend efficiently, avoiding diminishing returns by continuously reallocating budget to the highest-performing channels and campaigns.
- Use cross-channel data to direct budget toward top-performing channels and markets.
- Develop localized creative and messaging tailored to prospective students across different programs and stages of the enrollment journey.
- Maintain strong ad presence across paid search, paid social, and PPL to outperform competitors in key markets.
How PX helped Tricoci University grow enrollments
Tricoci University came to PX with a bold ambition: build a clear, differentiated brand presence in a saturated and competitive education landscape.
The means to achieve that were the following:
Performance insights, ongoing testing, and creative rotation
Using performance insights across channels and markets to dynamically shift spend toward the highest-performing campaigns and programs.
Ongoing testing, bid adjustments, audience refinements, and creative rotation every two weeks or sooner to consistently drive lead volume and enrollment growth.
A full-funnel content strategy
To support enrollment growth through paid social, PX developed a full-funnel content strategy tailored for the individual prospective students. The campaigns included localized creatives, student testimonials, how-to videos, carousels, UGC, FAQ videos, and program-focused messaging designed to build awareness and guide prospective students through the student journey to enrollment.
Culture-led marketing backed by targeted paid campaigns
PX built a culture-led marketing strategy backed by targeted paid campaigns. An approach that engages students from awareness through enrollment, an example of this is the usage of strong student created UGC and custom video content created specifically for our uncontacted leads remarketing strategy launched in fall/winter 2025 focused on featuring a simplified two question conversion form.
Continuously testing and expanding across platforms
Continuously testing and expanding across platforms, from optimizing within existing channels to exploring new ones. TikTok, for one was a super successful test, launched in February 2026 generating as many enrollments in its first months as all of 2025 combined. Next channels in testing include ChatGPT ads, Snapchat, and Reddit, continuing to expand Tricoci University reach across different platforms.
Results
Q4 2024 vs. Q4 2025
Q1 2025 vs. Q1 2026
*Enrollment data has not reached maturity
Examples of top performing content on paid social
Both top performers are UGC-style creatives, pointing to authentic, student-centered content as a key driver of engagement across platforms.
Meta top performing ad
User generated content
- Results1,093
- Impressions2,766,808
- Clicks (all)55,393
- CTR (all)2%
*data as of June 2026
TikTok top performing ad
Cosmetology UGC Workshop
- Conversions262
- Impressions216,357
- Clicks (destination)2,805
- CTR (destination)1.3%
*data as of June 2026
Enroll more students.
Grow every campus.
PX manages every paid channel under one team, shifting budget to what performs and testing new platforms before competitors get there.
One partner running it all, so your team can stay focused on students.