To help address the opportunity and employment gap, PwC US invested $125 million to support a more equitable future for Black and Latino/Hispanic college students as they prepare for and begin in-demand careers. Our investment and program aims to serve 25,000 underrepresented college students by FY26.
Through this program, Access Your Potential, we work directly with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), select schools with programs focused on diverse and socioeconomically disadvantaged students, community colleges and nonprofit organizations. We aim to close opportunity gaps and provide students from all backgrounds with an equal opportunity to succeed, helping change students’ trajectories and uplift their communities. In FY23, we connected with these students to provide digital and career readiness training, resources and mentorship that will set them up for future career success.
By launching the Access Your Potential TikTok account, we were able to meet these students where they already were, connecting more than 26,000 followers to clearer pathways to economic and professional advancement. We leveraged the art of authentic storytelling and TikTok trends and sounds to build authentic connections with students, successfully establishing trust and building community. Our key goal was driving these students to our program’s landing page, bolstering sign-ups to the program.
Social media platforms like TikTok are changing how people search, find and connect with content and brands. By building a social media presence tailored to the needs of these students and their communities, we are successfully building trust and fostering inclusion.
In January 2022, we launched our first ever TikTok account for Access Your Potential where we have been and continue to use social media to meet students where they are. At the same time, we are creating and inspiring a community, sharing personal and professional development tips, supporting mental health, and helping students confidently navigate career choices.
Our Access Your Potential TikTok established PwC as the first Big Four accounting firm in the US to join TikTok. This type of owned account wasn’t conventional for B2B firms like PwC, and required us to reimagine how we express ourselves on social media, identifying skilled talent that could help bring the Access Your Potential opportunity to life for college students in a real, relatable way.
Our TikTok strategy is rooted in increasing our exposure to underrepresented students, helping boost their self-worth, and providing them with tactical steps toward making their dreams a reality. We identified the following content themes to drive our strategy:
Students from HBCUs, HSIs, community colleges, and their alumni, are featured in our TikTok videos, highlighting honest conversations like the first-generation college experience, dealing with imposter syndrome, and breaking down code-switching. PwC employees serving as Access Your Potential mentors are featured in “storytime” style videos, sharing their unique experiences and paths to professional success. Our “Trailblazer Tuesday” series amplifies intersectional historical figures whose life's work paved the way for advancements across academia, sports, STEAM, and social justice.
We grew our following by prioritizing skit-based trending sounds, interacting with creators within our niche, and providing a valuable platform for students and mentors to share college and career advice.
Within one year of launching, the Access Your Potential TikTok became the program's top communications campaign performer, falling within the top 6% of all Access Your Potential communications campaigns across social and traditional media.
We built a community of more than 26,000 followers (to date) and continue to drive upwards of 4,000,000 video views. More than 33,000 users clicked on our content to learn about Access Your Potential’s offerings directly from our TikTok channel.
Student testimonials, especially comments received on our channel, are at the core of our success story:
- This actually gives me hope for the future 💕
- I saved this video to look back at on during those [needed] times
- I'm just starting high school so I might rewatch this if I'm ever able to start college. I'll make sure to do the best I can. Thank you!
Our team has been proud to cultivate authentic connections through TikTok as part of PwC’s broader commitment to fostering a culture of belonging.
Our organic and paid growth and engagement in 2022 outperformed all other PwC US brand social platforms and continues to outperform competitors. The success of this channel also supported the business case and strategy for the PwC US branded TikTok launch in May 2023.
By adopting a breakthrough social media approach, the Access Your Potential social presence continues to support PwC's purpose to build trust in society and solve important problems, while paving the way for more innovative formats across digital platforms.
