As the global education business becomes more competitive, colleges and universities around the world are rethinking their marketing methods. Rankings and reputations no longer have the clout they once did. Students are going online to research their post-secondary alternatives these days, and higher education marketing films are more influential than ever.
The lesson for educational institutions is clear: engage in higher education video marketing or risk missing out on a chance to communicate with potential students.
Don’t know where to begin? Continue reading for seven video production ideas for higher education marketing.
Why is Video Marketing for Higher Education Important?
If video isn’t already a part of your marketing strategy, it should be. Students watch a lot of videos on the internet. Today’s prospective undergraduate students are 84 percent more likely to conduct their research online, with 68 percent citing videos as a factor in their final decision. According to educations.com’s 2019 research, which polled 32,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students from 192 countries, this is the case. According to Google research, 80% of online university students claimed that a video influenced their application process.
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Open Houses in Cyberspace
School open houses are a win-win situation for students and educators alike. They provide prospective students with the opportunity to tour the campus, meet with existing students, and sit in on a few sample lectures to get a sense of what it’s like to be a student there. The open days of colleges and universities allow them to promote their facilities and communicate with potential students. Despite the best efforts of your university or college’s website, students can only learn so much.
Prospects who live in another city (or country) or who cannot afford to go will be unable to participate. When it comes to virtual open days, that is, unless your institution has one in place.
Educations.com found that students today are a whopping 123% more likely to credit a virtual open day with helping them make their college decision.
Using the proper mix of material and technology, you can create a virtual experience that matches the on-campus experience. Your open-day presentations should be streamed live. Use your video content management system to showcase student and alumnus testimonials, course examples, and more. If you do it right, your remote customers won’t feel like they’re losing out on any opportunities.
- Using Virtual Tours
Both students and postsecondary institutions benefit from campus tours, which are similar to open days. This gives prospective students an idea of what it’s like to live on campus: hanging out with new people in dorms; studying in the library; eating in the dining hall; and so on. Even better if the tour is led by a student volunteer who is excited about the subject matter.
- A sample of the Course Material
Prospective undergraduate and graduate students place a high value on faculty quality. Even if your institution has the world’s most renowned and interesting instructors, this won’t entice prospective students to enroll if they don’t know about it. Glorious (or scathing) ratings on RateMyProfessors.com can only provide a limited amount of useful information.
Demonstrating the quality of your teaching personnel is the most effective method of conveying their abilities. With video excerpts of lectures and course summaries, prospective students get an idea of the professor’s knowledge, teaching style, and other traits.
Even if a prospective student lives nearby, he or she can miss out on an opportunity to tour the campus before making their final decision. Virtual campus tours are an excellent way to get around this obstacle.
Make a virtual tour of your campus that showcases everything that makes it a terrific location to go to school with a high-end camera and professional audio equipment. Create a more immersive experience by using a 360-degree camera.
- Testimonials from Students, Alumni, and Faculty Members
For corporations, institutions, and universities alike, testimonials are a strong marketing tool. This is due to the fact that students (and the broader public) place a high value on what their classmates say. Prospective undergraduate and postgraduate students, in fact, appreciate reviews from present university students by 33% and 22%, respectively, when evaluating their alternatives for colleges.
Alumni testimonies can be as beneficial, especially if they provide a clear picture of the opportunities the program or degree afforded the alumnae.
It’s the same for professors too. There are a number of things prospective faculty members may want to know about the university’s culture, research areas of focus, and other resources. Potential future colleagues can be highly persuasive when they give a glowing review.
- Insights from Current Research
There is a lot more to universities than merely educational institutions: they are also research facilities. In addition to highlighting the student experience, it’s critical to showcase the school’s administrative side as well. Your university’s reputation will be bolstered, and you’ll be able to attract more world-class researchers to your campus.
Your company’s branding efforts can benefit greatly from a short movie that promotes a particular project or researcher. Clarify how the study’s findings might be put to use in the real world. Your video may already be clear to specialists in the subject, but you’ll need to explain this in order to reach the widest possible audience.
- Livestreams of School Events
Event-based marketing might include everything from graduation ceremonies and sports games to guest speakers and theatrical shows. Streaming school events allow prospective students to get a firsthand look at campus life. Because distinctive university factors are 36 percent more likely to affect today’s prospective undergraduate students, this is extremely essential.
Additionally, school event live streams might bring in audiences that are unable to attend in people, such as parents and alumni.
While pre-recorded videos can be helpful, it’s better to do it in person rather than on a computer. It has been shown that on-demand video content is only three times as compelling as live video in terms of viewer participation.
- Customized Messages
Text-based messages are typically perceived as cold and impersonal, making them easier to disregard. Email, on the other hand, remains a powerful marketing tool. One reason why videos in emails might increase click-through rates by 300 percent is because of this.
Think about using a tool, which enables you to produce and attach bespoke videos to your emails in an easy and convenient way. It’s a great way to reach out to new students and keep in touch with former students.
Conclusion
Every year, colleges and universities spend money on testimonial videos, websites, campaigns, social media posts, and commercials. However, how sure are they that these films genuinely resonate with their marketing personas, and how do they know? For this purpose, on this post, we’ve compiled a list of the greatest college and university videos based on user research and divided them into eight broad categories.