Short video reels on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, or YouTube are becoming vital for advertising your school. Concise and visually engaging content is the best way to capture attention, engage with your audience, and showcase your institution's unique attributes. Within a few seconds, you can communicate important messages that allow prospective students and their families to get a glimpse of your programs without investing a lot of time.
At this point, you might be thinking, “All this sounds great! But isn’t it expensive to create these videos?”
It doesn’t have to be.
You do not need a full-time crew filming your campus to tell short stories. Two days of video shooting can fill in an entire year of social media updates.
Here’s a simple step-by-step strategy you can use:
1. Hire a videographer to record student interviews.
2. Select several students or alumni to interview.
3. Write down 52 questions and let your subjects answer these questions on camera.
4. Think of questions that include evergreen topics. Evergreen content is not time-sensitive and can be reused or repurposed multiple times without becoming outdated. Topics like education benefits, campus facilities, career path choices, or student success stories are examples of content that can be used across borders.
Future students are often interested in what their day-to-day life at your school would be like. Short videos are perfect for teasing your campus events and activities. You can showcase student success stories and alumni’s achievements on the platforms your audience follows.
Showcasing real-life experiences of students and staff members adds a personal touch to any marketing campaign. These stories can be incredibly compelling and will resonate with prospective students and their families.
A bulk video shoot is not only smart, it’s also very efficient. This is a cheaper way to capture and create ongoing content. You can easily assemble content for 52 weeks of the year in a day or two of shooting.
Each interview can be cut into short video answers. Here is an example of a Snapchat video reel we created for RVCC.
This video can easily be adapted for other platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. It can also be published as part of a paid campaign on social media.
You can combine multiple student interviews to give an array of viewpoints on the same topic. You can turn any short answer into a reel. Adding graphics and other visuals allows you to create longer-form videos for targeted marketing campaigns.
You can convert your student interviews into YouTube shorts. Shorts often have their own trending and hashtag sections, which can help your content get discovered by a larger audience interested in specific topics.
You can take still shots from each video for Google advertising or other social media initiatives. This allows you to repurpose video content across the border.
Student success stories can be published on your website, landing pages, and digital campaigns or distributed with your email marketing.
Repurposing video content for a school marketing campaign is a great way to maximize your efforts and reach a wider audience.
Short videos are highly shareable and encourage user interaction. Viewers are likelier to comment, like, or engage with a short video than longer formats. This interaction has the potential to go viral and reach a wider audience through social media algorithms.
If you're looking to promote your school through social media, harnessing the power of video is crucial. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and YouTube are popular among the younger demographic, a significant portion of the higher education audience. Leveraging these platforms can help you connect with your target prospective students.
With a limited budget and video experience, your school could film, cut, and repurpose student interviews and success stories. However, if you need help getting organized, you can count on our team for a marketing boost.
Instead of hiring a videographer, hire our agency on a few hours’ retainer. We can film, design, edit, and create engaging content and help you plan student recruitment campaigns. We can help you turn any student interview into trending digital content if you already have some existing footage.
Students are seeking programs that speak to them. Our agency can help you craft online experiences that help prospective students envision their education and build a sense of belonging to your school. For a quote, just say hello@edesigninteractive.com.