7 Higher Ed Video Marketing Strategy Ideas

With over a year of living under the threat of COVID-19, video consumption among Gen Z prospective students has only increased. Take advantage of these higher ed video marketing strategy ideas to ride the wave of education marketing’s future!

We all know that video marketing is the latest marketing trend that will never go away.

You don’t have to be a marketing data wizard to realize the powerful draw of video content online. 

But if you add a year’s worth of travel restrictions to the mix… 

Now you’ve thrown fuel on the fire.

In just the first three months of the pandemic from March 2020 to June, video marketing company Wistia reported that video consumption went up by 18%.

If you’re breaking into a nervous sweat just thinking of paying a Hollywood-sized budget for your video marketing, there’s no need to panic!

Higher ed video marketing doesn’t have to break the budget.

But for many education marketers, money isn’t the only problem.

Coming up with higher ed video marketing strategy ideas for your school can be tough. 

So here are seven higher ed video marketing strategy ideas that you can run with to get your video marketing campaigns off the ground and running.

Augmented and Virtual Reality Tours 

There’s no innate priority to this list, so virtual and augmented reality aren’t necessarily where you should put your attention. 

I put this first because as higher ed video marketing strategy ideas go, augmented and virtual reality are some of the most novel and fun ways to make your school stand out. 

Virtual reality is a fully artificial environment (or real environment reproduced in virtual space) in which the participant is immersed through the use of a headset.

Augmented reality is computer-generated content that appears to be superimposed over the real world through your device’s screen.

If you’ve got the budget, there are VR tour companies like YouVisit and Campus Tours who can help you produce amazingly realistic virtual campus tours.

In my view, using a video marketing agency to help you create virtual tours is the best way to go. 

With an agency, you should always have someone there to help you if you have problems with the technology or need some creative input. 

However, you can still get in on the action with a more limited budget.

Some interesting do-it-yourself sites that I found were H5P and CoSpaces.

You may have some costs to use these websites, but it should be minimal compared to a full service like a video marketing agency. 

In exchange for saving some money with these options, you’ll have to invest more time in learning how to use them and in creating the interactive videos yourself.

So you’ll have to decide which you have more of – time or money – to make the right decision for you. 

No matter which way you go, I still think this is one of the best higher ed video marketing strategy ideas out there.

Quick Note: If you go looking for VR tour creators on the Internet, you might be drawn to Google’s Tour Creator.

Unfortunately, as of “June 30, 2021, Google Expeditions and Tour Creator will no longer be accessible” according to the Tour Creator help guide. 

Obviously, you’ll want to be careful with the services you choose to use so you get something with staying power.

Live Streaming

Second on our list of higher ed video marketing strategy ideas is livestreaming. This might be one of the most intimate, or high-touch, options for your marketing personas. 

Live streams are gaining popularity on YouTube and other social media channels such as Instagram TV and Facebook Live. 

There are thousands of iterations for livestream content, but here are a few ways you could use livestreaming to create higher ed marketing content:

• Livestream gaming with your students as the gamers/hosts
• Dorm/campus tours
• Student talk show
• Faculty talk show
• Live event coverage

Consistency is key when using the livestreaming strategy.  

Pick a date and time when you’ll go live, market it, and keep to the schedule. 

Livestream video is the new reality TV.

Your livestreams don’t have to be about anything spectacular. 

Viewers are simply looking for something that looks authentic. It’s the new reality TV.

And the best thing about it is that you don’t need a million-dollar budget to put on a popular livestream to attract and cultivate prospective students.

Short-Form Videos

Think TikTok or Instagram Reels and you know what short-form videos are.

Of all the higher ed video marketing strategy ideas you could use, this one is the most light-hearted. 

Most viewers consume short-form videos to relax, be inspired, or be amazed.

@indwes

see you in the fall TaylorU 🥰😻 #IWUvsTU #football #collegefootball #iwu #wildcats #indwes #fyp

♬ Campus – Vampire Weekend

This makes short-form videos a great platform to show your school’s “fun side” or your athletic accomplishments.

Vlogs or Podcasts

Creating a vlog or video podcast is similar to the livestream option but without being “live.”

This, of course, means you can put a lot more creative editing and planning into your videos.

Vlogs tend to be very personal, like a diary in video format. 

Because of this intimate nature, vlogs might be better suited for school mascots or other kinds of light-hearted brand representatives like school pet mascots.

Video podcasts are pre-recorded video shows that can touch on more serious topics in academics or popular culture. 

User Generated Video Content

User generated video content is the “word of mouth” version of these higher ed video marketing strategy ideas. 

Because of that, this might be one of the most potent strategies on this list.

User generated videos can get up to ten times as many views as your education branded content.

Also, some research shows that prospects who land on your school’s website from a user generated video tend to spend twice as much time there.

A trending example of user generated video content are college or university “decision reveals.”

It’s a little strange to think of this as a video marketing strategy because you’re not the one generating the content.

To encourage more user generated content, I recommend thinking of ways to train more of your brand ambassadors.

Let them be the ones to create the content for the best effect.

Educational Videos

Of the higher ed video marketing strategy ideas on this list, your faculty will probably be most helpful here.

Education videos are what they sound like. 

They are videos that explain academic concepts in an accessible way for your audience. 

I really like Southern Seminary’s “Honest Answers” playlist. 

Each video shows off their faculty and increases their video search engine ranking using educational videos that explain different theological issues.

I even like that they include videos on some controversial theological topics. 

By tackling these questions head on, prospective students know exactly where Southern stands on various theological positions.

While it might repel some students, it will certainly attract others. 

This automatic self-selection is critical when the prospect eventually begins talking to your enrollment team.

Video Ads

Finally, I’ll mention video ads in my list of higher ed video marketing strategy ideas.

Creating video ads for television might increase your brand awareness, but it does little to boost enrollment. 

Yet I still recommend creating video ads…

…for social media consumption on platforms like Instagram Ads, Facebook Ads, or YouTube Ads. 

With these video ads, you can target your audiences with precision and run reports afterwards to see how your video is performing. 

The Future Awaits

Video marketing has been the future for some time now, and that trend is only going to grow. If you haven’t jumped into the video marketing waters, the time is now! 

Video is one of those technologies with staying power like email. 

Better to start now with your toe in the water than to keep waiting for the right moment.

Need a digital marketing agency that knows how to boost enrollment for private colleges and universities and independent schools like yours?

Contact us today, and let’s see how we can help!

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Featured image by Fizkes via Adobe Stock