When it comes to boosting higher education application rates, nothing beats video as the ultimate tool for giving prospective students a rich glimpse into your institution’s offerings. Applicants want to hear directly from current students and faculty, see exciting projects in action, and get a sense of what it feels like to be on campus.
By populating your website and social media channels with engrossing video content, you'll captivate viewers, enhance engagement, and ultimately drive an increase in applications.
Shave’s Boston video production team has years of experience producing admissions videos for higher ed, including this one that showcases Tufts University’s Gordon Institute:
Here are five areas of consideration when producing admissions videos:
1. Goals and Objectives
Kick off each project with a clear sense of what the video is trying to do. What is the action you want people to take when they are done watching? What do you want prospective students to know about your program? And, perhaps most importantly, what does success look like? It should be measurable; number of views, number of clicks, number of new social connections, etc.
2. Key Message(s)
What is the key message, or messages, and who will be delivering the message? Knowing the answer to this will help in planning interview questions and/or writing the script. You should be clear on what you want the audience to know.
3. Cast
Who will be featured in your video? Current students? A mix of students and faculty/staff? Try to imagine who your audience would like to hear from. And remember that hearing from a wide variety of speakers is ideal, since college applicants tend to be diverse in many ways.
4. Creative idea / tone
Is there a creative idea that will anchor your video (i.e. a script where each student says a line and they are filmed all over campus, or punchy sound bites mixed with b-roll)? Or a specific tone you want to hit? Music selection, pacing, and graphics can all influence the overall tone of the piece.
5. Where will the video live?
It’s important to consider where you will be showing / posting the video when it is complete. Will it mostly play on social media platforms or your college website? On a digital display in your admissions lobby? In an email that prospective students receive? The answer could be all of the above, in which case you may want to either keep it really short (60-90 seconds), or cut a couple different versions of the video that are tailored to the platform.
No matter how you tackle admissions videos, highlighting student experience is key. If you are able to do that in a concise, visually engaging way, you are on the road to attracting the applicants you are looking for.
Click here to explore more of Shave’s higher education video work.