You may have noticed that video is now one of the primary tools for an effective online marketing strategy. More schools are using videos to add colour and personality to their brand. With fast internet speeds and mobile-optimised playback, video marketing has become a necessary option in grabbing the attention of prospective parents and creating more conversions.
However, with more videos getting posted and played back on a daily basis, you must be able to make your video marketing more appealing and interesting to make it work. Here are five ways to capitalise on the effectiveness of video marketing for your school to capture the attention of your prospective parents:
1. Aim for authenticity
The days of long, highly-polished, staged, adult-centric admission videos are gone. School videos are now becoming shorter, unpolished and student-centred. So, remember to keep the following in mind:
– Short – aim for 30 seconds to 4:00 minutes, depending on the type of video.
– Student audience – as a student becomes older they take more of a role in selecting the school they will attend. Engage prospective students with peer driven content.
– Transitions – make the transitions quick and frequent.
2. Keep it short and sweet
Studies show that audience engagement drops sharply after 30 seconds, especially if customers are unfamiliar with your brand. Certain types of content – for example, in-depth interviews about academic programs – require a longer format, but a good rule of thumb is to aim for maximum impact in minimum time. Keep it simple.
3. Keep track of the figures
Effective video marketing has to be engaging right from the start, but how do you know where your video is at risk of losing its viewers interest? That’s where video analytics come in. Detailed video analytics will tell you who’s watching your video, how long they stay engaged and exactly which page they visited when they did click away. Armed with that information, you can sharpen your message and target it more precisely.
4. Observe the marketing distribution
YouTube, vimeo and Instagram are great places to host your video, but make sure you’re thinking about how to get your content out into the world. Embed the video player into pages on your school’s site and make sure it’s clearly branded. Engage all of your social media outlets to promote your new content.
5. Ensure school marketing strategy and brand alignment
While it can be tempting to seize the opportunity video provides to create spontaneous, loopy content, your messaging should be consistent, even in this form. Videos should adhere to your school’s tone and style. When used with an eye on brand consistency, video will enhance your school’s brand message.
Anyone with a smartphone or laptop can make a video, but that doesn’t mean that everyone should. A bad video – one with poor audio quality, shoddy lighting or jumbled editing – can be even worse than no video at all.
Video is just one of the many tools that can improve your school’s visual identity. There is a vast array of resources you can use to make the visual aspect of your school marketing effective.
