Major retailers, banks, restaurants, and even medical centers use branded video content every day to market to their target audience. Branded video content is used to create brand awareness and generate new interest and new leads. This type of marketing can be highly successful in higher education as well. Promotional school videos can be used to boost interest and engagement to attract more students. More than 80% of colleges and universities have a presence on YouTube, proving that branded video content is one of the fastest-growing and most effective marketing trends in higher education.
Video marketing is the most powerful and engaging outreach strategy there is when it comes to attracting new student interest, even beating out other social media platforms and apps. Online videos account for nearly 75% of all online traffic, with 55% of people reporting that they watch an online video every single day. Online videos can be created to tell the most compelling story about your university by highlighting your university’s most interesting and favorable aspects. Videos can then be disseminated across the internet quickly and efficiently, reaching thousands of potential new students.
Branded video content has taken a new turn in recent years by becoming interactive. As modern technology and online social media platforms change and progress, video content must also change to keep up with the modern-day standard. 64% of people agree they would spend more time watching a video if it was interactive. With so many colleges struggling to meet enrollment goals, gaining and keeping prospective student interest is more important than ever. Students today expect engaging and dynamic video content, rather than passive videos. With interactive video, viewers have more control over what’s going on in the video and they can control how they interact with the video. Interactive video features in your branded video can include 360-degree views, video quizzes, and video paths.
Interactive, branded video content is crucial to increasing leads on prospective students and converting them into enrolled students. Some of the many benefits of branded video content include:
A highly personalized experience - Interactive, branded video content delivers the most personalized experience possible while getting your university’s brand in front of prospective students. Students can learn more about specific aspects of your university that are of interest to them, providing highly relevant marketing content.
Better engagement - Traditional 2D marketing is antiquated and outdated and won’t capture and hold the interest of prospective students for long. By creating a highly personalized, memorable interactive video, you’ll create more opportunities for deeper engagement by prospective students. Interactive branded videos can hold the viewer’s attention for up to 44% longer than traditional videos.
Video game-style experience - As the name suggests, interactive videos create a video game like experience for the viewer. Videos that require participation and interaction by the viewer will hold the viewer’s interest longer and will make a more lasting impression. Involving the prospective student in the video process can give you a leg up on competition from other universities.
Higher conversion rates - With so many universities competing for students, it can sometimes be hard to meet enrollment goals. Branded interactive video content can help increase your conversion rates. 75% of prospective students report looking for virtual, interactive experiences. By giving prospective students, exactly what they want, your leads will turn into conversions at a significantly higher rate.
Audience Insights - Marketing to your target student audience can be hard if you don’t have thorough insights. Your branded interactive videos can give you some great audience insights by giving you access to all kinds of data including click information, form field information, and which paths prospective students take when viewing a video. You’ll even have access to information including parts of the video viewers may have skipped over and parts they may have watched multiple times. 60% of a student’s decision is already made before they ever identify themselves to a university. This can be a daunting and somewhat discouraging statistic, but audience insights from videos can help you use this statistic to your advantage.
There are also some things to be aware of when creating your videos. Although you want your video to be insightful and engaging, you should also be aware of the video length. Viewership tends to decrease as a video progresses, so it's important to front-load all of your most important information and keep your videos from becoming too lengthy. You also may want to do some research about when your target audience is most likely to be viewing your video. Once you know when the most popular time is for your target audience, you can strategically upload your branded videos during those time slots. Also, don’t quit! One video won’t do it. Keep creating branded video content and you’ll continue to keep the attention of already interested students and you’ll also generate new interest in your university. 79% of prospective students say they only want to engage with material that has been personalized. Branded interactive videos are a great way for you to market your college or university with a personalized touch that will generate new student leads and increase your conversions.