Video Marketing boosts College Admissions: The Ultimate ROI
Erie County Community College’s main campus building.
In the age of social media, there is no denying that video content reigns supreme. The emergence of Tiktok in 2018 (previously known as Musical.ly) changed the video marketing landscape in a big way. Video became the most dynamic way to attract new customers, and businesses quickly caught on.
TikTok’s Rise Changed the Game
While obvious giants like Starbucks, McDonalds and Pizza Hut immediately saw its potential in their advertising campaigns, even smaller companies with older audiences, like the Association of Chartered Certified Accounts, managed to find not only viral success on the platform, but also a younger audience to engage with.
With Tiktok’s rapid rise came other social media behemoths pushing video content to the forefront of their algorithms, such as the creation of Instagram Reels and Facebook Stories, with hopes of capitalizing on the popularity of the exclusively video platform.
This drastic change in the marketing world has allowed for other unlikely organizations to benefit from the creativity of video marketing. Enter: the colorful and dynamic world of colleges and universities.
Social Media Marketing and Colleges: A Match Made in Heaven
Much like any business looking for new customers, universities have to advertise in order to attract new students each year. What makes colleges unique is their need to target a very specific age demographic of applicants, as well as the parents who tend to play a large role in decision making.
This age demographic largely consists of 18-24 year olds, which just so happens to be the largest demographic of TikTok users, with 25-34 year olds not far behind. Because the younger generation spends most of their time exclusively using video platforms, the colleges and universities who shifted their marketing focus to these platforms have seen better results.
Elise Michaux, the Marketing and Communications Director at Erie County Community College, or EC3, commented on the necessity of video marketing to attract students to the newly established institution. Michaux made consistent video marketing a major part of EC3’s success since its establishment in 2021, with an array of video content tailored to the different social media platforms.
One series, known as Student Stories, has become invaluable to the marketing of the school in ways only video can accomplish. These interview style testimonials allow for authentic experiences recounted by real students in their own voices. She commented on the necessity of the series noting,
“Student Stories has undoubtedly been the most successful concept. The students sit in a chair and tell us about their EC3 experience from their point of view. It has been invaluable as they are our best advertisement. We can do billboards and have a fancy website, but they're the ones who are conversing with who can be our next student.”
Concepts like Student Stories, allow for a variety of consistent content that highlight the human element of campus life, one of the most important aspects to potential new students.
The Flexibility of Video Creates Brand Awareness
With the flexibility of video marketing comes the ability for brand awareness, or the unique aspects of a university that make it stand out from its competitors. Different social media accounts call for different video formats and having a multi-platform approach allows for more opportunities to show off the variety of college offerings.
For instance, though short form video dominates a majority of social media, a college or university website presents a great stage for showcasing a longer, more in-depth story. Brand films are great opportunities to tell the full story of a college or university, catch up with past and present students or highlight the unique experiences of particular majors.
These documentary style films offer an authentic view of the student experience. They can even be a fantastic collaborative opportunity between students, faculty and a third party production company’s outside perspective.
While videos have become commonplace in marketing, they’ve also become more accessible to create. Applications like TikTok and Instagram offer in-application editing software and abilities to directly connect with followers in livestream format. These offerings allow for a number of video concepts to be produced with an in-house marketing team and can make consistent video content more manageable.
However, this accessibility can be a double edge sword, as the need for sleeker, memorable or more eye-catching video content to stand out from competitors becomes an important marketing investment. More people than ever opt for checking out an establishment online before visiting it in-person, which means a college tour video or an “introduction to the faculty” video may be the only option for a first impression.
In-House Marketing and Outside Production Companies: The Perfect Blend
If the only videos online that represent a college or university showcase shaky camera angles, poor lighting or inaudible audio, a student may decide against a visit altogether. The combination of minimally produced social media content and glossy, high end video created by outside production companies finds that perfect balance of authenticity and professionalism across platforms.
Whether working with a newly established university or a known institution, video marketing is a great way to introduce the public to a college or keep students updated to new and improved developments.
Michaux explains how important video marketing is for showcasing EC3 in an accurate, positive light as the college makes itself more known within the community. She commented on the importance of these early years of marketing saying,
“Video marketing allows people to see who we are and what we're about. When we share these videos on social media, they receive the most engagement. It's a great way for us to demystify what it takes to be an EC3 student, you see people who look like you and get to know the faces and environment before you even come through our doors.”
The big question any college or university may have when considering investing in outside video marketing, is how to gauge the return on investment or ROI. While these figures can often be murky for other businesses, colleges have a more explicit measurement: enrollment.
When looking at the average cost of one year tuition against the average cost of one year of marketing investment, the ROI becomes clear- if just one person chooses to enroll in a college because of a video, the investment is returned.
When Michaux was gauging the success of her multi-year video marketing investment, she asked students who enrolled at EC3 what got them in the door. Overwhelmingly the answer was their social media content. She commented on this success rate explaining,
“Students who eventually enroll have remarked that they took time to watch them [Student Stories series], and it dispelled the ideas they had in their heads about what college actually is and that is HUGE. The videos encourage them to take the jump! We're proud of that.”
With the growing popularity and staying power of video content across social media platforms, the need to invest in a variety of video concepts is undeniable. Using media companies to help create new and innovative video ideas can be the tipping point for students and parents alike when making one of the biggest decisions in a person's life: what college to choose.
If students are choosing to invest their time, money and future in a college or university, investing in a professional and memorable image gives potential applicants the confidence to make that all important choice.
