Did you know that, in 2024, adults in the US spent an average of 52 minutes per day watching social media video content? Or that this number is set to reach 57 minutes by 2028?
All of which means video should be a key element in any higher ed institution’s social media strategy. To help you get it right, we ran a session on video creation dos and don’ts for higher ed marketers, hosted by Chris Forde – Director of Marketing & Public Information at Illinois Eastern Community Colleges & Lincoln Trail College – and featuring insights from:
- Stephanie Ramirez, Director of Social and New Media at Amherst College
- Laura Nickerson, Head of Social Media at Keck School of Medicine of USC
- David Ernst, Assistant Director of Digital Marketing at Bates College
Read on to learn about what makes an engaging video, how to create a high-performing video creation workflow, and much more.
Creating Engaging Video Content for Different Platforms
Every higher ed social media marketer wants to create more engaging video content. However, what works on one platform may not necessarily work on another, so it can be challenging to know where to start.
Laura at USC’s Keck School of Medicine suggests beginning with the fundamentals:
Are you shooting for a horizontal platform like YouTube or a vertical one like Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts? If you share a horizontal video on a vertical platform (or vice versa), it won’t get much engagement.
Is your content going to live in a personalized, algorithm-driven feed like Reels or TikTok? If so, remember that users are constantly scrolling, so you only have a fraction of a second to catch their attention.
“It really is important that, right off the bat, you look at your video content from the perspective of how you can get as much attention as possible for all this work you’re doing,” she explains.
Beyond the technical requirements of producing great video content, Laura says you need to consider your audience: “It’s really a question of what do I want to say versus what does somebody want to hear?”
For instance, you might have a bunch of professors who want to talk in-depth about an obscure, complex topic – but, realistically, that’s not going to play well on social media, especially on a short-form video platform like Reels or TikTok.
Meanwhile, Stephanie at Amherst College recommends always adding captions to videos. She says there are two big reasons for this:
- Captions make videos accessible to folks who are deaf or hard of hearing
- Captions allow people to engage with a video even if they can’t listen to the audio
Creating Authentic-Feeling Content for Student Audiences
“Authenticity” has become a buzzword in the social media marketing world – something that every brand aims for. And it’s easy to see why, with Forrester research revealing that:
- 71% of US consumers say they can relate to authentic brands (and therefore want to support them)
- 70% say authentic brands give them a “stronger feeling of confidence”
But how, exactly, do you create video content that feels authentic to student audiences?
For Stephanie, the most important thing is to get students involved. “Students need to be the folks who are in front of the camera and behind the camera,” she says. “Give them an opportunity to bounce ideas and even to grab a camera.”
However, to be clear, she’s not suggesting giving students control of your entire social media marketing strategy. “You’re still the expert. Students need parameters, and they need to understand best practices.”
David at Bates College agrees that if authenticity is your goal, students need to be at the forefront of your content creation process. Like Stephanie, he collaborates with students by sharing guidance and setting parameters, then letting them take the lead on ideation, brainstorming, and shooting content.
For this to work, you need a reliable team of students. This might mean building a volunteer social ambassador program or an advisory panel with whom you can meet regularly to discuss ideas.
If you don’t have a team of volunteers, David suggests simply interviewing students yourself.
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“It’s a nice mental shortcut,” he says. “Engage your students, make them part of the process, and that’s a quick way to capture authentic content.”
Keeping Leadership Happy While Resonating With Students
Higher ed marketing is tough.
On one hand, you’re striving to share authentic content that engages with a Gen Z audience. But on the other hand, senior leadership might be pressuring you to create more traditional, ivy-covered college content. How do you strike a balance between the two and keep everyone happy?
For David, the best approach is to target trending topics that you can tie back to your brand. “You can take those audio and trending pieces of content and make them your own.”
For example, check out Bates College’s version of the SubwayTakes interview format:
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Things are a little more challenging for Laura.
Given her role at a school of medicine, she’s targeting a broad audience that includes donors, patients, researchers, and students. As such, she says it wouldn’t be appropriate to follow every social media trend. “We’re not Duolingo.”
By targeting only highly relevant and appropriate themes and formats, Laura has built trust with senior leadership.
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“Once you create that pipeline of saying, ‘I’ll protect this brand and our students with all my heart,’ they start to ease up the rains a little, and you can start to play a bit more.”
Ultimately, leaders are more likely to support your strategy and vision if they understand the value of your work. To that end, Stephanie recommends showcasing your content and linking it to your higher education institution’s priorities.
For instance, Amherst College’s key focus is on strengthening the student community and sense of belonging, so it’s up to Stephanie to demonstrate how her team’s content is making that happen. This Reel is a good example. It features current students and highlights various campus locations.
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Incorporating Students in Social Media Videos
Students love to see other students on social media – so how can you get them involved?
Stephanie notes that she already has a team of student interns she can rely on to create content. However, she doesn’t want the same people to appear in all of Amherst’s social media videos.
To that end, her team developed a form asking students across campus if they wanted to be featured on the school’s social media. When a relevant opportunity arises, anyone who says “yes” is contacted.
She also relies on campus partners who know more about current students, such as athletics and student affairs, to identify potential candidates for an upcoming project. This is especially helpful when creating some of the school’s recurring content formats, such as “Questions on the Quad” and “Day in the Life.”
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Stephanie also revealed a planned future project involving giving students disposable cameras and asking them to “run off” and capture their own content. Watch this space!
Overcoming Privacy Concerns When Capturing Content
For Laura at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, there are a whole lot of challenges around capturing footage.
Patient privacy is one potential stumbling block. Laura says featuring patients in content is “kind of a non-starter for us” unless there’s a bigger story to accompany it.
Her #1 tip for persuading people to appear on-camera? “Continually nag. Everybody – the students, the faculty, the staff, anyone. Don’t be afraid to be annoying.”
Beyond that, she says building up your “institutional knowledge” can be a major time-saver. “Eventually, you start to learn all those little departments and pockets and groups, and you can start emailing or calling people specifically and getting the content from them, because you’ve created that relationship.”
Editing Video Content: Tools & Workflows
The first time you open a video editing tool, it can seem pretty intimidating. Stephanie says that choosing the right tools for the job depends on your workflow and the specific project you’re tackling. Her team uses a mix of three solutions:
For example, Canva is typically used for quick tasks that students can complete on mobile, such as adding captions to videos, whereas Premiere Pro is reserved for less urgent projects that require a higher-quality feel.
In addition to considering the use case, Stephanie says it’s essential to use a platform you feel comfortable with. If you’re new to video editing, start with Canva, then work your way up to more advanced software. “Watch YouTube videos, go to LinkedIn Learning – they’ve got some really great resources for you to start experimenting with those tools.”
But what if you don’t have the budget for a business license for Canva or Premiere Pro? Don’t worry. Each social platform has its own built-in editing tools, and they’re generally pretty good. In fact, David says his student team actually prefers using the in-app solutions.
(David also recommends CapCut, a video editing and graphic design platform owned by ByteDance, which also owns TikTok.)
However, editing in the TikTok app has a couple of problems. First, there is the dreaded watermark. Second, drafts are saved locally, rather than in the cloud, which makes collaboration harder.
David and his team have developed a workflow to overcome these issues. It involves using a private test account. Here’s how the process works:
- Someone creates a video in the test account
- After a review process, they publish the content via the test account
- Next, they use a tool called SnapTik to download the video without a watermark
- Finally, they have a “clean” asset they can upload to their public socials
Quickfire Tips for Better Video Content
Lastly, each of our panelists shared a quick tip to help higher ed marketers take the first step in creating video content for social media.
For Laura, the most important thing is just to get started. “I think people get really freaked out by trying anything new. So do new things; change your mindset.”
In a similar vein, David recommends creating something fun. Or, if you’re not feeling at your creative best, try capturing some B-roll. “Just get some basic footage of your campus, make a little cut of something, and feel the flow of what it’s like to get started. Then you’ll feel like, ‘Oh, I can do this’.”
Stephanie adds that, in the early days, you shouldn’t be constrained by the pressure of creating something you could publish immediately. “We don’t have to constrict ourselves with the idea that we can’t make mistakes. Don’t feel like it has to be a perfect end product.”
Want to learn more about higher ed content creation best practices from pro social media marketers? Register for our upcoming Higher Education Virtual Conference.
Featured image by Freepik.
