Video Powered Higher Education Branding

Anyone involved in higher education marketing and branding could learn something from the annual ritual known officially as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting, or more commonly, the Draft. In the early days of the league, the Draft played out in quiet seclusion, owners and general managers holed up in a New York hotel, ordering take out and burning through many planted acres of cigar tobacco. Fast forward 60 or 70 years and the Draft stands as a three-night prime time television event. Along with presenting sponsors Verizon and Anheuser-Busch, the Draft attracts big ad spenders such as GM, Nike, AT&T, Axe, Fiat, Geico, Jim Beam and Samsung. The whole spectacle is fueled and fed by a video archive covering 100-plus college players, including canned commentary from dozens of analysts. So what’s any of it have to do with higher education marketing and branding? User appetite for video content on higher education websites and social media channels far exceeds supply at all but a few schools. Many colleges express a longstanding frustration about shooting and then sharing the wrong kind of video — too long, academic, static or all of the above. A small minority of schools such as Boston University have given significant resources to capturing video stories, at home and abroad. What’s missing too often is an assignment desk — a central editor who plans video stories with an eye toward story, keyword tagging, social media signals, organic SEO and brand. Video holds power that colleges and universities have barely tapped. Be inspired. Take control. Educate the academic side about the full value on content in the age of social signals. Build a best in class video archive — and your audience will come — like face-painted Jets and Giants fans storming Radio City Music Hall.