LIVE OR PRE-RECORDED VIDEO — WHICH IS BETTER?: A group of HubSpot employees discovered that publishing pre-recorded YouTube videos for their weekly marketing video series got 58% more views than the series did when conducted on Facebook Live. So, is live video more or less effective than pre-recorded video? Some types of video content undoubtedly benefit from being broadcasted live, like breaking news or a conference. Other types of video content perform best in a pre-recorded style, like a weekly interview series, a new episode of a show, or even a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) series.
Why you should care: Live video is a rapidly growing trend, but enrollment teams shouldn’t be too quick to jump on board. Video content is diverse and it’s important to think about where and when prospective students might watch your videos. Live video could be great for a graduate and professional fair or admissions event, but may not work as well for a financial aid explanation video or student interview series.
NOW ENTERING THE AGE OF CONVERSATION MARKETING: Conversational marketing is a new wave of marketing strategy and thought. It involves having 1:1 personal conversations with people, meeting them across multiple digital channels where, when, and how they want to communicate with your brand. It extends beyond chat-bots; in fact those who are doing conversational marketing best incorporate phone calls, texts, Facebook Messenger, email, and even Slack to meet leads, prospects, and customers where they prefer to communicate. .
Why you should care: Chat bots, CRM systems, and automation are enabling enrollment teams to more seamlessly interact with prospective students and drastically reduce response times. It allows admissions coordinators, academic advisors, or even faculty to talk directly to prospective students while also gathering more information on them and providing quick answers to their roadblock questions.
THE FOUNDATION OF CONTENT MARKETING: You’re generating quality blogs, infographics, a weekly podcast and more. You’re analyzing email opens, click-through rates, visits and conversions. But like many marketers, the most difficult question to answer is why some content outperforms others. Enter research —the foundation of content marketing. The best research in digital marketing is conducted in many ways, including surveys, usability testing, and “was this page helpful?” buttons. Research helps add context to data and learn what’s truly important to your target market. Don’t forget, research should be conducted both before and after a campaign.
Why you should care: In the world of higher education, it’s tempting to wrap up a campaign and quickly move forward to the next event or campaign without taking the time to perform post-marketing research. Leveraging post-event surveys, conducting usability testing, and being creative with prospective student feedback can help enrollment teams obtain the primary information needed to add context and provide answers to a campaign’s performance.