Q: I’d like to know if LERN offers any advice on creating a video for marketing our programs. I see the link to videos in Ideas from the Field, eMarketing, however most of those links don’t work and they are old videos. I’ve been wanting to create a video for our unit for some time now, but according to our marketing department I need to come up with a script first, and I’m not sure where to begin. If there is any information out there on best practices for creating videos, or any good examples of other college continuing ed videos, please share!
The second way programs use video as an instructional device. For instance, so programs have videos showing potential students how to register - or how to sign up for an email account with their program.
The third way is to use your content experts (instructors) to do short videos (or use footage from some of your classes). This is what LERN does and I think it's the most effective, because it gives potential students a "taste" of what you're offering - and these samples have become particularly helpful in Inbound marketing efforts. Here's our video channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/LERNInternational
You'll notice that I'm showing you examples directly from YouTube, but once you load your video there, it is imperative that you imbed the video on your website. Here's how you do that: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/171780
In terms of how to approach your script, it depends on what kind of video you're doing. In the SDSU example above, they would have went into the interviews with students with the hope of getting them to talk on certain points. For instance you'll notice the first four testimonials on the video go like this:
Testimonial 1 - Talks about the professors
Testimonial 2 - Talks about the quality and diversity of the classes
Testimonial 3 - Talks about how fun and easy it is to do
Testimonial 4 - Talks about making friends.
Then they shot a lot of B-roll of the courses and switched between B-roll and the speakers with the voiceover continuing throughout.
I'd be happy to talk to you about this, if you're interested. You can email me at kart@lern.orgif you'd like to set up a phone call next week. I would be able to give you more guidance if I know a little bit more about what kind of video you'd like to make.