How to make your college’s video content different from all the other colleges

9 out of 10 times I can predict what a marketing director will say when asked "how do you want this video to make your audience feel?"

*Inspired*

This is not a bad answer, it’s just a really common one.

Think about the effects of 9 out of 10 colleges making videos around a commonly used and commonly felt word.

If we all have a similar notion of what it feels like to be inspired, that might be the reason why most college marketing videos look and feel like very other college marketing video.

The solution? Dig deeper.

tapping into specific emotions

What could it look like to help someone arrive at being inspired? Because within that there are a wide range of emotions to consider. By getting specific we can spark ideas that wouldn’t normally come about.

Primary emotions:
👉Happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger, surprise

What would our content look like if we were trying to evoke happiness?

-It might be funny/irreverent
-Maybe celebratory
-Showcasing adventure
-Motivational or encouraging

What about surprise?

-Do something people wouldn’t expect from a university (hint, a major catalyst in viral video content is surprise)
-Plot twists in storytelling

And then there are secondary emotions:

👉Remorse, Jealousy, Pride, Relief

And Tertiary emotions:
👉Contempt, Shame, Admiration

Emotions in the secondary and tertiary category a university might consider focusing on are…

Relief: how can we make someone who has a problem feel relieved after watching our video? Like our university understands them, and has their back.

Pride: this is a natural one for higher ed.. pride in the school and what the brand stands for… Boiler Up! Go Blue! DAH Bears…

Admiration: for a particular professor who is making a big impact on the personal lives of students for example.

Sadness: Huh? Yes. Watch the video below and tell me you don't having feelings of sadness that lead to admiration for him and the brand.

Surface Level Emotions = surface level videos

The power of storytelling and creating emotionally resonant content is in the specifics.

If you don't dig below the surface when you're ideating for a video, you'll end up with a surface-level video, and we all know there is no shortage of those in higher ed.

Let's differentiate our institutions by getting specific.

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