The Obstacle

The University of Nebraska has about 23,000 students, which is about 10% of the entire population of Lincoln, NE. Big state school? Small midwestern college town? There are a lot of stereotypes flying through my head already. As a Nebraskan high schooler, your college options are increasing (growing online education options, competitive out-of-state rates, loopholes, etc.), so why would you consider UNL?

Since UNL has such an obvious battle to face, it would be easy for them to create some videos with the same lame scenes: students in lab coats (doing real science!), students working on computers, and super-engaged professors (what?). All this has been done in the past, to try to bolster the prospect’s view of “higher” academics.

The Videos

But UNL didn’t take that path, and instead features admissions counselor David Burge hosting funny, unusual, and thankfully honest depictions of life on campus at Nebraska.

The videos offer a wide range of content, such as “man on the street” interviews, guided tours around campus, weekly Grey’s Anatomy recaps by current students, and student band featurettes. Talk about unabashedly authentic!

Leveraging Online Video

The University of Nebraska admissions team gets big praise from me for their tactics surrounding the videos themselves:

• They posted videos everywhere (not just their own site). A simple Google-search reveals that they posted the videos to YouTube, Revver, and MetaCafe. Tip: They could use TubeMogul to get on more sites.
• Anyone can subscribe their videos via RSS. Allow people to download their videos, making them more spreadable. You might even see some mashups, which might be a marketer’s dream.
• There is interactivity right there on the page. You can vote on the video, see related ones, and ask a question directly.

Tactics Falls Short

For all the things they’re doing right, I have two problems with the Real Nebraska home page:

• You can’t copy HTML code to embed the videos right there on the site. It’s common practice nowadays and a must for anyone wanting to share videos online. Let your viewers distribute it for you!
• The RSS (Subscribe to Podcast) link is difficult to take action on. There should be a big red button that says “subscribe!”

And that’s it! Congratulations on such a great series and being bold enough to share your personality with prospective students!

If you happen upon this post, David & team, share some of your returns and findings!