Marketing higher education on YouTube: a content analysis of college promotional videos

Colleges and universities in the United States spend over $2 billion annually on marketing and advertising. Increasingly, higher education institutions are turning to social media platforms, such as YouTube, to showcase their recruitment videos; however, to date, this body of persuasive messages has not been systematically surveyed. This study content analyzed a random sample of 251 videos promoting four-year institutions across the US that are accessible on YouTube, focusing on key persuasive factors, including the primary persuasive appeal used in the video, whether the persuasive message was stated directly or conveyed implicitly, and whether the presentation style was exposition- or narrative-based. Taking an integrative approach to content analysis, viewer responses (i.e. number of views, number of 'likes' and comments) were also captured and used as outcome variables in the current study. Our analysis revealed that college promotional videos tend to be brief, expository messages that explicitly encourage enrollment at the advertised schools. Additionally, institutions often promote their brands by foregrounding user imagery.