Imagery
High quality, relevant and realistic imagery should feature throughout your web pages to showcase a wide variety of accommodation – different room types, kitchens, bathrooms, social spaces and outdoor areas will all provide an insight into what it’s like to live in that residence. It’s also a good idea to have a balanced mix of styled room shots and student lifestyle and community images taken within the accommodation spaces.
The styling of rooms is particularly valuable. Not only does this aid consistency, it can dramatically impact the perception of the accommodation as students are able to visualise themselves living within the accommodation. Too many personal belongings or busy/messy room decorations can be distracting and the same spaces with professional looking styling can assist with the decision making process.
Student feedback from annual surveys informs us that they want further high quality, representative images of their accommodation across all room types and residences. Often there is a limited number of images available which in turn leads to further enquiries and disappointment or confusion at intake, particularly if an in-person visit hasn’t been possible prior to booking.
Maps
One of the key tools to help students decide where to live is details of the hall location and proximity to other university buildings and facilities, so listing a map of all the halls and key campus buildings on the accommodation page should be an important element to include, or providing a link to this content if it is housed elsewhere on the website. Using interactive Google maps with the relevant buildings tagged or using a simplified campus map outlining the main university buildings is a good way of outlining where residences are. Other tools such as average walking times to various points on campus, local shops, public transport etc are also incredibly useful.
Video
Students engage with, and recall, more from video than any other form of web content. Video content can deliver key information in an entertaining way, resonating with the audience and providing them with the confidence to select a residence, room type or simply the institution itself.
Some key considerations are outlined below following a review of video content across both the university accommodation and PBSA websites.
Shoot high quality video. Video should be shot in the highest quality and should be shot in horizontal format to align for most digital uses and channels linked to the web. Portrait orientated content for TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram should be shot separately specifically for that purpose.
Ensure that videos can operate without sound. Subtitles should feature not just for accessibility, but to permit the video to be viewed easily on all devices. This is particularly relevant where videos are shared on social media platforms. The majority of the audience will be viewing the video on mobile phones, muted in the first instance.
Videos should be on responsive platforms that automatically adjust the quality according to available bandwidth. Platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo are widely used.
Simple, valuable content. The videos should focus on the content most valuable to the audience. The video will allow the viewer to easily recall the key features of the accommodation most valuable to the decision-making process. The aim is for the video to compliment the website content and provide information which isn’t readily available elsewhere. It’s also worth ensuring that the content is future-proofed as far as possible, so refrain from adding specific prices or offers which may be out of date in 6-12 months’ time.
Timing. Videos should aim to be limited to a couple of minutes in length to ensure the viewer is not deterred from viewing in full or accessing due to its length. Viewers will be most engaged within the first 20-30 seconds and continue to view longer if the content in this timeframe captures their interest.
Call to action. Where video content is posted on social media, a call to action should always follow or append the content. This may be links to other relevant videos, the university accommodation web page, a specific landing page or even a direct link to the application portal.
Lifestyle. Whilst being informative, video content should give an indication of the lifestyle so that the audience can imagine living within the accommodation. Many universities/providers combine accommodation and lifestyle content within the same video, however there are several examples of separate student life videos which are effective. Many private providers will capture the lifestyle before the accommodation is even shown.
Occupied accommodation. Video content of occupied accommodation and communal areas is the most effective. Footage of residence life/social events is an excellent way to enthuse viewers. Communal areas such as gyms, games room etc are best included when in use, empty facilities do not look as effective.
Student generated content. Engaging current student residents to create their own vlog of their experience in student accommodation is a great way of showcasing student life from a first-hand perspective and is a great way of engaging current and prospective students.
Testimonials. Testimonials from residents encourage a level of trust. This content is more likely to address the needs and interests of prospective applicants.
Channels. Once a high quality video has been created for the website, it’s also worth adding onto other relevant channels for students to view, including the main University YouTube channel and social media channels to gain maximum exposure of the content. Once it is located on the website or YouTube you can also link to it in relevant emails.