What Should Be in Your School Marketing Content Library?
A school can have hundreds of photos, hours of video and plenty of content sitting on hard drives.
But that doesn't necessarily mean it has the right content.
For busy school marketing teams, the challenge isn't always creating more. It's making sure you have a useful bank of current, relevant and versatile content that can support everything from your website and prospectus to social media and admissions campaigns.
So, what should actually be in your school marketing content library?
A strong hero film
Every school should have a piece of content that gives someone a genuine feel for the experience of being there.
This could be a school film, promotional video or brand film, depending on what you need it to achieve.
Rather than trying to list every facility, subject and achievement, a good hero film should give people a sense of the bigger picture:
Who are your people?
What does the place feel like?
What makes it different?
Why would someone want to be part of it?
It can become one of the most versatile pieces of content on your website, admissions pages, campaigns and social channels.
Student stories
There is a lot a school can say about itself.
But hearing from the people actually experiencing school life can add a completely different perspective.
Student stories could include:
Why they chose the school
Their favourite part of school life
A subject they're passionate about
Their journey through the school
An achievement they're proud of
What they hope to do next
A typical day in their life
These don't all need to be formal testimonial videos. A short, natural conversation can often tell a much more interesting story.
Staff stories
The people behind the school experience matter too.
Teachers and support staff can offer insight into teaching, pastoral care, opportunities and the wider community that prospective families won't necessarily get from a prospectus.
Short staff interviews can also be incredibly versatile, giving you content for recruitment, admissions, social media and website pages.
Photography you can actually use
A school photography library needs to do more than provide a handful of nice images for the prospectus.
Think about the range of content your marketing team needs throughout the year:
People.
Learning.
Sport.
Arts and creativity.
Facilities.
Events.
Student life.
Staff.
The wider campus.
The little details.
Having a broad, current library means you're not scrambling for a photo every time someone asks for one.
Short-form social content
Short-form video can take individual moments, stories and ideas and turn them into content that's easier to use across Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn and other social channels.
That might be:
A quick student story
A behind-the-scenes moment
A subject feature
A day-in-the-life clip
A short staff interview
A campus tour
A quick-fire Q&A
The key is to think about these outputs before the filming day, rather than trying to create them afterwards from whatever footage happens to be left.
Admissions content
Not every prospective family needs the same information at the same point in their journey.
You might need content that answers practical questions, introduces key people or helps families picture themselves at the school. Think:
What to expect on an open day
Student and parent testimonials
Transition content
Headteacher/principal messages
Subject or department introductions
Campus tours
FAQs
These pieces can be particularly useful because they have a clear job to do.
Event and everyday-life content
Your school is constantly creating stories through events, performances, trips, sporting fixtures, celebrations and everyday life.
Capturing these moments gives you a library of footage and photography that can be used long after the event itself.
It also helps show prospective families something that can be difficult to communicate through words alone:
What it actually feels like to be there.
Make your school marketing content work harder
The most useful school content libraries aren't necessarily the biggest.
They're the ones where individual pieces of content have multiple uses.
One student interview could become:
A longer website video
A short social edit
A quote for a campaign
Photography for the website
A story for the admissions team
One filming day could create a hero film, several social videos, student stories, photography and a bank of evergreen footage.
That means the question isn't simply:
“What content do we need?”
It's:
“What could we create that gives us multiple pieces of useful content?”
Build the library around your marketing priorities
Before booking a filming or photography day, look at the year ahead.
What campaigns are coming up?What admissions content is missing?Which website pages need updating?What does your social team need?Are there stories you haven't captured yet?
Then build the shoot around those needs.
Because good school content is about giving your marketing team the right material to tell your story, wherever and whenever it's needed.
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