Admission officers and counselors are forced to support students by offering them the needed information about their chosen colleges. But thanks to the progress in technology, nowadays, the initial stages of college search and application can be carried out online without requiring an in-person visit. And this is possible because of college virtual tours.
Today, all colleges and universities need a dynamic online presence to stay competitive. Smart online advertising strategies, including interactive websites and social media tactics, have become indispensable to attract potential students, especially at the time of the pandemic. One of the most significant tools enabling this shift is a virtual campus tour. These tours enable prospective students to engage themselves in an immersive experience and explore the campus from the comfort of their homes.
In this article, we will look at the top 5 reasons why your college needs a virtual campus tour to boost student recruitment.
1. Increased accessibility for all
The college application process is not a level playing field. Well-to-do students can easily travel to physically tour different college campuses before finalizing their decision. However, this is not true for everyone. There are many who cannot afford to physically visit different campuses owing to budget and time constraints. But college virtual tours increase accessibility for everyone.
Leveraging these virtual tours, rural students can easily tour the campus of all their shortlisted colleges from their couch. These tours give prospective students a fair idea of studying at any particular college. It enables students to replicate the experience of an in-person campus visit at a much lesser cost and in a very brief time.
2. Inspire physical visits
College virtual tours are very engaging. Using VR technology, you can show off the best aspects of your campus. For instance, you can show your science lab working on amazing projects, or your auditorium with all its light effects.
With a physical visit, students are typically walking from one building to another, which may sometimes become very boring. But with virtual tours, you can easily attract the students and convert them into enrolled students at a better rate.
3. Connect with the youth audience
Today’s generation of late millennials has grown up with technology in a way that the previous generation did not. They are a highly tech-savvy and tech-dependent generation who look up to Google for almost everything. Often, flat media falls flat with this section of the youth. They are immensely focused on digital experiences and are constantly looking for new-fangled ways to leverage technology.
College virtual tours present an excellent opportunity to form a connection with these individuals. Using VR technology, they can explore different college campuses and decide which one to attend.
4. Better exposure
When your prospective students are enjoying an engaging and immersive virtual tour, they will most likely share about it on their social media handles. And this will give your college or university better exposure. You can easily get access to their peer group, which is a very important part of your target audience.
One of the greatest benefits of college virtual tours is that they can be shared via URL. You can easily add specific keywords in your virtual tour tags and title that can be easily tracked in Google. Thus, you can benefit from search engine optimization and higher rankings which will automatically translate into increased visibility by prospective students.
5. Create an enduring impression
Merely looking at the college brochure or website does not provide an actual idea of how the college campus is like. College virtual tours, on the other hand, provide a 360-degree view of the various parts of the campus. Students can zoom in and out to clearly see different areas and make out how the college looks like. Besides, narrated video tours of the college together with supplementary links to the campus resources, faculties, and social media further enhance the experience.
An increasing number of colleges are also converting their campus tours into fun video games to engage prospective students and leave them with a long-lasting impression.
Traditional content about college facilities and campus cannot invoke strong emotions and reactions in a student. If you really wish to engage and attract them, investing in college virtual tours is the ideal thing to do.
Conclusion
If you wish to create a virtual campus tour, you need to get in touch with a professional virtual tour development company. These companies offer a vast range of services to attract students, such as 360-degree virtual reality tours, web development, and video production. They help you create immersive web experiences to entice students into physically visiting your campus and finally enrolling in a programme.
