Putting Together a 360 Virtual Tour of Your College Campus
Students put a lot of thought into whatever institution they enroll in. Everyone dreams of attending a school with top-notch academics, state-of-the-art resources, and a beautiful campus.
The truth is that most students and their parents use the internet to find the best institutions. A captivating 360 virtual tour can help them decide if your school is the right one.
But, how can it help you boost enrollment? And How do you make a perfect tour? Let’s see.
Why Use 360 Virtual Tours for Colleges and Universities?
First and foremost, we need to see if such virtual tours are worth your money and time. which explains why their popularity among colleges has skyrocketed by 258%. Here are several reasons:
#1 Showing Your Best
With a 360 virtual tour, you can showcase the whole campus as well as all of the facilities at once. As usual, you get excellent overhead images. There are also useful features like transportation links. This can be particularly handy for parents whose kid is going on their first trip by themselves. You may also use a 360 Virtual Tour to showcase interesting spots or cultural landmarks in the area
#2 Students Can Immediately Find Their Answers
Colleges can benefit a lot from 360 Virtual Tours because viewers can sort the tours by theme or location. Potential students who really want to study Mechanics or Biochemistry can go straight to the classes or labs that interest them and easily explore them. With a bigger school, this function also makes it simpler to get around, and people don’t have to spend a lot of time on the website figuring out how to get from one hallway to another or which stairs to take.
#3 You Can Use them for Branding
Also, it’s important to note that 360 Virtual Tours are very adaptable and can be delivered with your own logo. During the tour, you can also add things like extra pictures, printed details, links to handouts, and student footage. For prospective students who live too far away to attend in person, your virtual open days are the best way to take a look around.
#4 People Can Quickly & Easily Share it With Others
Sharing virtual tours is a breeze for everyone, including you, the students, and the parents. Any student may spread the word about the college by simply sending the link to their friends via text. They could even post it on social media. There is no better way to advertise your school without spending a dime and perhaps attracting new students.
They can also send the link to their parents, who are often very involved in making decisions. This means that giving kids virtual tours is a smart way to get parents to like and approve of your college. As a matter of fact, you could put the link in every one of your promotional emails or newsletters and urge readers to click on it. This will also bring more people to your site.
#5 A New Tool for a New Gen
Most of today’s college freshmen are members of Gen Z, a group of kids that has grown up with technology in ways that older generations have not. Gen Z spends most of their time online, on things like Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, and more. Good video tours of your campus can instantly show these potential students how tech-savvy your institution is, which can easily guarantee you a place on their shortlists.
#6 Bring in International Minds
A virtual tour is a fantastic tool for promoting your university abroad and attracting students from other countries. Most international students cannot come and see your college in person, but a video tour is a great way for them to feel like they’ve been there.
The tour is a great opportunity to showcase your school’s rich diversity, including various student clubs, athletic programs, and a global alumni system that covers their specific country. Virtual tours are undoubtedly a great way to get people interested, whether they live nearby or around the world.
#7 A Powerful First Impression
With just a few shots, you can give potential students a virtual tour of your school that lets them see different parts of it from all sides. Plus, adding narration and links to buildings, school equipment, social media, and other things can also make it a memorable experience.
The “game-like” parts of a virtual tour are an effective strategy to get potential students hooked on your school and make a powerful first impression. Because people tend to tell others about things they like, that impression will lead to more applications and admissions to your college.
Where Can You Cover 360 Virtual Tours?
Two important things make universities and schools excited about virtual tours. For starters, they want to make their school and classes easier for people to get to. Next, they want to make their educational programs better and more flexible.
Of course, there’s no surprise in such interest because they can use virtual tours in many parts of their system, including these:
The Campus
Every college and university wants to have a positive image so that plenty of bright individuals will want to register there. By putting a virtual tour of the campus on your website featuring students and professors, you can easily show students and their parents why you’re the right fit.
Field Trips
A lot of schools and professional colleges are searching for novel approaches to get their students more time engaged with the real world right now. A 360-degree virtual tour with notes gives students a true first-person view of any location or event, and they can play this experience again and again at any time.
Plus, students don’t always get to connect with their tour guides or the school itself during a physical tour due to time limits, bad weather, and other variables. Virtual tours help the school show off its vibe and infrastructure.
Employee Training
Virtual tours are not just for entertainment. In fact, 80% of users only view these 360 virtual tours for educational purposes. You can easily use them to set up training programs for teachers, professors, and even administrative staff members. Public and private sector staff are required to participate in periodic safety drills; you can do this in a virtual environment where people can participate easily, saving everybody time and money.
Student Orientation
New students and staff benefit from virtual tours and trips around open spaces like the library, gym, and lecture hall. Whether in the chemical lab or the design studio, students may take their time exploring the equipment and procedures at their own leisure with a 360 virtual tour.
It also boosts class efficiency because the professor doesn’t have to spend 40 minutes on the basic features of every tool or equipment. Instead, they can put that time into the actual subject matter.
Data Collection
Let’s say you study sociology. In that case, using a 360 video camera like Insta360, you may capture real-world social interactions, analyze them quickly and share them with other academics interested in the topic. You can also show how you collected the data in the first place.
How to Optimize Your 360 Virtual Tours?
So, now you understand how these tours can make life much easier for students, teachers, parents, and your institution. You also know where to use this technology. But, how can you create a pro tour that guarantees results? Here are some pointers:
“Normal” is Not Enough
Virtual tours of colleges and universities often show the full campus, from the grass and buildings to the classrooms and sports fields. So, you need to present something different to cut through the noise. You need to highlight the unique, cool things about your institution.
It may be a modern, pro-league-level gym with all the newest equipment, a fully stocked chemical lab, or a chic amphitheater. Plus, make sure to cite some eye-catching stats about your scholarship programs, student awards, and placement rates.
Your school’s rich history deserves a nice display along with its beautiful architecture. Describe the school’s development since its inception, highlight notable alumni, and tell some interesting anecdotes. This brings us to the next point
Share Your Story
As you already know, most freshmen are 16, 17, and 18 years old. So, they are at a crossroads in their lives with so many hopes and questions, and they want to know whether your institution will support them and provide the perfect platform to realize their goals. Your virtual tour has to highlight the things that set you apart from competitors. The unique courses, the stunning grounds, the excellent leisure facilities, and the campus location can certainly make a good impression.
Make it Responsive & Easy to Find
Even if you do all the right things and make a captivating tour, it won’t make a difference if people don’t see it. Make it easy to find. Put it right on the homepage or the admissions section. Besides looking good, the tour shouldn’t take too long to load.
Post links to the tour on your social media accounts, where your target audience is more likely to see it. There should also be no problems viewing the tour from any device because people rely on their phones for everything, especially Gen Z who check their phones over 80 times a day.
Make it Immersive
It’s not just about taking quality pictures. You need to let students feel as if they’re already on the campus. Taking a virtual tour of a college campus isn’t as simple as clicking through photos of buildings and fields. Show what kids are really eating in the cafeteria or learning in the classrooms, rather than simply showcasing the space itself.
Feature students having a good time in the dorms or counselors who can help them with their future plans. This shows them that your college is a dynamic environment that can help them achieve their goals.
Add in Positive Testimonials
Your video tour will work better if it has genuine positive comments and testimonials from teachers, students, and parents who like your institution.
You may win over skeptical viewers by including clips where current and former students praise your school. Use fun elements to connect with them right away. Just make sure you maintain the proper balance between information and entertainment.
It’s also a good plan to have former students talk about how they made it in the real world, whether by becoming successful business owners or landing dream jobs. You may also ask professors for their feedback and post it on the website. They can describe the unique aspects of teaching at your institution.
Integrate your college’s volunteer projects like neighborhood clean-ups and blood drive camps into the 360 virtual tour. You can use it to highlight the human aspect of your organization.
Team up with an Expert Team
It’s not easy to make virtual tours that are both informative and visually appealing. Having the most cutting-edge equipment on the market is no guarantee of success when it comes to recording a tour. It makes sense to bring in experts if you’re looking to get an advantage in the market.
To take the best shots of your school, professional virtual tour companies know how to utilize various lights, perspectives, lenses, and effects. They will also know how to use the right tools to edit photos and “weave” them together to make a story that is only yours.
Bottom Line
In order to attract applicants, make a good impression, and form a genuine bond with those young minds, universities and colleges sorely need virtual tours. But, there are simply too many variables in making a solid 360 virtual tour. You can either spend your resources on trial and error to find the missing pieces, or just bring an expert team.
Besides the know-how, they understand how to comply with the latest regulatory changes and come up with a virtual tour that speaks to your target audience.
We at Momentum Virtual Tours have a long track record in offering this exact service. With our immersive virtual tours, you can bring the brightest minds into your student body and faculty. Just get in touch and let’s get started.
