We were in Las Vegas last week for the AMA Higher Ed Conference. One huge topic of discussion and something we have touched on a few times at YouVisit is website redesign.
As we know, Generation Z has far greater expectations of the digital experience and can be hypercritical of websites. In fact, we have seen students on Reddit complain about how an institution’s websites look. Some students have even gone on saying they won’t apply based on a website appearance. However, this isn’t news to most schools. To that point, almost every school we spoke with at AMA told us they have a website redesign in the works for 2020.
Redesign Overview
Website redesigns can be slow. There are a lot of moving pieces, and you want to be sure you get everything just right. In talking to a few companies who do website rebuilds, we have found the average time is 8-18 months. However, in the meantime, there are a few things you can do right now to keep your website looking fresh that will integrate into the redesign once it’s finished.
Content, Content, Content
The content that lives on your website is a huge factor in how interested a student is in attending your school. However, we have also found in our Reddit research, many students complain about how Edu sites look. In fact, they find current content not useful, uninformative, and overall not what they want to see. While a redesign will correct many of these issues, you shouldn’t wait until your redesign is finished to start addressing them.
What is Interactive Web Content?
As we talked about earlier, Gen Z wants more than pictures and videos. They want content they can interact with that allows them to explore and learn visually. YouVisit’s latest marketing engagement solution, Interactive Web Content, is something you can do now and will integrate with your redesign.
Interactive Web Content (IWC) transforms static content into a new kind of Super Content™, making web pages engaging experiences. Our proprietary platform layers multiple media types onto one another, but rather than trying to explain I’ll let you see Super Content™ in action:
- 360-degree photos and videos enable digital exploration
- Interactive elements encourage participation
- Embedded videos enable visual learning and storytelling
The Benefits
IWC, like the example above, lives on your website the same way a standard photo or video would. However, because of advanced media layering made possible with the YouVisit platform, a piece of standard content can be transformed into an interactive experience that shows students more. Weave multiple media types, such as photos, videos, and text, into one explorable scene that lives within your website page. Additionally, like a photo or video, you can have multiple on a page via embed code but with a much greater impact. IWC, on average, increases engagement on-page by 38%.
In addition to being simple to implement, another perk of IWC is the ease with which you can update, add, or create additional content.
- Easily swap out existing interactive elements
- Add additional pieces of media to an existing scene
- Create an entirely new piece of IWC to support the message you’re trying to convey
Because it is so flexible, you can add IWC to your site now, and decide once the redesign is finished if you want to use the same piece of Super Content™ or create a new one to match time of year.
Overall, this new type of content is a great way to repurpose the vast library of content you already have while keeping your website evergreen.