Graduate School and International Education launches Video Viewbook Recruitment Platform

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Video Viewbook homepage

The Graduate School and International Education has launched a new "Video Viewbook" micro-site that will engage prospective students through a series of brief video interviews.

The videos are intended to provide a general overview on the featured subjects before a user moves on to the Graduate School's traditional website, which features detailed information.

"This site will increase engagement with today's audiences through authentic content in an easier to digest format," said Patricia Gamboa, director of graduate and international recruitment and admissions with the Graduate School and International Education. "The Video Viewbook will scale our message, enhance brand awareness, generate leads and drive traffic to our site, which will result in increased engagement with prospective students, applicants and admits."

Upon entering the site via one of the Graduate School's recruitment and marketing channels or from the official website, users can quickly navigate to videos touching on a variety of relevant subjects including academics, application and funding information, resources on campus and opportunities in Northwest Arkansas.

The use of video interviews featuring members of the campus community is intended to humanize the U of A more effectively than traditional text-based marketing materials.

The project, which involved filming two dozen interviews with faculty, staff and students, was developed in collaboration with the vendor StudentBridge.

"This platform allows us to serve engaging content to prospective students in a way that can be conveniently consumed on either mobile or desktop," said John Mark Cagle, assistant director for communications and marketing. "This represents the next step in our continuing efforts to recruit across multiple channels and stand out among peer institutions."