VisiTOUR (Formerly CVE) Post-Launch
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      3. VisiTOUR (Formerly CVE) Post-Launch

      Tour Adoption Best Practices

      Best practices to make the most of your tour experience

      Depending on which communication methods from your Adoption Kit you launched with, use the following best practices pre and post-launch to increase tour engagement and reach a larger audience. Think about how you would like to layer tour promotion onto your current communications and tour program. 

      In addition to our best practices below, our CVE playbook provides mini-projects for your team to take your tours to the next level and our Communication Overview details how to use each communication method strategically.

       

      1. Include testimonials

      Read our testimonial best practices and examples article for more information.

      Prospective students want to hear from real students, staff and faculty! Use our templated content card to collect videos telling short stories (approximately 30-45 seconds) about themselves and their experiences. Use these testimonials to speak to content at locations during your tour.
       

      2. Promote your tour with various communication methods

      Read our Campus Visit Experience Communication Methods article to learn how to use each communication method in the Adoption Kit.

      Incorporate your community link, QR code, text-in keyword and outbound campaign(s) to strategically connect with different groups of visitors and increase tour participation.  
       

      3. Update your email signature

      Depending on how you would like your signature to look, you can utilize the community link, QR code, or text-in keyword. See below for various signature examples promoting tour taking and distributing tour information.

      Karla Smith

      (she/her/hers)

      Assistant Director, Office of Admission
      Winsford University
      123-456-7890
      @apply.winsford | Text TourWinsford to 58052 for your own virtual and curated tours
      Karla Smith
      (she/her/hers)
      Assistant Director, Office of Admission
      Winsford University
      123-456-7890
      @apply.winsford | Tour Information (insert community link)

      Karla Smith (she/her/hers)

      Assistant Director, Office of Admission

      Winsford University
      123-456-7890
      @apply.winsford | Scan Below to Take Your Tour

      4. Collaborate with campus partners

      Get your student ambassadors, faculty and staff on board to generate buzz on campus. They will have ideas for new content and testimonials, helping to make your institution stand out.
      • Announce the tour concept to department heads or leaders in each College at your school
      • If you have an internal listserv, promote the tour
      • Schools may have student ambassadors for individual Colleges or in general for the Visit office -- let them spread the word to collect videos and give content tips
      • Collect videos, testimonials, and content/copy to help supplement your tour. If you haven’t launched your tour yet, provide an example tour from tours.fullmeasure.io to help them imagine what your tour will look like. Additionally, providing a template for them to submit information keeps you organized and ensures you are collecting the exact information you want. 
       
      Spread the word to your prospective students and alumni about your tours via your existing social media channels.
      Instagram
      • Create a story of student ambassadors and staff using the tour and keep it as a story highlight on your Instagram
      • Tag other institution accounts to get them involved
      • Create a general post and make sure to include the community link in the caption and the post with a photo of the tour 
        •  Overlay on the photo with "Text [your keyword] to 58052"
      • If you have the custom augmented reality filters as part of your contract, this is the time to use them on your account! Have student ambassadors, your mascot, your campus president, etc., get involved and start posting to your story
        • You can also use them as posts to your page later on

       Twitter

      • Tweet out that you are going live with the tours and show where the QR codes are put up on campus
      • To increase tours taken, promote participation with a reward by asking students to tag your account and get something in return (like a swag bag!)
      Facebook
      • Create a general post that is different than Instagram and make sure to include the community link in the caption and the post with a photo of the tour
        • Overlay on the photo with "Text [your keyword] to 58052"
        • Post this in any applicable student groups and main pages
      • Add to your story a video of a student doing an on-campus tour
      • If you have the custom augmented reality filters as part of your contract, this is the time to use them on your account! Have student ambassadors, the mascot, your campus president, etc., get involved and start posting to your story
        • You can also use them as posts to your pages later on
      TikTok
      • Get your ambassadors involved and task them with a fun project: Create a TikTok that shows what it's like to tour your institution using your new tour tool.
        • Theme Ideas:
          • Show a typical tour (ex. map in hand, families exploring on their own) vs. how they can explore with your new tour
          • Take student testimonial videos made for the CVE content and make into a TikTok
          • Follow one student around for "A Tour with [Name]" or "A Day in the Life of [Name]"
      Snapchat
      If you have the custom augmented reality filters as part of your contract, this is the time to use them on your account! Have student ambassadors, the mascot, your campus president, etc., get involved and start posting!

      6. Send campaigns

      There are unlimited ways to use campaigns, but the ones that work best are based on your institution goals and existing communication plan. Successful clients use campaigns for specific events, inquiry form follow up, and content card engagement. 

      Check out what fellow institutions use campaigns for in our Campaign Examples Article to spark ideas. 

      7. Prepare campus for busy tour times

      As popular tour times approach such as school breaks, sporting events and visit days, equip your campus (and website!) to be toured. Make touring as easy as possible for on-campus and virtual visitors by:
      • Posting clear instructions on your visit page about how to take a tour 
      • Including tour options at your visitor and tour centers (this is a great place for a QR code!)
      • Advertise your tour at sporting venues with things such as yard signs

      8. Use industry insights to build and iterate on your tour experience. 

      1. Niche's Instant Insights on the Effectiveness of Recruiting Travel and Campus Visits in 2023
        1. Learn about high school student tour desires, parent engagement, transfer student needs, non-traditional student engagement and more. 
      2. Inside Higher Ed/College Pulse Outlook on Admissions
        1. Student-completed survey providing insights on their college admissions process and the every-changing landscape of higher-education. 

      Coalition for College Schools

      If you have published a Coalition for College tour, be sure to also complete the following:

      1) Add your Coalition tour to your member page on the Coalition website. (See example below)
      • Place in top right of second column on your Coalition page
       
      2) Share out the Coalition Press Release and your Coalition tour across your social platforms and email communications with students, parents, and counselors.
      ​Click here to access the Coalition's Social Media Toolkit for Launch.