REELS & SHORT FORM VIDEOS, QAHE & PARTNERS

In a world where we consume media at an extremely fast rate, and our attention spans are lower, Reels are the perfect way to capture someone’s attention quickly.

This part of the document covers the basics, for anything specific that works well for us, please check our social media strategy.

Reels typically are less than 60 seconds but can be longer on some platforms depending on the context.

Things to remember for short form videos

  • All Reels should be created in portrait.
  • If a video is over 60 seconds, and has multi-channel marketing potential, ensure its re-sized landscape and uploaded onto YouTube. Examples include long form testimonials, testimonials that match with student recruitment marketing campaigns, graduation videos from mauve, etc. If you’re unsure of the video’s applications, speak to your line manager or the wider marketing team.
  • A hook needs to appear within the first 5 seconds of the video to increase retention rates.
  • All assets, source files, edit files and final pieces must be stored correctly as explained in the storing captions section. If you do not store these correctly, your work won’t be able to be repurposed.
  • YouTube shorts are a maximum of 60 seconds.
  • Facebook and Instagram need to be less than 90 seconds, whilst LinkedIn can be longer. However, the shorter the video, the better they typically perform.
  • All Reels and short form videos need to have a thumbnail, specifically made for each platform. (YouTube shorts, Instagram and Facebook)
  • Sharing REELs to our story on Facebook/Instagram is a great way to push them to current followers to boost visibility, reach and impressions.
  • Reels cannot go live without a copy-check, internal AND external approval where relevant.
  • Too many words on-screen can be very distracting, try to keep sentences and words short and sweet where possible. (Excluding subtitles)
  • Don’t just have one person on-screen speaking, it increases retention to ensure the visuals change by overlaying it with other clips.

Reels Best Practices

The below guidelines have been written by the social media team, any branding outside of the below guidelines must be discussed and confirmed with the creative services team. All videos must be submitted to Creative Services for approval prior to publication.

QAHE Best Practices

· Place a logo sting at the end of the video and DO NOT place our logo anywhere through out the video until the end. Our logo is typically the white logo, on a QAHE blue background, but you can be creative with colours. Always check the branding guidelines to see which colour goes with what.

· Subtitles should be white on black, or white on QAHE blue/teal. They need to be in Montserrat font. If there’s a need to use another colour, please run this past creative services FIRST to avoid any accessibility issues.

· If the student doesn’t mention their name in the video, if possible, add their name and/or course onto the screen.

· Profanity or inappropriate words appearing on clothes, in the background or being spoken are NOT allowed. This must be edited out, or blurred.

· When using CapCut templates, if the QA logo doesn’t appear a lot during the video, we need the logo sting. If you’re using a photo-based template, just insert a photo of the QA green/blue with the white logo centralised as the last photo.

· The first 3-5 seconds, as mentioned, must contain a hook.

NUL Best Practices

UULB Best Practices

  • Name and course of the student must be on screen, and presented in the below format (seen screenshot, which includes all caps in NU bold font for the name in white on black and then title case for the course in black on white.)
  • They don’t allow swear words, profanity or inappropriate words to appear in videos, these must be censored, cut or blurred.
  • There must be a call to action at the end of the video.
  • The logo doesn’t appear in the video and is only on a logo sting at the end.
  • Subtitles are white on black, in their normal branding font.
  • The logo does not appear on the video, and only as a logo sting at the end.
  • Profanity or inappropriate words must be blurred our, censored or cut.
  • Subtitles should be white on black in the font Arial.

Any questions about branding for QAHE or partners should be referred to the branding guidelines or creative services.