Great Video Content Ideas for Your School’s YouTube Channel

So, you’ve started posting videos or even created your school’s YouTube channel—now what? This is where the fun really begins. The possibilities for school video content are endless! Think about what your students, families, teachers, and the broader community would find engaging and informative. Also, consider what content could make your school more appealing to prospective students and their families.

According to school social media expert Andrea Gribble from #SocialSchool4EDU, video is the hottest medium in social media today. Beyond YouTube, platforms like Instagram (with its 15-second video limit) and Vimeo are gaining popularity with school communicators.

Here are some creative video ideas to get you started:

• Teacher Spotlights: Have teachers share why they love their job.
• Superintendent Shout-Outs: Feature weekly recognitions from the superintendent to highlight outstanding students.
• Student Projects: Let students explain their artwork or projects.
• Family Testimonials: Showcase families expressing what they love most about the school district.
• Fun Student Content: Keep it light with students telling jokes or sharing fun facts.

By experimenting with different types of content, you can keep your community engaged and grow your school’s digital presence. For more social media tips, check out the SchoolStatus blog and the Smore blog.

Embrace the power of video to tell your school’s story!

Popular Subjects for School YouTube Videos

Here are some other types of videos that schools frequently post to their YouTube channels:

Classroom updates. Every week, spend some time in a different classroom in their school. Get some short interviews with students and record a fun update on what the class is currently working on. The students will love seeing themselves online and their parents will appreciate the view into their children’s day.

Field trips. There are fewer things more fun than a class field trip. Ask your teachers, chaperones, and even students (if they’re old enough to have phones) to video highlights from the trip. Then use the YouTube editor to piece the clips together.

Extracurricular. Highlights from sporting events, school plays, and other extracurricular activities. Want more attendance at your sports events, talent shows, cultural performances, and other activities? Make some highlight videos to show your school’s community what they’re missing.

Behind the scenes with extracurricular groups. Does your band want to recruit more members? Maybe the drama club could use a few more actors. Record a “behind the scenes” video showing what the group is really all about and then share that video on your channel.

School news updates. Do you have some important news to announce? Your YouTube channel is the perfect platform to distribute a message to your entire school community. To make the update more fun, recruit some students to act as news anchors on the video.

Messages from teachers and administrators. Your teachers or other faculty may have their own group- or class-specific messages they need to get out quickly. Ask them to record a video on their phone and then send it to you to put on the channel.

Faculty and staff highlights. You’re probably proud of your faculty’s skill and hard work. Why not showcase them on your YouTube channel? Every week or month, focus on a different teacher. Record them in action and then get interviews from their colleagues and students about what makes them so great.

Lesson reviews. Your teachers may want to offer their students quick lesson reviews so the students can get through assignments and projects at home. Have your teacher make a quick video in front of a whiteboard going through the lesson. Then you can post it to your YouTube channel so students can see the lesson from anywhere.

No Limit to the Power of YouTube for Schools

As you can see, there’s really no limit to what you can post on YouTube. You can engage with your community, distribute important information, recruit new students, and even help your students with their at-home assignments.

YouTube has the potential to be the most powerful tool in your digital toolbox. Plus, it’s easy and free to use. You may not be a great filmmaker, but you can use video to tell your school’s stories and engage all your audiences.

The National School Public Relations Association annually bestows awards to schools producing their own videos. The sky’s the limit on the kinds of topics, so don’t be afraid to think outside the box when producing your next—or first—school video for your YouTube channel.

Award-Winning School Video Content

Andrea Gribble’s article on 33 Ideas for Social Media Videos outlines some pretty cool subjects for your school’s YouTube channel. Check them out! While you are at it, check out a sampling of some of the award-winning topics from the NSPRA Electronic Media Awards:

• Green initiatives
• Community garden
• Bond/school levy vote
• Graduation
• News program
• Development/foundation promotion
• New principal feature
• Superintendent’s holiday greeting
• Common Core Learning
• New website
• Food and nutrition in the district
• Fundraisers
• Mobile learning
• Teacher and staff features

We recommend you copy and paste some of the titles from these NSPRA award-winning videos into your YouTube search window and see for yourself how schools are creating some neat stuff. Don’t expect your first efforts to garner any awards; they’ll get some views and shares as you build a library of videos for and about your school.

Check out this article for more information on how to create a YouTube channel for your school.