Are you struggling to find engaging topics and unique ideas for your school’s content marketing efforts? Sourcing original content that will draw in prospective students can be a challenge. The information needs to be useful, captivating, on-brand and valuable to someone considering your institution.
With that in mind, have you considered using interviews as a way to generate content? Interviewing is a powerful tool because it provides timely, authentic and relevant information directly from the people prospective students want to hear from most.
From current students and notable alumni to instructors, admissions teams and support staff, schools have a diverse cast of potentially interesting interview subjects just waiting to tell their stories. The key is to begin with a real recruitment question, choose the person best qualified to answer it and build the interview into the places where students make decisions.
How Can Interview Content Enhance Student Recruitment?
When developing a higher education content strategy, the student enrollment journey should be at the forefront of your thinking. From the moment a prospective student discovers your school to the point when they apply, accept an offer and prepare to enroll, consider what information they need and who they are most likely to trust on that subject.
An admissions adviser may be the best source for an application question. A faculty member can explain how a program is taught. A current student can describe the day-to-day experience. An alumnus can discuss the transition from study to work without turning one person’s outcome into a guarantee.
Interviews also give your institution something increasingly valuable: original, first-hand material that cannot be produced by simply summarizing what other websites have already published. Google’s guidance for visibility in Search and generative AI features emphasizes unique, useful, people-first content and first-hand perspectives. A well-planned interview can provide exactly that kind of non-commodity information when the questions go beyond generic promotion.
One conversation can also support several useful assets: a long-form article, a program-page quote, a short video, an email excerpt, a social post, an FAQ, a webinar follow-up and an accessible transcript. For teams with limited resources, that can be a major advantage. The goal is not to repeat the same content everywhere, but to adapt the strongest parts for the audience and decision stage of each channel.
Choose the Right Interviewee for the Question
Choosing the right person is more important than choosing the person with the largest title or social following. Start by identifying the question your audience needs answered, then select someone with relevant experience and the ability to explain it clearly.
Invite Faculty and Support Staff to Share Their Knowledge
Faculty and support staff can make excellent interviewees. Admissions, financial aid, career services, accessibility, housing, international support and student services teams each hold information that prospective students may struggle to find or understand.
Teachers, instructors and tutors can explain what students will learn, how classes are structured, what projects they complete and how the subject connects with future study or professional practice. Interview content featuring them also helps prospective students put names and voices to the people who may teach and support them.
A faculty interview should do more than list credentials. Ask about teaching methods, common student challenges, a memorable project, the skills students develop and what the instructor wishes applicants understood before starting the program. HEM’s guide to showcasing instructors online provides additional ways to place faculty expertise across program pages, profiles, video and live events.
Current Students Provide Insight Into Daily Life
Current students can answer questions that official institutional copy often cannot. They can describe a normal week, the transition into the program, how they found support, what surprised them and what they would tell someone considering the same path.
This perspective can be particularly useful for international, first-generation, mature, online, transfer and graduate applicants. The best interview subject is not necessarily the most polished spokesperson. It is someone whose experience is relevant to the intended audience and who is comfortable sharing it honestly.
Oxford’s Opportunity Oxford page uses student interviews and stories to explain the programme and aspects of the student experience. The stories work because they are tied to questions a prospective student may already be asking, rather than presented as disconnected praise.
Alumni Can Provide Evidence of Progression
Alumni who have opened a business, changed careers, continued to graduate study, conducted research or contributed to their communities can make strong interview subjects. Their stories help prospects understand possible pathways after study, provided the institution avoids implying that one exceptional result is typical for every graduate.
The University of California, Santa Cruz continues to maintain a Creative Writing alumni interview series featuring graduates such as writers, editors and journalists. The series combines program memories, professional activity and advice for students, giving readers both a human story and useful evidence of the community surrounding the program.
Include a short, accurate biography and a current photograph when appropriate. Confirm job titles, organizations, awards and dates before publication, and establish a process for correcting or updating profiles when circumstances change. HEM’s guide to using alumni networks and graduate success stories covers the broader relationship-building strategy behind this content.
Experts, Employers and Community Partners Can Add Context
In some cases, an external expert, employer, placement partner, researcher or community leader can add a perspective that students will find useful. An employer may explain the skills they value. A clinical partner may discuss the learning environment. A researcher may make a complex subject more understandable.
Choose these interviewees for relevance and credibility, not only for reach. If the person is paid, receives a benefit or has another material relationship connected with the content, make that relationship clear. The interview should never disguise advertising as an independent opinion.
Before the Interview: Prepare the Purpose, Format and Permissions
Once you have chosen the interviewee, decide what the final content needs to accomplish. A conversation intended to answer program questions will require a different structure from an alumni profile, a short social video or a live question-and-answer session.
Choose the Interview Format
Interviews can be conducted in person, by video call, over the phone or in writing. Each format has advantages.
- In-person interviews can create natural conversation and provide photography or video opportunities, but they require more coordination.
- Video calls allow real-time follow-up while making it easier to include participants in different locations.
- Phone interviews can be comfortable and efficient when video is unnecessary.
- Written interviews give the interviewee time to consider answers, but responses can sound formal and leave less room for spontaneous follow-up.
A semi-structured interview is usually the strongest option. Prepare a focused set of questions, share the general themes in advance and leave room to ask for examples or explore an unexpected answer. Fully unstructured conversations can produce interesting moments, but they can also miss the information the audience actually needs.
Explain How the Material Will Be Used
Before recording or publishing, explain:
- The purpose and intended audience
- Whether the conversation will be recorded
- Where the content may appear
- Whether quotes, photographs, audio or video may be edited
- Whether the material may be translated or repurposed
- How long the institution expects to use it
- Who the interviewee can contact about corrections or concerns
Use the institution’s approved consent and release process. Requirements vary by jurisdiction, age and context, and student images or recordings can raise additional privacy considerations. For U.S. institutions, the Department of Education notes that whether a photo or video is an education record under FERPA depends on whether it is directly related to a student and maintained by the institution or a party acting for it.
A participant should never discover after publication that a private conversation became an advertisement, that a short quote was used in paid media or that their image was distributed in markets they were not told about.
Make Participation Accessible and Comfortable
Some interviewees may be nervous, communicating in an additional language or using an accommodation. Ask what would help them participate. This may include receiving questions in advance, using a preferred communication format, allowing more time, providing interpretation, choosing a quiet location or taking breaks.
Explain that the goal is not to perform a perfect marketing script. The interviewer’s job is to create enough comfort for a useful, honest conversation.
Ask Questions That Produce Specific, Useful Answers
Generic questions tend to produce generic answers. “Why do you like the school?” may lead to “The people are friendly and the teachers are great.” A more specific question is more likely to generate a memorable detail.
Useful prompts include:
- What question were you trying to answer when you first researched this program?
- What almost prevented you from applying or enrolling?
- What did a normal week look like during the program?
- Can you describe a class, project or conversation that changed your thinking?
- Which support service did you use, and what happened?
- What surprised you after you arrived?
- What do applicants often misunderstand about this field or program?
- What advice would you give someone preparing to start?
- What happened after graduation, and which parts of the program helped with that next step?
- What do you wish you had known before applying?
Use open-ended questions and follow up with prompts such as “Can you give me an example?” or “What did that look like in practice?” Ask for concrete moments, decisions and observations. These details make an interview more believable and useful than a page of broad claims.
Always end by asking whether there is something important you did not cover. The most valuable answer may come after the prepared questions are finished.
Turn the Interview Into a Strong Blog Post or Profile
Your school’s blog can be an excellent medium for long-form interview content. It provides enough space to explain context, introduce the interviewee and connect the story with a program, service or audience need.
Three formats work particularly well:
- Question and answer: Useful when the interviewee’s voice and expertise are the main attraction.
- Narrative profile: Useful when a person’s path, decisions and turning points create a clear story.
- Thematic article: Useful when several interviews contribute evidence and examples to one subject.
Whichever format you choose, preserve the interviewee’s meaning and individual voice. Edit repetition and verbal clutter, but do not rewrite a person into a polished institutional spokesperson they would not recognize. Send sensitive quotations, technical claims, current roles and outcome information for verification before publication.
The article title and headings should reflect the audience’s question rather than being built around keywords alone. Include enough context for readers and search systems to understand who the person is, why their experience matters and which program or subject the interview relates to. Current Google guidance emphasizes original, expert-led and first-hand content rather than pages that merely restate common information.
Finish with a next step that fits the story. A faculty interview might link to the relevant program. A student story could invite the reader to attend an event or ask an adviser a question. An alumni profile might lead to career outcomes, program details or a related webinar.
Create Accessible Audio and Video Interviews
Audio and video can make an interview feel immediate and personal, but accessibility must be planned from the start. The W3C recommends captions for video with meaningful audio and transcripts for audio content, along with descriptions when essential visual information is not communicated in the audio.
For interview media:
- Provide accurate captions and identify speakers when it is not visually clear.
- Edit automatic captions rather than publishing them without review.
- Provide a transcript in a logical reading order.
- Describe important visual information that is not explained in the conversation.
- Use readable on-screen text and sufficient contrast.
- Avoid background music that competes with speech.
- Choose an accessible media player.
- Provide a written summary for readers who do not want to watch or listen.
Transcripts are not only an accessibility asset. They also make the interview easier to scan, quote, translate, repurpose and maintain.
Use AI and Transcription Tools Without Losing the Person’s Voice
Transcription and generative AI tools can speed up parts of the workflow. They can help create a draft transcript, identify themes, propose clips, translate a first draft or organize notes. They should not become the source of the interviewee’s experience.
Before publication, a person should review:
- Names, titles and organizations
- Technical terminology
- Numbers, dates and credentials
- Quotations selected from the transcript
- Translations and subtitles
- Any summary generated from the interview
Do not invent quotations, combine different answers into a misleading statement, clone a person’s voice or likeness without explicit authorization, or use AI to make a participant say something they did not say. The efficiency of the tool should never be allowed to weaken accuracy, consent or trust.
Distribute Interview Content Across the Right Channels
One of the reasons interviews are such a powerful tool for schools is that they can support many channels. A carefully planned distribution strategy can provide continued value long after the original conversation.
From one interview, a school may create:
- A complete blog article or profile
- A quote on the relevant program page
- A short captioned video
- An audio excerpt with a transcript
- A social carousel or question-and-answer post
- An email excerpt linked to the full story
- An event or webinar promotion
- A response to a frequently asked question
- A short resource for admissions staff
Place each asset where it helps a student make a decision. A nursing graduate’s story belongs near the nursing program, costs, requirements or career information—not only inside a large testimonial archive. A faculty explanation of a capstone project should appear where students compare the academic experience.
Do not flood every channel with the same quote on the same day. Adapt the format, timing and call to action while preserving the meaning of the original interview. Confirm that the participant’s permission covers the channels and paid uses you intend.
For additional guidance on student-led and community-created material, see HEM’s guide to user-generated content and authentic storytelling.
Measure Whether Interviews Support Recruitment
Likes and shares can show that a story attracted attention, but the final purpose is to help prospective students understand the institution and take an appropriate next step.
Measure interview content at three levels.
Content Engagement
- Search impressions and clicks
- Engaged sessions and reading time
- Video starts and completions
- Transcript use
- Quote, profile or related-program clicks
- Comments and questions that reveal information gaps
Recruitment Actions
- Program-page visits
- Event or webinar registrations
- Information requests
- Adviser appointments
- Application starts
- Downloads or saved resources
Enrollment Outcomes
- Qualified inquiries
- Completed applications
- Offers
- Deposits
- Enrollments
- Results by interview topic, program and audience
Use campaign parameters and CRM source fields carefully, and connect the content with later stages where possible. Ask applicants which stories, people or resources influenced their decision. Qualitative feedback may reveal an interview’s value even when a student first encountered it through search, email or an adviser rather than a directly attributable click.
Review old interviews regularly. Update changed roles and facts, redirect profiles when necessary, and remove content when permissions expire or the person no longer wants to participate.
A Practical Interview Content Checklist
- Start with a real audience question and recruitment objective.
- Choose an interviewee with relevant experience, not only visibility.
- Explain the audience, format, recording and intended uses.
- Use an approved consent and release process.
- Prepare open-ended questions and useful follow-ups.
- Make the interview accessible and comfortable.
- Verify quotations, names, credentials, outcomes and translations.
- Provide captions, transcripts and visual descriptions where needed.
- Place the content near the relevant program or decision point.
- Measure engagement, recruitment actions and enrollment progression.
- Set a review date and content owner.
Higher Education Interview Content FAQs
Who should a college or university interview?
Choose the person best qualified to answer the audience’s question. Useful interviewees include current students, alumni, faculty, admissions staff, student-support teams, employers, researchers and community partners.
How many questions should an interview include?
For most recruitment interviews, six to ten focused questions are enough to create a useful conversation without exhausting the participant. Prioritize open-ended questions and leave time for follow-up.
Should an interview be published as a Q&A or a narrative article?
Use a Q&A when the individual’s voice or expertise is the main value. Use a narrative profile when the person’s journey has a clear beginning, turning point and outcome. A thematic article can combine several interviews around one question.
Does an institution need permission to record and publish an interview?
Use the institution’s approved consent and release process and explain recording, editing, publication, translation, repurposing and paid use before the interview. Requirements vary by jurisdiction, participant age and context, so involve the appropriate privacy or legal team when necessary.
Can AI be used to transcribe or edit interviews?
Yes, AI tools can assist with transcription, organization and first-draft translation, but a human must verify accuracy and preserve the interviewee’s meaning. Do not fabricate quotes, clone a voice or alter a person’s story without explicit authorization.
How should video interviews be made accessible?
Provide accurate captions, an accessible transcript, descriptions of important visual information and a media player that supports keyboard and assistive-technology use. Correct automatically generated captions before publication.
Where should interview content be published?
Publish it where it helps the intended audience decide. This may include a program page, admissions resource, faculty profile, international-student section, alumni area, blog, email sequence, event page or social channel.
Interview-based content reaches out and speaks directly to prospective students. It demonstrates your school’s knowledge, people and support resources while giving readers a perspective they can evaluate for themselves. With the right questions, permissions, editing and distribution, one thoughtful conversation can become a lasting part of your higher education content strategy.
