Content for a college campus is like broccoli and cake.
These were the words of Rajiv Shenoy, CEO of OrcaTV, during our conversation about how colleges can project content on campus.
Shenoy’s analogy breaks down the complexities and decision-making college administrators go through when it’s time to distribute content to students and instructors – they have to sift through content for appropriateness, time constraints, branding, etc., which costs a colleges time and money.
However, Shenoy says the distributing part is easier these days. The real challenge lies in what content to display, and where.
According to Shenoy, colleges have a lot of “need to know” content circulating through campus – maps, wayfinding, security measures, back to school instructions and more.
While that content is a must-have for students and faculty alike, it is not always engaging, and can often end up overlooked.
This is when it’s a good idea to sprinkle some fun on top.
“When we come to a college campus, we see a lot of broccoli content – important, nutritious information administrators want students to eat,” Shenoy says. However, to get more fun content in the mix, colleges need a solution to “bring cake content across the screen.”
And that cake content, “that exciting content, is usually created by students across social media,” he says.
Hold the phone – college students can now create their own content and have it flashing all over campus?
According to Shenoy, they can, and it makes administrators’ jobs easier.
He said one of the reasons he started his company, OrcaTV, was to give students their own voice. Through OrcaTV’s solution, students can showcase their passions through a solo technology platform.
OrcaTV hooks up their solution to a campus’s digital signage and computers, curates content pulled from student-made videos and social media, and distributes it all over campus.
This solution is a win-win for students and administrators; students can make campus rain with their self-created content, and administrators get a break from content-sifting.
Plus, there’s one final cherry to go on top.
Shenoy says that once students’ see their content go through this process, they are more likely to have their cake and eat their broccoli, too.
“If you give them that fun content, they’ll start “digesting” that important, nutritious information that they need,” Shenoy says. “Get that cool, fun content so that way, your imported message is consumed by the students.”
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