By Peter Springett | @PeterSpringett
Imagine you’re an author-editor in a successful B2B agency. You produce blogs, white papers, opinion pieces and web articles. You can also turn your keyboard to advertising copy, email campaigns and social posts.
One day a client calls up. “I’m hearing a lot about the importance of writing. Millennials are really into writing. Let’s start sharing some writing next week. Hey, maybe we can get some user-generated writing – that’d save a lot of money and speed things up too.”
This conversation is being repeated over the wires in agencies the length and breadth of the UK. Except the clients aren’t talking about writing of course, they’re asking for video.
You can’t blame them. The fixation with video is driven by analysts with eye-popping statistics describing the ‘stickiness’ of video, platform providers obsessed with eyeballs and advertising, and telcos trying to upsell data bundles to cost-wary customers.
Trouble is, asking for video is about useful a place to start a campaign as asking for writing. And while the moving image is undoubtedly compelling, content is only effective when you reflect on the different ways that it is generated, edited and distributed.
To start with, here are three types of video content:
1. User generated. Essentially anyone with a smartphone can create video to share on Snapchat, Instagram and increasingly Facebook. You can’t commission and control this content, but you can curate it.
2. Internet ready. You’re going to need somebody skilled at shooting, editing and broadcasting, some good prosumer hardware (camera, sound recording and lighting) and a dedicated space. I also call this the pop-up studio or newsroom approach. Expect to publish clips on YouTube, your website and partner channels.
3. Broadcast quality. Requires a professional team with corresponding high-end studio equipment and editing facilities. There are few limits on where to publish, but you’ll need someone with the skills to plan, measure and tweak the campaign so that it converts and generates return on investment.
How do you get the most from this opportunity? I mentioned earlier the newsroom model, sometimes called a content hub. This approach enables agencies and in-house teams can begin to publish video with real purpose.
The newsroom has three principle roles that in some instances align with the formats described above:
Curate: Identify end-users, engage with them and repurpose content they’ve created. This is a very sensitive activity and you should only entrust the role to someone who fully understands the cultural niceties of social media.
Building trust and confidence with customers, employees and prospects, takes time and energy. But if successful, this brings you to a point where you can start orchestrating user-generated video campaigns. For example, a regional office take-over of a company Instagram account as part of a hiring drive.
Create: This is where we come to the notion of the pop-up studio. You’ll need a dedicated space, someone to operate the camera and an interviewer-editor if you’re recording a thought-leadership interview, for example. You should also be comfortable shooting on location at a client office, event or conference. Knowing how to set up and run a live stream is also essential with the rise of Facebook Live, Periscope and others.
Publish: This is where digital marketing skills are essential, from planning, managing and measuring video-based campaigns on social, to mapping viewer journeys and the website user-experience. This notion of an integrated video-campaign is fundamental, easy to grasp but also difficult to execute without the right digital talent.
This matters especially where you’ve invested in a broadcast quality product commissioned to increase reach, brand awareness and conversions from sales and downloads to job applications.
As you’ve probably picked up by now, social is a fundamental aspect of video whatever the purpose of your content and the wider campaign. Moreover, it’s a branch of social that requires a deep understanding of the end-users and communities that create and consume video. Hopefully this post gives you a flavour of what’s required, but if you’d like to get the most from all forms of video contact us at DLA to find out more.
We are a Social Media Agency. We do three things: Social Media Strategy,Social Selling and Social Media Management. Drop us an email and let’s talk about how we can make an impact on your organisation.
