Video and social media are a great match. Effective social media is all about conversations and building relationships, and video marketing can help you talk directly to your target audience.
Just take the rise of video on Twitter. From September 2015, there was a 150-fold year on year increase in video views. Tweets containing video are seen six times more than those containing images. In 2016 there are lots of predictions for brands, but one thing that seems certain is that businesses which embrace social video are likely to see greater success. (Campaign)
Here are a few campaigns we’ve spotted or worked on recently which will inspire your own social video content.
Crowdsourced YouTube campaign – Peperami Roll
To launch its new Peperami roll, this FMCG brand gave its fans the opportunity to win a Rolls-Royce by showing how they roll on Twitter and Facebook. The campaign was devised by our partner agency Havas Helia, and we produced the video content.
The videos encouraged consumers to release their inner animal and literally film and share how they roll. The campaign works, not only because of the enticing prize, but it is easy and fun for the (18-24 male) target market to participate, and reinforces brand values and integrates with wider marketing campaigns. The campaign was also seeded with pro-viners who were chosen to appeal to this market.
Take-away: you need to make it easy for people to participate with UGC video content and ensure that your film is seeded well to ensure interaction when the campaign starts.
Personalised social video
Personalisation helps brands to make greater connections with consumers. Hollywood movie, The Martian, personalised video in their launch campaign. The audience were drawn into the NASA control room as we were invited to bring the character played by Matt Damon who was stranded on Mars back to the UK with hashtag #bringhimback.
Fox sent a personalised tweet to individuals who had posted with the #bringhimback hashtag. We anticipate that we’ll see increasing personalisation as brands attempt to get closer to their fans.
@anmol24 You helped to #BringHimHome so we’ve created a personalised trailer just for you! pic.twitter.com/1l9C4cG1zJ
— Mark Watney (@BringhimHOME) October 5, 2015
Take-away: You may not be able to achieve this level of personalisation but remember that social media is a conversation, so use your video content to foster interaction.
Viral Social Video – Puppyhood
Last year, Purina, a pet food company paired up with Buzzfeed to create a viral campaign, which achieved over 40,000 views just a few hours after it was uploaded. This piece works as it’s moving away from the traditional ad format, to tell an engaging story about ‘puppyhood’. The improv style of the video also helps it feel more real and therefore more sharable. Watch the video here:
The video is backed up with a website full of useful tips for puppy owners – Puppyhood.
Take-away: a content-led approach helps build trust in your brand. Go with video content which would stand on its own as being entertaining/useful/funny, and create further content to keep them coming back.
Social media targets Dads’ emotions
Volvo’s new campaign for its Polestar V60 uses video to tap into the emotions dads feel when wanting their kids to look up to them, in this case as a racing driver. Social media is integrated into the campaign with a ‘racing driver experience’ up for grabs as a prize. The campaign encouraged the proud dads to upload their children’s drawings of cars using the hashtag #MyPolestar.
Our partner agency, Havas Helia, came up with the creative for this campaign, and we were happy to produce the video content. The campaign aims to play on an emotional response from the viewer and allow the target audience to become involved as brand ambassadors. Social media puts the audience in control, and it’s important for brands to accentuate this by actively involving them and encouraging positive word of mouth.
@VolvoCarUK My son is only 19mnths but we gave it a go. He loves my V40 as much as me. #MyPolestar pic.twitter.com/WLjl0Q8GVZ
— Ed Rathbone (@super_ted83) October 16, 2015
Take-away: Get emotional with your social media stories. You don’t have long to tell your story so it makes sense to engage with your audience’s emotions first and then back it up with logical arguments in later videos in the buying cycle.
Interactivity – video game market
To launch Halo5: Guardians used native social video to share the trailer, interactive gifs and native polling to include the audience in the story. They asked fans to say which character they would #huntthefacts with and then tweeted video content from that characters point of view.
Take away: interactivity in your social videos is important. When designing your content, think about ways to get your audience involved in your stories.
Social video was one of the top stories marketing last year, and it will only get more important in 2016. Get in touch to chat about it further with us.