Photo by Matteo Bernardis on Unsplash
As co-founder of a creative agency in 2019, I’ve quickly realized that video, as an art form is adapting with the times. In a transparent and tech savvy market, brand storytelling is no longer a nice to have, it’s expected. So how do you create video content that will cut through all of the social chatter and make an impact on your marketing strategy? Below are four tips that our team at Cintri is taking into consideration when we work with clients, and while we take our social strategy to market.
Slaying Your Social Strategy: What You Should Be Thinking About
1) Quality and frequency: It’s important to post on social media consistently, as this will help place you at the top of the general feed for your audience to view, thus increasing engagement with your handle. Though, ask yourself, are you adding value in each of your posts, or are you spamming your viewers’ feed? It’s a fine balance to strike, but if done properly, can yield great results. For instance, Gary V posts multiple times a day, but every post is intended to give the viewer valuable advice, as oppose to taking multiple selfies a day with no value add.
Create a cadence and post consistently across your social channels, with messaging and purpose. Make sure you think strategically about the delivery too. As a rule of thumb, we suggest that you tailor your video length to the platform you plan to post on. According to some research done by HubSpot, social videos that were around 26 seconds long performed the best on Instagram. Your really have to know your platforms in today’s marketing world!
- Instagram: 30-60 seconds
- Twitter: 30-60 seconds
- LinkedIn: Sub 3 minutes with many titles
2) Keep it organic while relating back to the brand: Have you seen Nike’s Instagram? Many of their recent posts do not showcase features or functions of the latest and greatest Nike shoes and apparel. Instead, their content is directed toward a story with a specific character in mind, which relates to the viewer, all while tying back to the brand itself. This is a shift we’ve seen in advertising and marketing, particularly with video, over the last decade. The customer wants to see themselves in your campaign – use social and video to paint that picture for them.
3) Unification in aesthetic: Does the layout on the homepage of your Instagram account have a unified look? Again, using Nike’s account as an example, their most recent posts all have a photo of a specific character, with a thematic color schema across the board. To take your social aesthetic and branding to the next level of professionalism, think about how to unify your homepage layout in a way that ties back to your core messaging. It’s not just about the content you’re creating, it’s also about the delivery and brand consistency.
4) Interact with your audience: This is how you capitalize on all the efforts stated above. You have to put effort into create substantial connections online. Social networks call for dialogue – think of the word “social”. If you expect it to be a one-way conversation, then you’re missing the point. Commenting on posts and sending direct messages on social media are the two best ways to begin creating your natural network and increasing those connections.
Final Thoughts
As an agency specializing in brand storyshowing, we take a unique approach to creating stories for brands through design, animation and video production. Our founders hail from the world of action snow sports, filming and competing all over the globe. We came together as a collective in Boston, August of 2018 to form the company and have hit the ground running ever since. Video is a fact paced world, and to land notable clients like Sam Adams and Red Bull we’ve had to create a niche in the marketplace. As you think about your video strategy in 2019 and beyond, I’d encourage you to:
- Stay present. Create content regularly. Understand which videos should be perfect and which should be authentic and in the moment. An effective video strategy explores both methods.
- Find your voice. Video is only as good as the strategy and energy you put behind it. Good content will capture their attention – good follow-up and dialogue will engage customers.
- Get help when you need it. This one goes without saying. Work with a video team who is willing to get to know your brand. A good production team should understand your story before they help you tell it.
And this isn’t just fodder. Returning to our own story as a start-up, we’ve had lots of success utilizing our natural network to kick start the brand, but as we scale, we’re developing a social media strategy that will help us retain new talent and clientele. Hopefully some of these ideas will help you too.
