One of the biggest challenges marketers face right now is combining tried-and-true practices with newer, more modern channels. In the case of the booming social media marketing industry, does traditional corporate video production actually translate into a usable social video?
A good dozen-or-so brands say yes, and they’ve proven it with some truly eye-catching original content. The diversity of these companies—such as Oreo and Ford—are a testament to social video’s flexibility and capability to suit all industries.
Here’s what we’ve learned about posting corporate videos to Instagram—one of the best social media platforms for building brand recognition.
Make Use of UGC (User-Generated Content)
User-Generated Content is a tricky area to dabble with. On one hand, a lot of marketers advise against using purely UGC in your marketing strategy. Lack of original content means you fail to establish a brand voice that is uniquely your own. On the other hand, UGC has proven to be a very effective tool in inciting engagement amongst social media followers. People will go that little extra step—such as subscribing, following, turning on post notifications, etc.—for the sake of being featured, rewarded, or even just mentioned.
The verdict? A mix of original content and UGC should work best. Take a look at GoPro’s epic Instagram video from the vantage point of Olympic snowboarder Sage Kotsenburg.
Ford does something similar with their #FORDlove campaign. They manage to curate UGC in the form of photo submissions to the series hashtag. They then combine it through corporate video production and post it as a beautiful Instagram video, making sure to credit the original owners—both in the video and in the description.
Aside from the fact that the unique concept alone can get you to watch, it’s pretty much a guarantee that people who contributed to the hashtag will watch the video from start to finish to see if their submission made it in.
Timelapse Videos Are Hypnotic
Timelapse videos are essentially everyday scenes that are sped up. The constant motion is often soothing to look at, and the shortness of the video (as it’s sped up, the entire scene is only a couple seconds, max) pretty much guarantees viewer engagement from start to end.
Despite the fact that they’ve been around for a while, social media users still see timelapse videos as unique, utterly hypnotic content. So if you’re wanting for interesting, engaging content, throw in a couple timelapse videos onto your feed.
Starbucks’ regrammed #StarbucksDate video is a spectacular mix of ‘whiteboard animation’ (literally) and timelapse corporate video production. Originally from Lily & Val founder Valerie McKeehan, this video informs their followers of an upcoming event in a way that is succinct, creative, and undoubtedly eye-catching. The word art is truly spectacular. Getting to watch the creation process from start to finish is just icing on top of the (very pretty) cake.
National Geographic’s timelapse video features Mother Nature in her finest. Watching insects feed on a bioluminescent mushroom may not sound as exciting (or as appealing) in theory. In execution though, this ten-second video filmed by NatGeo photographer Anand Varma is truly mesmerizing. The subtle transition of the background from night to day contrasts beautifully with the mushroom losing its glow. The bugs may be a bit much for anyone extra squeamish, but the constant motion they provide gives the video that little something extra.
Stop-Motion Keeps Viewers Engaged
If you’re fresh out of video ideas, stop-motion videos are the way to go. They’re unique, exciting, fun to watch, and relatively simple to produce. As the name suggests, these videos are made up of a series of pictures played in rapid succession to produce movement—think traditional cell-drawn or 2D animation. The choppy, not-so-seamless quality of the video is part of what makes stop-motion so charming.
Oreo gives us a great (and mouth-watering) example with their #ValentinesDay video advertising the Red Velvet Oreo. The concept is clean and effective, and the ensuing caption—“Made for cookie lovers, by cookie lovers”—is powerfully catchy. Although the corporate video production process behind it may have taken more than a few seconds to film, the resulting ten-second video is simple, neat, and overall delightful to watch.
