10 Yetis Insight Blog - Using Online Video as Part of Your Social Media Campaign

As a digital agency, that provides video services, we understand the increasing importance of using rich media in marketing campaigns. Video is really taking content marketing to new heights, helping brands to stand out and target fans in unique and engaging ways. People will talk about videos they’ve seen online and if they’re interesting enough then they will share them with friends, via social media or messaging. I know I’m constantly sharing funny videos online with my colleagues and friends; so you can see how online videos can be gold to a brand. One thing in particular is to consider if your idea has the ‘pub factor’. Could you see yourself talking about it down the pub with a bunch of mates? If so, you’re onto a winner.

To show you the benefits of using video as part of your social media campaign, including how it can improve results, I will be using the recent campaign launch of #IdrisElbaXSuperdry, which, disclaimer: our social team (Kalli, Andy and I) worked on alongside the Superdry social team.

So, first things first, the planning meetings. We planned well in advance for the Idris launch to ensure we had enough time to create the assets and to make sure all departments were briefed on what was happening when (e.g. PR and E-Comms). The decision was made to release the main launch video two days before the Regent Street event to align with the promotional plans the PR and E-Comms teams had in place. The video was launched exclusively on YouTube, and traffic was driven by the other social channels and media. Picking this date for the launch video then helped to determine when the teaser countdown videos would be released.

The overall video plan is laid out simply below:

• Behind the scenes video with Rankin – released two weeks (approx.) prior to launch of the main video
• 10, 5, 3, tomorrow and today countdown teaser videos – released the corresponding amount of days before the collection launch on Facebook
• Main video of the collection – released two days before the Regent Street clothing launch
• Event teaser video – released the day after the event
• Complete event video – released one week after the event

About two weeks before the launch date, the first video was released. This was a short behind-the-scenes video (link) of the Idris Elba photoshoot with famed celebrity photographer Rankin. It was launched exclusively online in collaboration with GQ Magazine (video above). Using a teaser video can help to initiate interest in the campaign and build hype. We wanted to grasp the target audience’s attention as soon as possible and foster organic pick up from media, fans and influencers.

One of the big motivators in the Superdry campaign was the decision to use countdown videos; these were used to create anticipation among social media fans in the build up to the event. The videos were used cross-platform (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) to tease the collection, and the full length video, which was released the day before the Regent Street collection launch. The videos started from 10 days before the launch and the subsequent videos were 5 days, 3 days, tomorrow and a today video. The countdown videos got more engagement as the campaign went on, successfully building hype for the launch. If you have the chance to use budget at this point in your campaign, this will really help to get your videos seen. This is especially true of Facebook where videos are a big priority on the platform, the auto-play feature also doesn’t hurt your video stats.

Which brings me nicely onto the importance of seeding your videos to create maximum impact for your campaign. On Facebook, putting some budget behind a video can create some really impressive view counts. The fact of auto-play mentioned above and the priority Facebook puts on getting videos into newsfeeds are all integral to getting your video seen, and the stats your boss wants to see! You can also promote your video on Instagram (as long as it’s only 15 seconds) through the Facebook advertising platform, Power Editor. Over on YouTube, the same amount of money isn’t going to get your video very far; as the current leading video channel online they can charge more for promotion. You’ll get the most bang for your buck (in view stats) on Facebook. For further seeding make sure to promote on social news and discovery sites such as Reddit, StumbleUpon, Tumblr, Digg and others. It is also a good idea to back up the video with a press release, email marketing campaign, and share on other social channels to get widespread coverage. You will also want to get the ecomm and SEO sectors of the business onside as they will be able to help spread the word and may even have extra budget that you can tap into.

The next element of the campaign was to launch the full-length campaign video for the #IdrisElbaXSuperdry collection (above). This video was launched on YouTube and promoted across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. It was the most successful video that Superdry has ever had on YouTube and at time of writing it had more than 355,000 views. It can be worthwhile to reshare the video at relevant points as the campaign continues (a #ThrowbackThursday for example), though make sure you don’t overshare as you may bore your audience.

The big launch event took place at Superdry’s flagship store on Regent Street, London. The event was a great success, but anyway enough about that. Filming took place on the day which was to be edited into a video to sum up the event in cinematic fashion. While this was being completed, a quick teaser was released onto all the major social channels to spark interest once more.

The full video was released a day later (above). A slickly edited look at the day went on to YouTube for those that couldn’t or didn’t attend the event. Again this was seeded across platforms, but there was less budget reserved for this video as it was just rounding up the end of the campaign. Most of the promotion had taken place, and the range was already in people’s consciousness.

It’s important that your videos are shot and produced professionally, especially if that’s the image you want your brand to be promoting. You don’t just want a quickly produced video shoved online for the sake of getting something out quickly. Plan, plan, plan; and set out your strategy. If you keep to a pre-set plan for your videos, they will all make sense in the context of each other, as well as it being easier to produce them and to stick to deadlines. Also make sure to include all other elements of the campaign (such as PR and email) in your planning to ensure that you get the most out of your content (and hard work). Video is a big mover and shaker in the world of digital campaigns these days and it’s important to get it right. Focus on an idea and stick with it. You can do it. We believe in you.