Social media is a veritable powerhouse for entrepreneurs and marketers looking to promote their products. By selecting a range of social media platforms, a social media manager has the power to transform a brand, create a brand identity, draft a social media calendar and evaluate the efficacy of a marketing rollout. Capturing local news, and staying afloat with the latest trends is a great way to infuse ingenuity into a social media campaign. Now, with video becoming an essential driver of digital footfalls, crafting a video marketing strategy for social media becomes necessary.
Here, we give you five.
Embrace the Power of Curated Videos
Did you know that YouTube features the maximum number of search queries on its platform, only second to Google?
Go Big on YouTube:
YouTube combines the advantages of a search engine and the power of visual engagement, two tools that could propel your business quickly. Plus, you could draw on trends that feature on YouTube to determine which keywords could potentially optimize your website. Then, link your YouTube base to your own custom video streaming domain. There is an array of excellent platforms in the market today, that plug directly into your website and allow you to stream directly. Streamhash, for example, is a versatile, turnkey technology that provides features at par with YouTube, for a fraction of the cost. What’s more? You get to stream live. By using the customization options and themes on Streamhash, you can make your streaming site your own.
The bottom line? Go big on YouTube!
Explore an Array of Video Initiatives:
There are various approaches you could take to drive engagement on YouTube. Here are some video marketing ideas you could consider:
Live Streams
Streaming live to your audience builds authenticity, and gives rise to a platform that facilitates communication both ways. We’ve already told you about the advantages of starting your own streaming website. With a platform like Streamhash, you can give your streams your own personal twist.
How-To Videos
How-To videos are excellent content vehicles, especially if your product is demonstrable. By capturing users’ attention and imaginations, you’re likely to see traction in sales.
Webinars
Webinars are especially useful if your company caters to a large base of corporate clients. By engaging them on a digital forum and leaving room for a question-and-answer session, you could create key influencers.
Interviews
Interviews are always an engaging way to draw eyeballs, especially if you interview someone well-known that people would be interested to watch. Seek out about five personalities that could feature in your interviews, and release your episodes in installments, creating a sponsored campaign around each one.
Create Sponsored Promotions on Social Media:
If you’re a frequenter of social media, you’re probably privy to the assortment of advertisements that appear on your news feed. Social media is an excellent market vehicle for brands and is a critical element of a typical promotional mix today.
Identify Competition on Social Media
The trouble is, with the explosion of companies scurrying to promote their brands on social media platforms, shining through to a customer has become challenging. As a brand, you’re not only vying with rivals in your own space, you’re competing with brands across the board, each desperate to project their offerings.
Build Your Own Video Domain
Before you take social media head on, make sure that you have a dedicated domain that can support video. This will pave the way for you to make your video campaigns bigger and better in the future. Use a framework like the one provided by Streamhash to get you going. Streamhash, for instance, gets you started in just two days.
Conquer Social Media
The most effective method to break through the brand clutter on social media, is to create sponsored content, and what better way to do that than with a video marketing idea? There’s evidence that a video post on Facebook generates about twice the engagement of a plain, vanilla post. By creating excellent video content and refining your targeted audience, your marketing campaign can do wonders. Remember to keep your video crisp and precise, spotlighting your offerings in a quick and clever way.
Send Customised Videos for Followers:
Everybody knows that social media can be a great way to listen to customers, gauge interest levels and feel the pulse of an audience. However, most brands use social media only as a projection tool, to disburse communication in a unidirectional manner.
Make Customers Feel Special:
By using social media to interact with followers on a personal level, you’re not only making them feel special, you’re most likely handing them a torch to spread loyalty amongst their network. You’re making them influencers. But let’s take it a step further. Imagine sending customized videos to your followers, each one tailored for a specific person. You could do this in two ways. Either you could scour social media platforms for key influencers in your space, and send them personalized videos, or you could select key customers that have contributed to your company significantly. If you’re still a small enterprise, perhaps you have the wherewithal to create custom videos for all your followers.
The Example of Dell
Dell has been an iconic brand in the computer space for years, priding itself on quality and price. In the spring of 2016, the company launched a fantastic video marketing strategy on Twitter, sending personalized videos to users who had recommended a Dell product to someone else via the microblogging platform.
Maximize Presence Through Social Media Stories:
As of a few weeks ago, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat all feature a Stories feature, under which video content that is uploaded features in a band that sits atop followers’ news feeds. These stories disappear after 24 hours, allowing brands to continually reinvent themselves without flooding content onto social media. A study conducted recently revealed that users prefer Stories over conventional social media posts. It’s an ideal time to maximize uploads through the Stories feature. Create concise, captivating videos and remember to include a link at the end to lead users to your website.
Capitalize on User-Generated Video Content:
Using user-generated content has endless advantages. For starters, it is one of the best means for user engagement.
Hold Contests for Innovation
Think of holding an online contest for users to send videos of themselves using your product in the most innovative way. You could even ask them to share it on a social network and tag two friends. Not only will the videos act as reviews, automatically endorsing your brand, but they will impart confidence and faith in prospective customers.
Invite Videos of Unboxing
Confused? Don’t be. Watching others unbox a package can build anticipation in viewers, and it’s an activity that many users enjoy. Ask your customer base to record amusing videos of their children or themselves unboxing your product on arrival, and showcase the excitement on social media.
There are so many ways that you can use video vehicles to inspire customers to get to know you. Even on a small budget, video content can create a big impact!
A few days ago, I happened to host a Q&A (Question & & Answer) session by using a live video streaming solution. All the attendees seemed to be highly excited. They bombarded me with genuine questions- some were funny, some were insightful and of course, some were absolutely thought provocative. Live video streaming software services are being leveraged by each and every company to connect with their respective target audiences and subsequently boost engagement. As an intrinsic part of their cultural ethos, organizations have started sharing live events. Stories can be created and important announcements can be made.
One of the important 7Ps of the marketing mix is People. Live video streaming software helps you establish a nexus between people and product. It not only keeps the audiences engaged but also converts them into avid learners. Thanks to several tangible and intangible benefits that a live video streaming software offers, organizations are keenly looking forward to a completely integrated video solution.
A completely integrated video solution contains features such as:
Tracking and Analytics
Hardware and Software
Dedicated Support
Production Solutions
To develop a fully functional integrated video solution, one requires expertise in web programming stack such as LARAVEL, MEAN (Mongo DB, Express JS, Angular JS, Node JS) etc. Expertise in server programming is mandatory. A few years ago, organizations used to hire web development teams and shell out a good deal of money to get their video streaming software designed. Today, the scenario is different in its entirety. There are various live video streaming solutions available. Organizations can choose any one particular video solution from the enlisted top 10:
Livestream:
Livestream is a video streaming service solution founded in 2007 with a mission to enable organizations to share experiences through live video, unlock the world where every event is available live online. From being a channel based software solution to an event based streaming solution, Livestream has come a long way. As far as the Broadcaster setup is concerned, Livestream has done an amazing job. Livestream services are available on App store, Google play and ROKU TV set-top box. As far as the subscription plan is concerned, there are two plans available: Basic and Premium. The basic plan starts at $42 per month while the premium plan is priced at $249 per month. You may visit Livestream here.
Ustream:
In January 2016, Ustream was acquired by IBM. This live video streaming software claims to be powering more than 2 million broadcasts every month. Ustream is integrated with analytics software. It allows you to track audiences and gain valuable insights into their viewing habits. Apart from providing customer insights and best-in-class support, Ustream allows you to craft great video campaigns, capture as many leads as possible and export to CRM (Customer Relationship Management) module. Mobile support, social sharing, live broadcasts and VOD (Video on Demand) services are also available. PRO plans range from $99 to $999. If you are an enterprise, you should contact the ustream staff for pricing. You may visit Ustream here.
Twitch:
This live video streaming solution broadcasts user-generated gaming video content. As a user, you can follow channels that you enjoy watching. Users get instant notifications when the channels go live. There is a feature in which users can chat with fellow viewers, send and receive direct messages. Of course, you are also entitled to start your own broadcast.Viewers need not register to watch the broadcasts. However, to start your own broadcast, you should register as a member. To know more about the plans and pricing slabs, visit Twitch.
Bambuser:
Bambuser is a leading mobile video streaming solution for organizations and app developers. It is integrated with various features such as online storage, geo-location, and tagging etc. This streaming platform allows users to live stream videos not only from smartphones but also from computer webcams and DV cameras. It goes without saying that this service is completely social media friendly. It is perfectly possible to stream live mobile videos on Facebook, Twitter, and WordPress. You may visit Bambuser here.
Skype QIK:
Skype has always been the hot favorite of businesses. Skype is known to facilitate team collaboration, instant messaging, file sharing, team conferences etc. In 2014, the developers of Skype launched Skype QIK, a robust mobile video messaging app to help people share moments with their peers. Skype QIK has all the provisions for video embedding and social sharing.
YouNow:
This live social TV platform enables users to broadcast videos through mobile phones and webcams. There is also a video-chat feature that helps you connect live with talented broadcasters. It is available as an Android app on Google Play. You may visit YouNow here.
Freedocast:
Freedocast allows you to capture all wonderful things in life, share the captured beautiful moments with friends and family members. It is available as an easy to use app on Android and iOS devices. It has quite a great reputation in UK and European markets. Apart from broadcasting videos, you can add effects to videos and chat with fellow users. Freedocast is integrated with flash video encoder which provides state-of-the-art quality streaming. You may visit Freedocast here.
Move Networks:
Move Networks provides a complete solution package built using adaptive streaming technology. This package contains DRM- Digital Rights Management software, subscription packaging, middleware, billing and other modules. Apart from facilitating revenue generation through subscription based services, revenue through enhanced advertising solutions is also provisioned. Move Networks promises quality viewing experience. There shall be a little delay and wait timing is close to zilch. You may visit Move Networks here.
TiVo
TiVo stands for Television in Video Out. It is a unified entertainment Digital Video Recorder (DVR) that lets you watch all your favorite stuff from Amazon Prime, Netflix, etc. Watching commercials can be frustrating at times. Thanks to the built-in SkipMode, you can skip all the commercials and resume your show sans any interruption. This way, you can save a lot of time. Undoubtedly, TiVo works with any fancy and every non-fancy TV. It works with 4K TVs as well. You may visit TiVo here.
Vaughn Live:
Vaughn Live is a controversial social broadcasting site which aims to foster an interactive social environment.You are liberty to choose any niche- News & Technology, Nature, Miscellaneous, Lifestyles, Creative, etc. Apart from the featured content, this site allows users to telecast their own videos. However, this social broadcasting site is not monitored. As a result, teens under 18 should be granted supervised access only. This social broadcasting site was recently in news for its racist content. Most of the viewers opine that this channel encourages antisemitism.
If you are eager to start your own live video streaming service, you should definitely try Streamhash. This turnkey video sharing script lets you build your own Netflix clone and YouTube clone website. It comes with three incredible themes. To know more about its features, please click here.
If you have any concerns, feel free to drop a line or two in the comments section. I shall reply in a day or two. My best wishes are with you and your live video streaming venture. Cheers!
Curating content for users is a complex task. It involves continual collaborations with content providers, analytics to assess your content traction and being ahead of the content curve. In the Over the Counter (OTC) race, first-mover advantage is everything.
If you’re looking for ways to source content for a Video on Demand (VOD) site of your own, you’ve reached the right place. With this handy little guide, you can sketch out a scientific content strategy that will help you curate your offerings by making sure they are relevant. If you are a first-time entrepreneur and are yet to finalise your technology, consider opting for a turnkey framework that will allow you to get going with your business within a few days. Opting for a ready framework is far less expensive than building your own technology, and you’ll save so much more time. Consider something like Streamhash, an impressive turnkey technology being used by numerous video tech startups today.
Once you’ve finalised your technology, on to content curation:
Create Content Partnerships & Licensing:
Regardless of whether you’re looking to charge a fixed member subscription, feature advertisements to monetise your platform, or offer differentiated packages for various segments, your content must be worth the price. Subscribers seek new content all the time, and as a broadcaster, you need to be on your toes, negotiating deals with content providers.
How Does Licensing Work?
So, how does licensing work? As far as VOD goes, licensing involves two parties; you (the broadcaster) and the content provider. The agreement that you chalk out will essentially give you permission to stream the movie, TV show or documentary of the content owner on your platform. It will be legally binding, and its terms could change with every renewal, as your relationship with the content provider evolves.
Let’s take an example to make this clearer. Say that you are seeking a TV show from an owner. The owner may give you permission to broadcast the entire show on your platform for one, two, three or even more years. And perhaps, when the agreement ends, the contract will be renewed if you and the owner find the proposition lucrative. Sometimes, content owners sign contracts for the same content with multiple VOD services. These are known as nonexclusive agreements, and are far less expensive than exclusive ones.
How Important is Exclusivity?
As the VOD market sees a plethora of players trying to get their foot in the game, content exclusivity has become a primary differentiator amongst content providers. An exclusive content agreement between a content owner and broadcaster may be fixed for a specific number of years, or in perpetuity, depending on the nature of the content. These are massive investments, and done after a huge amount of thought. That said, exclusive content can draw a larger number of subscribers to your platform in the long run.
Use Data Analytics:
If you want to become big in the game, you must invest in analytics. Of course, basic analytics come built-in with technology frameworks like Streamhash, but consider using advanced analytical tools as you scale your business. Here’s why. Content is expensive to procure, more so if it is exclusive to your platform. That’s why it is important to know what your users will like.
How Netflix Has Mastered Data Analytics:
Let’s talk about Netflix here before we go on any further. Netflix has set one of the best examples in data mining and analytics for content procurement. It has myriad trackers in place to gauge a user’s behaviour. If you’re watching Fuller House, for example, Netflix can place a finger on the number of episodes you’ve watched, where in the last episode you paused and how long you took to move on to the next episode. By drawing behavioural trends amongst users, they gauge overall engagement, and use this data to help them decide whether they should renew a show for a new season, invest in a brand-new show that is built for a similar segment or move away from the user segment entirely.
Netflix, And The House of Cards
In 2011, made an unprecedented move in the content space. It beat premium television networks like HBO and AMC to clinch two seasons, with thirteen episodes each, of The House of Cards. The deal was worth over $100 million. Steep? Of course, but Netflix knew what it was taking on.
The company had considered a few things before inking the deal. Firstly, it knew that many viewers had watched the movie, The Social Network, right through to the end. Secondly, it knew that the British version of The House of Cards had been lapped by audiences. And finally, Netflix had drawn a link between common users who had watched the British version, and who had also watched movies featuring Kevin Spacey, or those directed by David Fincher. It was almost like a digital Venn diagram that Netflix had captured, housing a certain volume of users in each circle.
Once the agreement was formalised, Netflix employed a phenomenal promotional strategy. It crafted 10 different cuts of the trailer for The House of Cards, each tailored for a different audience. Viewers whose consumption included many Kevin Spacey movies saw a trailer that included him, viewers who watched movies centred on women, were given a trailer featuring women. The show brought in 3 million new subscribers to Netflix, almost enough to cover the total cost of the show. Plus, it significantly improved the retention rate of existing users.
Outplay Television
VOD is today, what television was ten years ago. Users favour on-demand consumption. Today, you don’t have users hurrying home from work in time to catch a movie premiere. It doesn’t happen. We spoke about how Netflix outbid HBO and AMC for The House of Cards earlier. Yet, that was just one example. The company also picked up exclusive rights for Fuller House back in 2016. In world markets, VOD players are bidding to showcase movie premieres on their platforms before television networks. So, the potential of VOD extends across television and film.
In 2016, Disney signed an exclusivity deal with Netflix, allowing the latter to broadcast all its latest movies on its platform. Fresh Disney content was withheld from television and rival VOD players such as Amazon Prime and Hulu.
The advantage with VOD is that it also offers a more premium experience than television, with its custom-targeted ads and fluidity across devices. Picking a technology like Streamhash can help you tweak the appearance of your site through an admin panel and built-in customisation features.
Pick a Content Collaboration Format
Your monetisation model may not be a replica of Netflix’s model. Perhaps you plan on charging customers per offering, or provide packages with varied offerings in each. If your revenue model is skewed towards an à la carte proposition, it would make better sense to enter a revenue sharing deal with a content provider. On the other hand, if you are thinking of offering standard packages like Netflix, a fixed license fee could work well. Here are three types of content licensing deals you could consider:
Fixed License Fee: Here, you, as a broadcaster, pay a fixed sum for an agreed tenure and geography. The success of the content is irrelevant to the content provider, and it is up to you to recover the investment through sales.
Revenue Share: In this case, you and the content owner split a percentage of the revenue received from content sales on your platform.
Minimum Guarantee with Revenue Share: This is like a revenue share model, but you, as a broadcaster, must promise to pay a minimum fee to content owners even before revenue starts rolling in. If your platform exceeds a predetermined expectation, you pay the excess money collected to the content owner. This model is extremely popular.
Create Your Own Content
Both Netflix andAmazon Prime have created their own original content to lure viewers onto their platforms. Netflix has created popular shows like Fuller House and The Ranch, and Amazon Prime has been recognized for its original series, including Mozart in the Jungle and Red Oaks. Creating original content is more cost-effective than procuring resale content from content owners. You also have the added advantage of applying data mining tools to create content suited to your audiences. As a content creator, you have tighter control over your offerings.
An effective content strategy can catapult your platform to the big league. Leverage content partnerships to get you there.
In the summer of 2015, Buzzfeed, a social news and entertainment company headquartered in New York introduced a novel Facebook-only cooking platform and named it Tasty. If you’re a social media buff, you’ve probably come across Tasty’s super-short recipe snippets, featuring a pair of hands spiritedly moulding ingredients into the most lip-smacking treats ever.
By September 2016, a year and two months after the launch of the sensational video channel, Tasty had become the third-most viewed video account on Facebook, having garnered close to a whopping 1.7 billion views. And by the last quarter of 2016, the viewership for a single video sat at an average of 22.8 million; no mean feat for a company whose original specialty was spread across a variety of formats. Today, Tasty contributes to more than 37% of total video views on the Buzzfeed network, powering a large part of the Buzzfeed machinery.
How Buzzfeed is Diversifying Through Tasty
Impressive? Very. But there’s more. Tasty’s success story wouldn’t be so inspiring if it weren’t for all the cross-promotion it has delivered for Buzzfeed’s umbrella brands. Buzzfeed isn’t a food brand, it’s a technology brand, and through Tasty’s reach, it has nimbly marketed its other platforms, such as its healthy food network, Goodful, and its DIY network, Nifty. Plus, it has created six regional variants for the Tasty brand for various markets, including Proper Tasty for the UK, Bien Tasty for Spanish audiences and Tasty Miam for French viewers. With all the spinoffs it has created, it has kept the content strategy standard and simple: fast-motion videos featuring hands putting together something wonderful.
Buzzfeed’s Revenue Model
While the marketing sounds great, you’re likely curious about Tasty’s revenue model. Tasty collaborates with brands, creating made-to-order brand elements in a recipe video. It charges advertisers a price to feature at the end of a video and stitches the theme of the brand into the video. Consider this video, that Tasty has made for Bank of America, emphasising the value of savings throughout. This is how Tasty charges advertisers:
Cost to Advertiser = Upfront Fee + Cost Per View (price per view on the videos).
Most publishers on Facebook favour this monetisation model, making it the leading revenue generator for digital publishers.
The barriers to entry in the fast-motion video space are low, despite the technologies that one would need. So, it’s no wonder that a slew of new entrants has tried to plant their flags in the space in recent times. TipHero, 12 Tomatoes, LittleThings, Cooking Panda, and Get in My Belly, are just some of them.
How Tasty’s Competitors Are Raking In Revenue
Most insta-recipe brands prefer to collaborate with sponsors for branded content on their platform, much like Tasty. Because these brands are driven by volumes, this monetisation strategy works well. Cooking Panda has sealed deals with smaller advertisers like BumbleBee Tuna and Star Fine Foods, which have been renewed at the end of every term. Most platforms believe that maximum money can be made through branded content.
Tastemade is employing branded content as part of a much broader monetisation strategy. It had already tied up with Hyundai for a 14-episode branded series on its platform. It has also established a revenue stream on Instagram by selling product integrations to food and beverage advertisers. It is now considering featuring food and beverage advertisers in its Instagram Stories, although no deals have been signed yet.
How New Entrants In Fast-Motion Video Are Employing Technology
Not all of Tasty’s competitors have taken the same technology route as Buzzfeed. Investing in a stack like Buzzfeed’s would take several months and heavy capital investment. Many video startups prefer to purchase turnkey frameworks that would allow them to get started with their platform in just a few days. Streamhash is a popular option amongst enterprising millennials, kick-starting a video platform in two days flat.
How Upstart Cooking Brands are Differentiating Themselves
A valid question here would be, with the rise of so many upstart overhead cooking video pages, where’s the differentiation? It seems like each brand is melting into the next as you scroll through your Facebook feed. Sound familiar? Brands are realising the need to branch out before the clutter becomes irreversible.
Cooking Panda Is Exploring New Video Formats
Cooking Panda, 80% of whose videos are centred around cooking, is dabbling in alternate formats. For starters, it will launch a cartoon series titled Adventures of Cooking Panda, and a travel show called Wanderlust. And though the popularity of these two new offerings is no patch on the 45-second recipe videos it has become known for, the brand recognises that it needs to try something new.
Twisted’s Travel and Lifestyle Series
In a similar strategy to diversify, a London-headquartered food page called Twisted, is showcasing quirky, out-of-the-box recipes that haven’t been attempted yet. Tastemade, probably Buzzfeed Tasty’s biggest rival, is focusing on travel and lifestyle-related series, and has added Facebook Live as a permanent bullet in its marketing ammunition. Most platforms know that overhead cooking videos will lose steam about a year down the line. And they are exploring alternate ways to captivate audiences.
Differentiation Through Technology
You won’t find a significant difference between the interfaces of LittleThings, Cooking Panda and Buzzfeed Tasty. They’re largely clones of each other, and the only differentiating factor would be the content that they make available for users. Therefore, for upcoming startups, investing in a readymade technology would prove more prudent. With a technology like Streamhash, you’ll avail the same features you’re used to on your favourite video streaming site, and its fluid design will enable your users to consume videos irrespective of the device they are using. Smartphone, tablet, laptop, whatever.
Most budding entrepreneurs are torn about the most effective technology they could use. Of course, there are various options in the e-market. If you’re considering technologies for your video platform, it’s always important to have your basics in place. Make sure you have a quick and easy way to upload videos to your site, separate servers for web pages and streaming to reduce redundancy, and a script that is fool-proof. Frameworks like Streamhash already have these features worked into their product.
How You Can Set Up Your Own Insta-Recipe Platform
The opportunity in fast-motion videos is limitless, because you can localise content to a city-level, and still find a sizeable audience. Food preferences vary every hundred kilometres, and with a localised content strategy, you could expand your network to create multiple channels, each featuring recipes from a different region. Then, there’s language. Notice with the videos on Tasty, there’s always text printed in bold featuring ingredients, thrown in through the video. Tasty has already customised its approach for a handful of world markets, but there are several markets that remain untapped. Asia, for example has not been explored at all. Nor has South America. As an entrepreneur, pick your content format, your market and a turnkey technology. With a localised approach, you can work magic with video anywhere.
You could also look at building layers on your platform. Perhaps you can offer a basic free viewing version and then top that with a premium video layer, that you can monetise through a Pay Per View model. You can also think about introducing live cooking sessions by adding a live streaming feature to your platform. Streamhash allows you to integrate live streaming with the features of a Video on Demand site, so that you can enjoy a variety of video options. Think about pricing these sessions as low as 50 cents, to attract users, as a penetration strategy. You could showcase unusual, fresh-from-home recipes that will create a buzz online.
How Effective Technology Powers Buzzfeed Tasty
It’s amazing how Buzzfeed continually produces such immersive video content on its Tasty platforms. Needless to say, its technology stack has an enormous role to play. Tasty’s tech stack is made up of a vast number of technologies, including Apache for its web server, Amazon EC2 for the storage of media files, Django and Backbone.js.
With readymade frameworks, your job of curating your website becomes a whole lot easier. Streamhash, for example, comes with built-in themes that you can apply with the swish of a button. Also, with a ready-to-use framework, much of the backend optimisation has already been done for you. Streamhash’s SEO-optimisation feature and trusty admin panel allow you to get started immediately.
There’s so much you can do in the insta-recipe space, and so much you can innovate.
With the right technology and a localised content approach, replicating Tasty’s entertainment game can lead you to a potential goldmine!
