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"Professional video content is the hallmark of an epic virtual event. Quality like that sets you apart" - Ben Collins (DHP)

How to use video: for virtual events

14th December, 2020

Making your events slick AF.

Interest in virtual events has grown exponentially this year and, according to Wild Apricot, the number of organisations planning a virtual event has doubled. As we all seek pandemic proof solutions for our businesses and our lives, events of all kinds and sizes are moving online.

Screenshot of Google trends for "virtual events" showing sustained increase in interest

While it might not be under the best circumstances, we’re excited for this shift to virtual and hybrid events as the virtual world has so much to offer. Whatever your event, you’re going to need some incredible and engaging video to make it pop, so we’ve put together a quick run down of why legendary video content is key for three types of event.

Business events and conferences.

Pre-recording speeches can make it possible for your dream keynote speaker to attend, wherever they are in the world. No need for them to be fighting to get enough light on them in the middle of the night to make it live! Avoiding live video also eases the stress levels of organisers and speakers and solves any bandwidth issues that can result in lower quality video during streaming.

"Professional video content is the hallmark of an epic virtual event. Quality like that sets you apart" - Ben Collins (DHP)

More wisdom from Ben & co every month in your inbox, you know you want it.

Of course, if you bring in the experts (that’s us) to pre-record your videos, you also get slick looking and sounding videos which adds to the overall quality of your event and gives it a premium feel. High quality video really does make all the difference if you want your virtual event to stand out as truly professional.

Fashion, music and more.

For fashion shows, gigs and similar events, professional video is absolutely essential to ensure attendees get the full experience. We say this because we love you; nobody is going to be excited by your latest line or incredible stage presence if you’ve shot at weird angles or on poor equipment.

We know there’s a lot to consider when hosting a virtual event so this is another area where working with the pros really pays off. We can work in tandem with your events platform and event planning team to ensure that your videos capture the essence of the event and are absolutely perfect in size, shape and quality.

We also bring snacks to keep you high energy throughout the shoot, just so you know!

If you’re starting from scratch, our friends at True Events have a handy guide on how to host virtual events but content optimised for virtual is one of the keys to making it a success.

Retail.

Bringing craft and Christmas fairs, retail expos and the like to the digital realm is a powerful way to support product based businesses of all sizes. Video plays an important role in these events too, enabling stall holders and sponsors to show off their wares with branded visuals which highlight all the benefits of the product.

At DHP we’re big fans of lifestyle led marketing and bringing that into the mix for virtual fairs will take your event from generic online retail to online experience. This style of video marketing can be applied to all kinds of products, provided you’ve got the creativity to see it, which is where we come in!

Planning your 2021 virtual events?

Whether your 2021 event plans focus on virtual or hybrid styles, let’s chat about how some super sexy videos can make them even better.

The benefits of animation

2nd December, 2020

For now and forever.

With 10% of brands not using video in their marketing saying the reason they don’t is that they’re unable to convince key decision-makers, we’re here to share just a few of the benefits to animation so you can turn those naysayers into yes-men.

Animation is one of the most effective mediums for communication and, therefore, marketing, as demonstrated by its fascinating history, but what are the key things that make it so great right now?

For easily digestible info.

One neat trick is that animation can condense a lot of information into a short and fun narrative. No matter how complicated your message is, it can be made approachable and easy to understand simply by using animation.

With short-form videos becoming the norm across social media, the ability to condense information into bite size chunks has never been more important. Leveraging the tools of animation and an experienced video marketing team you can ensure you make exactly the points you want to make in no time at all.

For making the unachievable achievable.

When it comes to branding, the benefits of animation are unrivalled. In an animated environment you can showcase the brand identity in a bold way, making sure every moment of video immerses the viewer in your brand.

Additionally you can achieve the abstract and unachievable, free from the constraints of physics and the costs of an SFX team. In the digital world, anything is possible so your creative team can envisage the absolute ideal when it comes to messaging and we can make it come true!

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For quick and easy changes.

Another badass benefit is how easily adaptable animation is should you want to add more or remove certain content. As your pricing, message or brand evolves, your animated videos can be updated making keeping your marketing up to date quicker, cheaper and easier than if you were re-shooting the whole campaign.

This also makes animation great for repurposing – short on a Christmas video campaign? Switch out the music for sleigh bells and drop a few beautifully decorated trees into your old campaign and voila! No need for actors, locations or “how do we arrange a shoot during lockdown” stress.

Joe shared even more ways to make your videos stretch further in our latest DHP TV episode.

So why aren’t you talking with more animation?

Now you know about the benefits of animation, why not get in touch with our award winning animation team and discuss your video plans for the new year?

Video for education

17th November, 2020

Clear communication through the power of video.

What do you think of when we say “educational videos?” It’s actually a term which encompasses far more than you might think. Today we’re going to look at the many ways you can use video for education and celebrate some of the gold standard examples we’ve seen this year.

Grab your never-been-used notebook and fanciest pen and let’s get learning!

Marketing.

One obvious way for the education sector to utilise video is in their marketing. A great promotional video gets across not only the key information about the course or establishment, but also highlights the ethos and lifestyle on offer.

Working with BSC on their football and language program, we put together a series of videos shot in the style of a sports commercial to grab the attention of parents and students across the world. The campaign was hugely successful garnering almost 100k views on Facebook in under a month and causing an increases in website traffic of over 100% with large increases in key markets such as Spain (+665%), Mexico (+2.5k%), UK (+199%), Ireland (+1.5k%) and Brazil (+300%).

At the University of Oxford, the team celebrated 100 years of Oxford degrees for women by speaking to current students and staff for a short, powerful video which celebrates the historic occasion.

The combination of old photographs and modern interviews shows how much things have changed and positions them as a champion of education for women. An A* in video marketing if you ask us!

Education.

Alongside marketing, videos are amazing for educational purposes, enabling complex concepts and big ideas to be broken down so they can be understood easily. Charles Stanley are making the most of this in their series for those new to investing by using video to make a scary topic like finance much more approachable.

From personal finance to personal fitness, who can forget the success of Joe Wicks’ live lockdown PE series? The first video alone gained over 7.1million views as parents and kids got together to learn how to make exercise fun and beat the lockdown blues.

People love to learn and video offers a quick, easy and fun way to share knowledge whether you’re scripting a whole series or jumping on a live broadcast. If you’re looking for some tips for using your videos on social media, we’ve got you covered right here.

Internal communications.

The education sector, along with many others, has had a lot to deal with during the pandemic; not only closing schools but also taking care of the health and wellbeing of staff and students.

The University of Cape Town has made excellent use of video to inform faculty, students and parents about their response to the pandemic, where they can find support and to share educational materials about COVID-19 itself. By posting these videos on their Facebook page they also made it easy for members of the university to share them with friends and family, spreading important information while demonstrating the university’s own values.

Graduating with distinctions.

We love seeing how different brands and industries work with video so we couldn’t not share a few of the other amazing ways we’ve seen video used for education and in the educational space generally this year.

The University of Manchester released a beautiful tribute to their community which acted as both a message to students and a promotional video. They show the university at its best while putting compassion front and centre.

Across the pond, Texas State shared an inspiring message to their 2020 graduates proving that positivity and community is what will get us all through.

And of course we’ve been educating you on all things video and marketing this year, most recently with Joe’s top tips on making your video stretch further.

Ready to educate?

Whatever your brand has to offer, creating educational videos is a fabulous way to reach and engage people. Our team are ready and waiting to help you be the next graduate in the marketing hall of fame so get in touch now.

The history of animation

20th October, 2020

If it’s good enough for cavemen, it’s good enough for Gen Z!

Humans have felt the need to show things in motion since the dawn of time. Part of how we understand our surroundings is through movement; from where things are to how one thing relates to another. In this article we want to look back at how and why animation came to be so we can understand the power of it in the modern world.

Let’s rewind several thousand years.

Bronze age man captured leaping goats on their pottery, clearly showing they understood the importance of motion. It also demonstrates the value of captured movement in art and for communication; we don’t know about you but we’re not decorating things we use every day with ugly or pointless imagery!

The original stop motion.

From the 1600s to the late 1800s people were fascinated by things which appeared to move. From the magic lantern, which projected still images which could seem as if they were moving, to the zoetrope and praxinoscope which spun still images to create the illusion of movement, humans were invested in animation and the fun that could be had with it.

 

Moving to the big screen.

The early 1900s saw stop motion animation become a popular pastime as cartoons and silent films began showing at theatres. Betty Boop and Felix the Cat were born and developed a following. The silent era was defined by its humour as we used this incredible new invention to connect to each other through laughter. 

Humour remains popular in animation today as a way to draw people in and get a message across. We all love to laugh and our brains absorb information much more easily when we’re happy, that’s why marketing that makes people feel rather than think is so powerful.

Sound and colour and feature films, oh my!

In 1923 Walt Disney introduced the world to Mickey Mouse in what was billed as a “sound cartoon.” It was the first cartoon which had sound printed on the film and changed the face of animation for good. The focus remains on humour 

As the 1930s dawned, colour crept onto the screen as studios like Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, MGM, and Fleischer competed for audiences and new discoveries in animation. Bugs Bunny and co began making regular appearances in the Merrie Melodies series and in 1937 Disney released Snow White, the first hand drawn animated feature film.

From big screen, to small screen, and back again.

From the 1960s onwards, animation became normal programming on televisions as a variety of cartoons that we still know today drew in fans of all ages. Meanwhile the big screen continued to see improvements in animation style and execution, culminating in 1964 with an Academy Award win for The PinkPhink (of the Pink Panther series) and the release of the first x-rated animated feature film, Fritz the Cat!

Rule 44, that’s all we’re saying!

Feelings sell more than facts ever could.

Through every era we can see that humour is part of the power of animation. It allows us to connect with each other and with ideas quickly and easily making combining animation with emotion a powerful way to increase reach and sales.

Early cartoons were just a few minutes long too proving that size isn’t everything! To work with an award winning animation team on your next ad campaign, get in touch.

The creative geniuses of video marketing

4th May, 2020

Devilishly creative marketing

Here at DHP one of the things we pride ourselves on is our creative marketing, in fact, we like to think we’re creative geniuses. Cocky? We don’t think so, in fact we’ve created this whole blog post to back up that statement.

Are you ready to take a peek at the process behind some of our sexiest videos? Let’s do it!

Paint. Speaker. Action.

To generate excitement for an A-list charity event hosted by The Who front-man Roger Daltrey and artist Jake Chapman you might think you’d need a huge production team, a set full of celebrities and lots of fancy effects. Instead we opted for simple, stylish and, of course, sexy.

The event was a fusion of pop music and art so we took some red, white and blue paint, created The Who’s classic Mod emblem and used the vibrations of the band’s music to send drops flying. Shooting at 250 frames per second allowed us to capture the paint being projected off of the mini-speaker in slow motion and ensure a stand out video which was featured on a website, invitations sent out to the exclusive guest list and screened at the venue on the night.

Not bad for a video created and shot entirely in the studio but once could be a creative fluke…

From bikers to brushes

When innovative hair brand, Tangle Teezer, asked us to create a video to announce their support of the Teenage Cancer Trust we knew it needed to be extra special. Our team looked high and low for inspiration and they found it in a motorbike display video from the 1950s. We did say they were creative geniuses!

To contrast the black and white of the original video, we made our display team of Tangle Teezers bright and bold but equally impressive with their synchronisation skills. The entire video was created in the studio by our animation experts, no location, model or other extra expenses and the end result was a fun, on-brand way to display the variety of products and shout about an amazing charity partner.

Third time’s the charm, right?

Men in makeup

We were excited when the hottest brand in beauty, War Paint, contacted us to create a top-line video campaign for their men’s makeup line. Danny’s passion had to come across in the final cut but it needed to focus on the strong brand identity and message that they have built.

With men’s makeup still being a bit taboo, we combined beautiful product focused shots with a powerful, masculine feel to challenge the stigma and stereotyping. Over a one day shoot we used four models to demonstrate the diversity of men and versatility of the product, finally delivering an impressive campaign to a very happy War Paint team.

You even got to see us in action there!

Ready to give your marketing a creative makeover?

From big brands to B2B and anywhere in-between, our devilishly talented team can bring some sexy to your marketing with our creative twists.

Convinced? Great, drop us an email and let’s get creative.

video production 2019 conversation

Video Marketing In 2019: The DHP Studios Whitepaper

15th January, 2019

2019 promises to be the most exciting yet for video marketing.

The following whitepaper – crammed with stats, predictions, debate and recommendations – is our great big effort to set your marketing plans and your business on the path to success.

Buckle up pal – this is gonna BLOW. YOUR. MIND.

 

2019 video marketing trends

Let’s start by crunching the numbers. Here are the key trending stats from the video marketing sphere you need to know to prepare for the year ahead.

 

video marketing 2019 dhp whitepaper graphic

Strategy

A strategy is essentially how you implement your creative ideas, when you do it and where.

Take the time now to enhance your 2019 plans to make sure your campaigns and investments in great content are going as far as they can for you, otherwise you could find yourself burning through time and money with little to show for it.

 

Take a stand

One of the most groundbreaking events we attended this year was the infamous Tobacco Dock Festival Of Marketing. We learnt tonnes whilst there, but there was one golden thread running through each and every workshop:

 

“It is time for brands to take a stand.”

 

It’s true. In these politically dicey and divisive times, where our environment feels threatened and the future unsure, the people of the world have begun to place greater value on speaking up and taking a side – no matter who or what you are. Brands are very much included in this expectation, led in no small part by Nike’s controversial backing of NFL player, Colin Kaepernick.


By supporting Colin’s decision to kneel during the National Anthem in protest of racial prejudice in America, and subsequently siding with him and against the National Football League when he was released from his NFL contract, Nike turned the marketing and branding world on its head. The brave gamble they took here divided their worldwide audience, but the mere act of supporting this person by sacrificing a proportion of their market share for what they believe is the greater good has seen them come out on top. Now, the rest of us need to fall in line behind them.

 

So what does this mean?

 

It means gone are the days of burying your head in the sand and expecting difficult conversations to blow over. As are the days of timid marketing and people pleasing with no moral parameters. Those who make the grandest gesture and the most topical statement are the ones who win the race to brand recognition.

 

Serious food for thought there.

 

Having the right online conversations

video production 2019 conversation

This relates quite closely to the whole Nike/Colin Kaepernick scenario, but there’s an interesting angle here when it comes to strategising your marketing efforts.

 

Obviously, you can’t predict the topical conversations of the future. At least not without the help of a dodgy clairevoyant or Paul the World Cup Predicting Octopus (RIP). So how do you work the “right” conversations that haven’t happened yet into a strategy?

 

Well, your content strategy should be based around conversations that are already happening. You can find this in your search query report and your social media comments.The more divided opinions over it, the better, as it’s bound to bubble to the surface at some point and when it does, you’ll be ready.

 

If the conversation happens seasonally, or there’s something on the horizon likely to get people talking about that topic, then plan your content for release at the appropriate time of year. Otherwise; prepare it, bank it and keep an eye on the news…

 

Making space to go live

While we’re talking about plotting things into your schedule, make sure you are making time to go live on your social media channels this year.

 

Social media algorithms are programmed to favour live video. This is the result of content saturation endangering the sincerity and authentic connection social media can facilitate, and going live is not only quite personal, but to viewers it’s transparent and trustworthy. According to experts, almost half of live video is discovered via the news feed; a far greater natural exposure than your average photo post.

video production 2019 go live

Just to really hammer home the need to include live video in your strategy, research even indicates that live video yields higher engagement and retains viewers for longer than pre-recorded video.

 

Production

Content for content’s sake will not cut it in the digital world, and the way yours stands about is by bold, tasteful and endlessly creative video production. As we see it, the digital marketing hierarchy goes like this:

video production 2019 go live

Video production has the upper hand no matter where or what you are marketing. But setting yourself up to conceive and create the ideas that make your video marketing (and consequential additional content marketing) succeed is a difficult thing to make practical in itself.

 

Through years of experience and a vast client roster, we’ve determined some key elements that’ll keep your video content prowess razor-sharp in 2019.

 

Lead your team in the art of storytelling

At DHP Studios, we’ve been called in on more than one occasion to help a struggling marketing team.

 

Not struggling in terms of competency, you understand, nor because of skill gaps or even lack of motivation. Goodness no. Often, the issue organisations are coming up against is the struggle to achieve succinct storytelling in pursuit of a sales or subscription goal. Silo working always plays a part in this struggle too.

 

In 2019, it’s more important than ever to be adept at storytelling.

 

The better your team are prepped to be creative in how you tell your story, and are helped to transition from a purely sales mindset to that of surprise, delight and clear, people-led narrative, the more successful your marketing will become. We are all interested in the story.

video production 2019 storytelling

 

IRL is making a comeback

Sounds batty doesn’t it? But it’s true – In Real Life is very much making a comeback.

 

It seems we’ve finally come full circle. We’ve reaped the benefits of a digital world, realised the pitfalls, and attempted to re-establish balance my making and having stuff again. Pop-up shops are on the rise. Facebook launched a print magazine. The Army is recruiting selfie addicts. Tangibility and turning digital age behaviours into something more meaningful is very much in.

 

And what medium is perfect for showing people around the stuff?

 

You guessed it. Video.

 

If you’re working with a tangible product already, you’re very lucky. You can metaphorically and physically pull your product apart, tell its story and put it back together on video. Longer form video content gives you the opportunity to demonstrate how your product becomes the sum of its parts, whilst your other content can feed into that overarching concept by breaking down the many ways your product positively impacts your customer’s life. Not to mention let them explore how you physically built it.

 

If you can prepare a bank of content like this for a product launch this year, you’ll already have given yourself tonnes to talk about.

 

Case study

 

We did exactly this with Nike Sneakerboots.

 

Our ideas revolved around presenting the Nike SneakerBoot in the environment for which it is to be worn – the elements of Autumn and Winter. We demonstrated the burning out of old, simpler trainers and take the viewer on the journey of the SneakerBoot’s specialised layers, exploring each material and the shapes and textures they offer to the final product.

 

 

Embrace 360 video and Virtual Reality

You could, of course, banish the idea of IRL entirely and embrace a counter-strategy with another growing trend: 360 video and Virtual Reality. The key behind the growth of this trend, however, is often in the pursuit of viewing something to affirm honesty and transparency – particularly when it comes the the tourism sector and the idea of ‘try before you buy’.

 

Take people to where they might go, or – if you’re in the gaming industry – where they dream of going. Bring real world experiences to them, and you’ll earn their trust quicker… not to mention their custom.

 

…Oh, and shoppable content videos

eCommerce is experiencing some serious technological developments with the bubbling pot that is shoppable content.

video production 2019 shoppable content

By all accounts, this is the clickable feature that’s about to explode. Shopping in 2019 is going to be quick, easy and swipeable. The role of video here is clear, as 96% of consumers find videos helpful when shopping online, and placing a video on an eCommerce page increases the order value by at least 50%.

 

The democratisation of video

There is a strategic decision to be made here: should you invest in polished, directed videos? Or should you utilise newer, more developed phone cameras, save some cash and make do with homemade video?

 

The answer is very much going to depend on your budget and brand. But consider this…

 

Some reports insinuate that due to wider access and higher quality of phone cameras, video production standards have lessened. Whilst that may certainly be true in some respects (professionally shooting every single organic Story video, for example, is definitely overkill and only really needs to happen on your phone), maintaining a higher standard of video will continue to set your channels apart from the rest. Whilst attitudes may well favour cheaper DIY marketing videos, that also comes with a greater level of social media noise.

 

Accessibility doesn’t mean you have to lower your standards. Keep your look on-brand and professional and – by far and away the most important factor – focus on using video to tell your brand’s incredible stories.

 

Distribution

Without careful thought about the distribution of your mind-blowing content, you’re going to sell it short.

 

A thorough lesson in marketing funnels comes in very useful here, so if that concept has remained unfamiliar to you thus far it might be something to pop on your 2019 Self-Development Wishlist.

 

Meanwhile though, be sure that you have a good idea on the following points and you won’t go far wrong with your content distribution:

 

  • Who can help you share your content?
  • Which social media channels are your audience hanging out on?
  • What other media are your audiences consuming? Get them listed and use these sources for targeting, as well as to identify extra distribution channels that may be of benefit to you.

 

Those three points build a great base for you to start thinking about distribution from. Add the following points and success is yours.

 

Utilise influencer marketing to the full

Spare some creative juice for your influencer strategy too.

Marketing through your own channels will only get you so far. Due to a fundamental mistrust in brands – particularly among the younger generations – influencer marketing has grown at an exponential rate over the last ten years. People trust people. Hence the importance of storytelling as discussed above, but also hence the limited impact that comes with concentrating every resource on your own marketing channels.

 

Engage influencers in the most meaningful, emotional and creative ways you can think of when you execute your campaign. Depending on who you want to collaborate with, this approach can be a slow-burn operation, and it’s time consuming (don’t worry, there are some great influencer marketing freelancers around to manage this process for you), but the brand endorsement you achieve when you do this right can really pay off.

 

Case Study

 

Towards the end of 2018, we had the pleasure of working on a creative video campaign with British Study Centres. With the goal of recruiting young people from across the world onto their English Language course, we used the influential command of their key collaborator: Manchester City FC.

 

 

 

We stuck to the forward-thinking mainstay of putting the people (in this case, potential students) at the heart of the story. Rather than using Man City FC players in the video – who are wonderful but would distract from the campaign objective – we boasted the influence of the location and the iconic blue kit. And then we turned our attention to a smart distribution strategy, with incredible results.

 

Within a month of going live, the total reach for our BSC Facebook ads totalled 327,000 people (so far). To break it down…

 

Overall Reach (people who saw the ad at least once) = 327k

  • Overall 10s views – 65k
  • Overall full views – 12.5k Full Views
  • 548 Likes, 113 Comments and 163 Shares

 

In this instance, it was only helpful to have huge numbers watching if they’re going to follow through to the website. Objective achieved. BSC’s web traffic has indeed increased significantly:

 

  • The City Football Language School web page has seen over a 104% increase in web traffic since the beginning of the Facebook ad campaign. This traffic is almost entirely coming from Facebook.
  • We’re seeing a big rise in traffic from the following countries:
    • Spain (+665%)
    • Mexico (+2.5k%)
    • Brazil (+300%)
  • Referral traffic from the British Study website is also increased significantly with a rise of 7600%.

 

In one month, the perfect blend of influence, clever distribution and innovative video production obtained results beyond the clients wildest expectations.

 

Attention-grabbing Facebook ads

With the decline of Facebook reach (yes, we’re bored of hearing about that too) and ever-increasing content saturation, it’s more important than ever to be able to target the right audiences and captivate them through video, which experts predict will be the medium that sees the greatest growth rate on the Facebook advertising platform.

video production 2019 facebook ads

Because there’s advertising spend at stake and a growing number of confusing advertising options being offered up by the social media giant, your strategy is integral to your Facebook marketing success. And it’s worth doing well, because despite the number of times the death of Facebook has been predicted and even despite all of last year’s data scandals, no one’s really planning on ditching their Facebook profile any time soon. All stats are up year-on-year, including new signups, advertising revenue and daily active users. Those stats are true as of January 2019.

 

The takeaway here is simple: Facebook is too big to ignore, and there are some gaps in the market that could prove effective for you if you move quickly (see Sector Recommendations below). For now at least, you need to keep facebook advertising in your strategy, put your money behind video adverts, and keep them sharp.

 

Millennial Advertising

It’s been reported by Business Insider that to reach the under 35s, space for video adverts are being taken up on Instagram over any other channel… including traditional television. For this age group, as much as 61% of marketers will opt for the image-led platform compared to just 3% who target young people through TV adverts. YouTube was next most popular for youth ad space at 30%.

video production 2019 TV ads millenials

Meanwhile, the over 35s are keeping it traditional. The highest proportion of advertisers will still pay for prime time ad slots to reach this demographic, with Facebook coming up as the second most popular platform. Instagram trailed in at 3% of space for this age group.

 

Sector recommendations

General – Storytelling

Read to lead your team into a 2019 full of incredible story-based marketing? Some actionable steps towards leading a storytelling team include:

 

  • Revising any marketing request forms that get submitted to your team so they lead with storytelling touchpoints.
  • Put forward a report or proposal to make your ways of working more conducive to creative brainstorms.
  • Lead cross-organisation Integrated Marketing Sessions.
  • Work with video marketing and production agencies who’ve cut their teeth in the industry by working in this way (hiya!).

General – Have the right conversations

If you’re feeling ready to kick your brand’s conversation skills up a notch, try using the following tips to prepare for your stronger, bolder engagement strategy:

 

  • Identify the questions you’re asked most on social media or the search queries that regularly need people to you. What do your audience need you to talk about that will make them converse with you?
  • Carefully plan how you’d talk about a relevant but controversial topic on your brand’s social media channels. Where would be best to have that conversation? What’s the most meaningful, but reasoned and non-damaging way to debate this subject?
  • Is your community management up-to-scratch? If you’re really going for this, do NOT underestimate how many man hours it takes to have level-headed conversations with the public without damaging your business reputation. It’s all about a careful balance with a good intention.

 

Education – Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing, the holy grail of endorsement! To start this ball rolling, you could:

 

  • Take one of your 2019 campaigns and create an additional creative proposal on what you could ask influencers to do to really engage with your brand. The more interesting content opportunities you give them, the better the exposure.
  • Source some extra budget to pay them (because they should be paid for doing your marketing for you). It’s possible to approach people who may want to engage for exposure, but that will be a harder process to maintain in the long-term. Plus, they have rent to pay. Let’s not be that guy.
  • Drop us an email to make sure you capture their campaign activity for your own video. Use the production internally to prove the worth of influencer marketing to your stakeholders, and externally to target the influencer’s audience with an acquisition strategy. Don’t panic if that all sounds like gobbledegook to you – we can help you out there.

 

eCommerce – IRL

So let’s talk tangibility emphasis for second. With a little preparation, you can easily leverage this returning trend:

 

  • If you work in a product-based company, you can thank your lucky stars because your job is half done. Your challenge is to work out how to kick it up a notch when is comes to displaying your product. Pull it apart and brainstorm what you can show your customer. What genius invention could they hold in their hands if they come to you, and how will it enrich their life? Step up every touch point and use video marketing to show them exactly what they’re missing.
  • Service-based business have a trickier feat, especially those in the charity sector. There are ways around this difficulty though, particularly by taking into the account the possibilities that animation brings to the table. We published five reasons animation may be the way to go for your next video campaign, and this approach has paid off for many of our service clients, including Teenage Cancer America, Wellcome Trust and The National Maritime Museum.

 

Travel – VR and 360 content

This content type requires more thought than others, but you can do this. Make a start by:

 

  • Considering a phone upgrade or an investment in a dual camera. You can’t take 360 videos without one.
  • Try Facebook 3D pictures. Undertake a couple of tests with your dual camera. Pick a smaller space to show your audience in this new format, and ask what they like/dislike about it. Use the feedback to take better 3D photos until you’re showing the audience exactly what they want to see. At this point, you have a baseline for consistency that you can build on for bigger, richer engagement with every post.

 

Entertainment

Across all the social media platforms that have them, the Stories feature is currently the most under-utilised advertising opportunity, making them ripe for better exposure than advertising in the newsfeed, and higher ROI.

 

Considering the brief and creative nature of stories compared to the longer-form and often more serious nature of posts in the main newsfeed, it’s a logical assumption that paid placements in Stories are best utilised by the entertainment sector, as the viewer is often there to consume lighter content.

 

If they move quickly, entertainment brands can implement a strategy that harnesses this opportunity. We’d recommend taking the following next steps pretty soon…

 

  • If you haven’t already, create yourself a schedule for organic Instagram Stories and stick to it. Getting your existing audience used to you using Stories and being able to leverage an existing following through them will provide better data (enabling strategic pivots to your advertising plan) when you start your first advertising campaign.
  • Dive into your target audience. The more you can learn about the profile of your target demographic and develop a marketing persona, the better your advertising targeting will be, ensuring your spend is put to good use on the right people.
  • Video continues to be the best performing content type within Stories, but it’s a double edged sword. The pressure is on for that one video to capture your viewer’s attention, tell a story and deliver a memorable call-to-action in just a few seconds, which is no easy feat. Plan this thoroughly and don’t leave it to chance. Or give us a call, obviously.

Sport

So it’s official, we’ve almost overtaken the amount of time spent watching traditional TV with hours spent consuming Over The Top (i.e. internet delivered) video. Given the huge amount of reach and influence YouTube has, it makes sense to draw some inspiration from traditional TV methods by the simple act of planning for consistency and familiarity. Sport is the perfect sector for this – if executed well, the range of topics is diverse enough to cover in the form of mini ‘TV’ shows whilst still being intrinsically linked to the umbrella topic of ‘sport’. Try this:

 

  • Schedule, schedule, schedule! Though traditional TV hours are decreasing, the concept of the schedule will undoubtedly help your channel succeed if you stick to it. Throughout this whitepaper, trust has been mentioned a lot. The act of simply choosing consistent publish days and times for your YouTube videos will offer potential fans an olive branch, allowing to get comfortable with you. Let them know what to expect, and deliver.
  • Continuing the theme of getting comfortable, establish content buckets. Jessica Zweig has a brilliant blog post on exactly how to do this. If you can bucket your channel’s content, you ensure you stay within a range of topics your audience want to hear about, rather than going off-piste and boring them, which should secure those all-important returning visits.

 

And there it is – our 2019 video marketing whitepaper. If you want to chat through anything further, ask a question or just tell us you like our shoes, feel free to drop us a line. Here’s to 2019!

 

 

 

Big thank you to Jess!

26th November, 2015

Hey, my name is Jess and I’m a Media and Cultural Studies graduate of the University of Sussex. I graduated a couple of years ago now, but worked as a pub supervisor in Brighton for a year after graduating, saving up enough to go travelling and generally living and loving life by the seaside. Last September I jetted off and had an incredible trip around South Africa and Southeast Asia.

Social Media London Summer party

26th July, 2015

A couple of weeks ago team DHP headed down to the Social Media London Summer Party at Tamesis Dock on the Thames.

D&AD launch the next Director award

26th May, 2015

Last night we braved the tube strikes and headed to the Google Town Hall to mark the launch of The Next Director Award; a new D&AD pencil they’ve created in collaboration with YouTube. This award aims to nurture & celebrate budding filmmakers as they make their mark on the industry. What’s not to like!

SEO for your online video

23rd April, 2015

So you have a video online and no ones watching it… here are some SEO tips to get your video noticed.

We have all heard the phrase “Content is king” well with video SEO this is not exactly the case. Your video could be saying all of the right things and contain all of the content people could ever want, but this is not text so will not affect your SEO. So yes create an amazing video but compliment it with amazing text.