Category Archives: B2B

When it comes to creating video content for a brand or small business, a viral video is the holy grail. A piece of content that so connects with audiences and captures the imagination that it is voluntarily shared repeatedly across the internet – what could be better for a brand seeking maximum exposure?

The common misconception with viral video is that it is always homemade, amateur or that it spreads somehow accidentally. Though this was true in the early days (and can sometimes still be the case today), marketers quickly realised how powerful viral video can be and began to harness that power. In fact, today, 9 out of 10 of the top viral videos have been created professionally.  It’s a modern marketing fact that viral video can work brilliantly for raising brand awareness fast – but how can you deliberately ‘make’ a viral video?

Although there are no guarantees when it comes to making a video go viral, there are certain characteristics shared by all viral videos. If you want your video to be compellingly shareable, these are the top priorities in terms of content and style:

Harness the element of surprise. All viral videos have something unexpected about them that marks them out as different from their competitors. Don’t follow the rest, subvert an idea that immediately piques the viewer’s interest. Think of the ‘Dumb Ways to Die’ Australian public safety film that was an internet sensation a few years ago. Using cute animated characters and a funny, maddeningly catchy song, Dumb Ways To Die turned the idea of the serious, educational public information broadcast on its head, and heralded a new era of naïve style animation.  Catchy music can also help – although be aware that many viewers (especially mobile users) will watch videos with the sound off.

Include humour. Not all viral videos are funny – but many contain humour or irony. Humans are social animals and laughter is eminently shareable. If you can include humour – do. But only if this authentically reflects something about your brand identity. Have a look at this very amusing (yet highly informative) video for toilet training seat ‘Squatty Potty’.

Make your content value-adding. Although it sometimes seems like we are all just pointlessly sharing videos of cats falling off shelves and pandas sneezing, the brand films that go viral often contain an important element of useful information. Michael Dubin, former CEO of the Dollar Shave Club, sold his cheap razor subscription business for 1 billion dollars, five years after launching with a brilliant viral video. Combining charismatic humour with the unexpected, the video entertainingly demonstrated why no-one should spend more than a dollar a month on disposable razors. In this case, entertainment + value-adding content resulted in ultimate shareability.

Don’t be derivative. If you see a funny video that’s gone viral, don’t try to do your own version – unless you can make it genuinely quirky and captivating in its own right. There are many derivative versions of Dollar Shave club that don’t work, but also a very clever antidote version, ‘The Dollar Beard Club’ which promotes a subscription service for oil and products for men with beards.

Use the power of emotion. Humans take action based on how they feel. Successful viral videos generate strong emotions in people – be they joyful, empathetic, or sad. A moving charity video for example can prompt people to take direct action and donate or share (the Second a Day video for Save the Children is an amazingly affecting example of this).

Unless your brand requires an empathetic response from your audience however, research shows that it is best to concentrate on generating positive emotions. The feel-good factor can play a large part in making your video shareable. For best results, use your video to tell an emotionally uplifting story simply, quickly and arrestingly, using humour and surprise. The big-budget Nike football ‘The Switch’ ad brilliantly demonstrates this.

Piggyback a cultural trend. Make it easier for yourself by basing your video on something that is already being widely shared and searched. If people are currently responding to prank videos and it fits with your brand, have a think about incorporating that. If the gadget of the moment is a VR set or everyone is talking about Star Wars – can you somehow use one of those themes in your video? It may well not be appropriate for many brands, but it’s worth thinking about popular content themes as a way of leveraging more social shares. Social Media scheduling tool Hootsuite cleverly made a Social Media themed version of the Game of Thrones title sequence to piggyback on the popularity of that show.

Keep it short. We often look at Social Media in short bursts, during breaks, scrolling through quickly and stopping briefly on content that momentarily captures our interest. Video is naturally more captivating than other forms of content, but in order to go viral, your video needs to grab the viewer’s attention in those first few scrolling seconds. Dispense with rambling intros and product shots and get straight to the point. Sustain that attention by being fresh, pithy and quirky. 15 seconds to 1 minute is the optimum length for a viral video. Turkish chef ‘Saltbae’ produced a compelling 30-second video that achieved 7 million views and spawned thousands of copycat memes (not to mention football goal celebrations).

Use influencers and paid promotion. Give your video a head start by pushing it heavily on social channels in the initial stages. The best way to do this is by getting ‘influencers’ with a large number of followers to share your video with their audiences. Think about influencers who are relevant to your brand or product. Often ‘micro-influencers might better suit your promotion – they have smaller follower numbers than the top influencers but their followings are more focused and niche so you will have a better chance of reaching an audience who will be interested in and engaged by your video. You might even think about featuring or interviewing an influencer in your video. They will share it on their channels and you will have access to their followers. Some influencers will share your content for free and others will have a payment structure in place for various levels and types of promotion. Whisky distillery Lagavulin did this to great effect with Ron Swanson.

Likewise, think about paying to promote your story by advertising on Social Media when you launch it. Once it gains a certain number of followers and shares, then a snowball effect will lead to far greater (organic) engagement and you can cut back on the paid promotion.

Professional video production. As we learned earlier, the majority of viral videos are professionally made. Viral video is highly sought after for a reason – it’s incredibly valuable to a brand, and is pretty hard to achieve. If you want your brand video to go viral deliberately, it will usually need an exceptional creative concept, a great script and good production values – not to mention a strategic approach to promotion. Have a go by all means, but if you’d like to have a chat about professionally producing a viral video and have a look at our previous viral work, please do get in touch: info@smallfilms.com

Small Films are a video production company in London. By combining strategic minds with creative flair we create powerful stories with video that deeply resonate with audiences, supporting our clients to achieve their ambitions in growing their organisation, brand or campaign

 

 

 

How much does a corporate video cost? It depends…

Frustrating perhaps, but true. Promotional video costs can vary enormously. Like any product – there are low budget options, top-quality professional options with all the bells and whistles, and lots of levels in between. There are so many factors affecting the cost of corporate video that it would be disingenuous (and probably inaccurate) to pluck a figure out of the air to answer the question. It’s not a cost-hiding conspiracy created by the video production industry – it’s just a very complex issue.

The good news is that video recording technology has become a lot more accessible over the last few years and video production costs have decreased. That means that quality video content is no longer the preserve of big brands with a huge budget. It’s now a reality for any small business or SME looking to grow.

Video for your business can be as simple as filming it yourself on a smartphone, downloading an app to use a ready-made template, adding effects, editing it, and publishing it to a video-sharing channel. And that’s great if a lo-fi, personal feel is what you’re trying to achieve. For most businesses, however, the amateur approach doesn’t really work. 62% of consumers who watch a poor quality video say they are left with a negative perception of the brand, but embedding a high-quality video on a business website landing page has been shown to increase conversions by up to 80%.

>> Looking for video production services? From explainer videos to brand films, take a look at how we can help support you. 

It’s clear then, that video content can have a massive impact. It’s important for businesses thinking about video to ensure that this impact is always a positive one. One way of doing that is to use an established video production company that will have a team of experienced professionals, high-quality equipment and pre-production, production and post-production capabilities. When choosing a company, get recommendations, look at their past work and speak to previous clients about their experiences.

The best way to approach commissioning video content from a production company is to have a clear idea of what you want to spend. As with building a house where your architect wants to know the house you envisage from the size, style and building materials, to the features, fixtures and fittings, a professional video production company needs to have an idea of your budget in order to accurately advise what services they can offer you. A corporate video could cost anything from £1,500 to £30,000 depending on a large number of variables from the complexity of the script to the cameras being used. Any reputable video production company will offer you the best creative options for your budget – it’s in their interests that the video looks as good as possible after all. And beware, there’s no such thing as a steal in video production – if something is cheap there’s usually a good reason for it. For example, a camera operator can cost anything from £150 to well over £1000 a day – but the quality of work and level of experience will be reflected in the price. Of course, you can still get a good deal on your corporate video – but the best way to get high quality and value for money is to establish a good relationship and trust with your video production company.

So what are the variables that affect how much a corporate video costs? This will give you an idea of the processes that can be involved in corporate video production. Not all the elements will be necessary in any one video – it obviously depends on the type, scope and length of your video – as well as the budget. The costs will differ for an animated explainer video and a talking head corporate video shot in the workplace for example.

Read our blog: Local vs. London video production company. Which is best?

Planning and Pre-production

Strategy, creative idea, visualisation and design

Scriptwriting/storyboarding

Location finding

Casting of actors or voiceover

Wardrobe/props

Production planning and logistics

Direction and client communication

Shoot day/s

Director

Camera Operator

Cast

Wardrobe/make-up

Sound/lighting technician

Runner

Catering

Studio/location fee

Equipment hire

Travel

Post Production

Editor

Edit Producer and client liaison

Executive producer approvals

Client feedback and approvals

Animation

Motion graphics

Special effects

Stock footage

Music

Voiceover

Licensing

Subtitling/translation

Colour balancing and grading

Export and optimisation for web streaming.

So there you have it. A corporate video can involve many different processes and be many different things, but one thing it should always be is good quality. The best way to cut through the confusion is to speak to a reputable video production company and be clear about what you want and roughly how much you want to spend. Show them examples of videos you like for comparison – be open to new ideas, and most of all, enjoy the creative process!

Small Films is a leading corporate video agency in London. By combining strategic minds with creative flair we create powerful stories with video that deeply resonate with audiences, supporting our clients to achieve their ambitions in growing their organisation, brand or campaign.

With recent research revealing that 1 minute of video content is worth 1.8 million words (Forrester Research) and that now 80% of global consumer internet traffic is in video form (Cisco), it’s a very brave company indeed that decides to leave video out of the content marketing mix completely. But it’s also no secret that producing good quality business video content can be more time-consuming and costly than other forms of content. The key, then, to getting more bang for your buck (and more content for your cash) is to be clever and resourceful with the video content you commission.

Don’t think of your corporate video as one entity to be embedded on your website, or posted on YouTube and then linked to repeatedly on your social media channels for the next year. You may (rightly) be proud of it, but in an age of rapidly updating information, even your most dedicated customers can get bored of seeing the same content repeatedly, whatever the quality. Instead, think of your video as a rich source of multiple types of content that can be distributed across multiple marketing channels.

Take it to the max and repurpose your business videos. There are many effective apps and tools you can use to help you edit and repurpose your video content or to save time and money, ask your video production company to produce different edits while they are making the main video content piece. Think outside the box and plan your repurposing beforehand.

The team here at Small Films have compiled what you can do to repurpose your business videos:

 

1. Use all available channels

For maximum exposure consider publishing your video on your website, on YouTube and other video sharing channels such as Vimeo, Wistia, and Vidyard. (If you are after one big hit count, concentrate your efforts on one channel).

2. Optimise for social media platforms.

Break your video into shorter clips and themes. You’ll be able to use these in lots of ways (embedded in marketing emails for example) but primarily for distribution across social media. Customise edits to fit the optimal length for each social media platform.

Optimal lengths for the big platforms are as follows:

YouTube 2 minutes
Facebook 1.3 minutes
Twitter 30-45 seconds
Instagram 30 seconds (and must be less than 60 seconds.)

3. Use the video clips sequentially in social media story features.

Use 10 or 15-second segments to post in a story format on Instagram, Snapchat or Facebook. Posting stories puts you straight at the top of your followers’ feeds and is a great way of increasing visibility and engagement.

4. Transcribe the video.

Turn your video into an informative blog post by transcribing or summarising it (or both). Embed the video from YouTube and add a direct text link to your YouTube video page which will help the video page rank higher in Google searches.

5. Convert the video to slides.

This works well for educational and informative video content and can sometimes generate much more engagement than the original video. Share on platforms like SlideShare and SlideSnack.

6. Create a podcast. 

When you plan the audio or voiceover for your video, think about how you might be able to convert it for a podcast. It might pay off therefore if you can get the audio to make sense without the visuals. Podcasts are rapidly increasing in popularity (1/4 of UK people over the age of 15 have listened to one) and video-editing software and other tools can be used to export the audio. You can publish it on iTunes and other podcasting sites and share it across your social media platforms.

7. Add a version with subtitles.

Many people, particularly those who are out and about and viewing on mobile devices, watch videos with the sound off. Make a version of your video with subtitles that can be viewed in this way, or for showing in the background at industry events etc where it might be difficult for viewers to hear the audio.

8. Get behind-the-scenes footage during the video shoot.

Show some depth and character to your brand by getting behind the scenes footage of your video shoot (the set, the crew working, hair and make-up) – little teaser clips can drum up interest before your main video launch.

9. Keep stills of your video.

Use the images across your website, social media and in other marketing collateral.

10. Make an outtake blooper video.

If it’s at all appropriate for your brand, (it may well not be) consider making a video of outtakes or funny moments from your video shoot. It shows a human side to your business and can help you connect emotionally with your audience.

11. Turn your video into GIFs.

Use those in email content, banner ads etc.

So – is it worth investing in video for your business? With the multiple ways you can now reuse and repurpose your business videos into new quality pieces of visual, audio and written content, the answer would have to be yes. If you want content that is great value for money, improves your SEO rankings, increases engagement and provides more ways to target your customers, commissioning video is a brilliant starting point.

Small Films is a leading video production company based in Hackney, East London. If you’d like some more inspiration for breathing new life into your video content, contact us here for a chat.