5 Reasons We Love Our Facebook Group
At Animoto, purchasing a subscription buys you more than just a product (it’s a great product, don’t get me wrong, but that’s only part of the story). We give our users the tool they need to create great marketing videos for their businesses, but we also want to put them in position to use that tool to the fullest.
There’s a lot that goes into setting our customers up for success beyond teaching them how Animoto works, and we’ve created a ton of resources for our customers to help them hit the ground running. Today I’ll be talking about one in particular: our Facebook group, The Animoto Social Video Marketing Community. In the interest of full-disclosure, I manage that group.
So…what’s the community for, really? Short version: It’s a place for video creators to learn and grow together as they develop their video marketing skills. Now let’s do the long version.
It’s a unique and supportive learning environment
For many of our customers, Animoto is their very first foray into the world of video creation. That’s scary! Even if deep down you know how important video is to a modern marketing strategy, representing yourself and your business in an entirely new medium is a daunting task. What if they’re not good at it? What if they work and work and have nothing to show for it? Worst of all, what if they sign up for a subscription and let it sit there untouched because it’s easier to avoid than tackle head on.
That’s where the group comes in. Members are exposed to videos from a wide range of businesses as well as experience levels every day. Many videos posted in the group are the very first video that person has ever created. Just as many are posted by people who create videos daily. If nothing else, this level of immersion can be the kick in the pants that many people need to sit down and get creating. The more experienced users can lead by example, and brand new users get the opportunity to share their work in a safe, supportive environment. It also bears mentioning that it’s a Closed group, so only members are able to see the posts being shared.
Feedback is a huge component of the community, and while I believe there’s a lot to be learned by watching other member’s contributions and reading the comments they receive, there’s really no substitute for putting yourself out there and sharing your own video. One of the wonderful things about the group is that, because there’s such a diverse group of people and businesses contributing, members can get the perspective of people who may intimately understand their industry, as well as those who are coming into it completely blind. Myself and a number of Animoto employees also participate on a regular basis, providing feedback, prompts, tips, and answering questions.
It’s very much a “learn by doing” environment, and no matter the experience level of the individual, it provides a space to test out techniques and ask questions without fear of ridicule.
It helps us understand our customers better
From an internal perspective, there are fewer ways to better understand how are customers are using the product than to watch their videos firsthand and, in that regard, the community is fertile ground. We also get a chance to learn from some of our most committed users about what our product is missing. When they want something, they tell us, in unambiguous terms. And beyond that, we get a chance to understand why they want the things we want. Adding features isn’t just a matter of writing up a few lines of code and voila. Every addition is a process, and getting those details goes a long way toward getting it on our roadmap.
There are dozens of Animoto employees in the group who keep tabs on the videos, questions, and requests that are posted, and they frequently take the time to engage directly with our users. For everyone who isn’t in the group, I share weekly highlights with the team that include all manner of group activity, the trends they’re discussing, the things that are important to them, their reactions to our updates, and more.
From time to time, we even survey them directly, as an audience that we know for a fact is intimately acquainted with Animoto, they make for an extremely valuable resource for us to better understand how we can do better.
Creates Raving Fans
As group members get more comfortable with the product, and see better results from their videos, ideally, they grow to appreciate Animoto more and more. For many of our members, I like to think that the group is where they learn to think of themselves not just as a soapmaker, or a real estate agent, or a fitness instructor, but as an honest-to-goodness video creator.
We also know that our community members are some of the most committed customers we have, and we like to repay that loyalty with news and updates tailored specifically for them. We recently released a song trimming feature that many of our members have been asking for, and we were sure to let them know on Day 1 of the release that we’d made it happen. These smaller-scale releases that might not be worthy of a full-scale marketing campaign can make a huge difference for the power users who know Animoto inside and out, and we take care to make sure they know their voices are being heard.
I’d also like to think that it lives up the “community” part of the name. Our community members answer a question about what they hope to get out of joining the community before they are admitted, and not every request is approved. I think that exclusivity helps form tighter bonds within the group. In the time that I’ve managed the group, I’m very proud to say that I’ve seen friendships develop that extend outside the community, and a group of dedicated users form who take the time to watch a good number of the videos shared and offer their honest and constructive opinions. The fact that we’ve gotten to provide the arena for these bonds to form is a real privilege for us, and it’s a treat to see otherwise strangers whose first connection is simply the use of our product learn they have so much more in common.
Shows a more human side of the company
As I mentioned above, the group is chock full of real, live Animoto employees, and the interactive environment gives us a chance to remind everyone that yes, there are people who work here who care about providing them with the best product and experience possible.
No one here has to take the time to watch our user’s videos and offer our feedback, or read their requests and questions and ask for more info. We do it because we as individuals know that our customers are the most important part of our business, and we want to be there for them. We don’t ever seek to seem inscrutable to our customers, and the group is an open space for them to communicate with us directly.
Give us access to the fantastic work our customers are doing
As a company that gives small businesses the tools to create videos on their own, it can’t be overstated just how important it is that we showcase the people who are making the most out of our offerings.
With the embarrassment of riches that the community provides in terms of user generated content, we’ve been able to work with individual members to turn community posts into case studies, marketing materials, customer stories, and more. We like to see this as a win-win. We get super awesome and original work to showcase our product, and our customers get some free publicity.
Wrapping up
So that’s that! That’s why we we think community is so important, and why we work hard to make sure our Facebook group is a nurturing environment for that community. If you have any questions about anything community related, leave us a comment! And if you want to see our community firsthand, I invite you to join us! See you there.
Are you passionate about community? Join our team, we’re hiring!
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