Bolster has taken its Side B panel series online, running sessions centred around topics that sit at the intersection between digital, tech and brand. The third session was hosted by one of our Senior Campaign Managers, Oliver Hall, who discussed the creative best practice techniques behind thumb-stopping content.
In case you missed it, here is a summary of his key takeaways.
You can see the full roster of Side B sessions here.
For brands looking to connect with niche audiences, a key component of nailing this is creating the right content for a range of target users. As creative comprises roughly half of advertising’s effectiveness, at Bolster we’re committed to ensuring our clients have the tools to produce impactful content for their audiences. This article can serve as a guide to producing content to win over any audience.
TL;DR
- Before you create, research and understand the preferences and behaviours of your audiences.
- Establish trust and gain your following with snackable content that adopts mobile-first principles.
- Leverage this consumer trust to stoke future action, whether it is with longer format content or a call to purchase.
These tips back up a key point to keep in mind when approaching and planning social content:
Ensure that every engagement type leaves with an understanding of your message.
Setting The Scene
5 Hours
That’s how long the average user spends per day online and one third of that time is spent on social media. Surely that’s enough time to engage with all the content you could possibly produce, right?
Well, considering that 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, not to mention the cumulative hours of video on each social platform, it’s not surprising that most videos ‘in-feed’ have an average watch time of only 1–2 seconds.
Understanding the amount of content users consume and how quickly they consume it serves as the best indication of your audience’s willingness to commit. This is key to producing engaging content.
Content In Context
Good content considers context: who you’re speaking to and where they are, both online and in person. It also considers context in relation to your brand. Have they interacted with your brand and its content before? If so, do they trust its quality? What incentive do they have to invest the time in longer content?
Producing content for a range of audiences, for a range of behaviours, across a range of platforms, is the best way to ensure you are meeting needs across this spectrum. Quality content should be designed to speak to users along a scale. For example, you can build a relationship with snackable content that establishes the trust needed to invest in a longer format video down the line.
It can be difficult to produce the content needed to fill the needs of this spectrum across multiple platforms. One easy step is to unpack the way you currently produce content. Edit your video down to bite-sized pieces for stories, or reformat with additional scenes, commentary or even bloopers for those willing to explore further.
Best In Class
In an age that everyone is a publisher, formal ‘publishers’ — particularly those designed for Millennial audiences — serve as a great source of inspiration for how to explore this spectrum of content formats.
Vox
One of the best examples is Vox, who is known for producing content at both ends of the content spectrum. The affinity established in an infographic can set a user up for interaction with a 30-minute ‘Explained’ video, and visa versa.
Masterclass
Masterclass is another great example, exploring this scalable content principle in their social posts, and on a more granular level within their site. For those daunted by the idea of investing the time in an entire course, they feature key snippets and various cut downs designed to sell you on its content.
From Polish to Unpolished
Vox and Masterclass may be established publishers, with the revenue and resources to produce high-quality content at scale, but it’s important to remember that your content doesn’t always need to be highly polished.
Audiences are growing increasingly comfortable with content with low-production cost, a result of the influencers on platforms like TikTok. More often that not, mobile-shot content can drive higher intent than studio-shot content.
We’re starting to see these same larger publishers catch on. Whether it’s Netflix sharing ‘snackable’ memes, or New York Times posting ‘selfie’ videos.
Video Principles
Mobile-First AND Cinematic
So by now, you know the value of producing mobile-first content, but often, the biggest push-back is that it isn’t ‘cinematic’. Funnily enough though, the movie industry is actually one of the industries that has championed the push for mobile-first content early and are consistently considered best-in-class.
Take this example from Sony Pictures for Zombieland. They nail five key principles that can be applied to your own video content.
#1 Go Vertical
This is straightforward. Produce content how people have their device oriented. This doesn’t have to mean cropping a landscape video, which can lose valuable footage. Be creative with how you edit scenes. Use the added vertical real estate to your advantage. Mubi is a great example.
#2 Design for Sound Off
The majority of users are autoplaying content or engaging in lean-in environments with sound off, so find ways for them to still engage. Village’s Instagram is a great example.
#3 Message Up Front
As the average watch time is only a few seconds, use that window to win them over to the full video. Or, more simply, ensure that a cursory glance mid-scroll still conveys your key message. Marvel Studios are a great at this.
#4 Add Personality
Make your content relatable by adding an element of personality . Studios have a long history of leveraging the personalities of their actors to sell the film. Think about who or what you can leverage to make your content more relatable. See, for example, influencer Donté Colley.
#5 Generate Cut Through
You could have all mobile-first principles but still not win the attention of your audience. Design visually stimulating content that stands out among the clutter. Try looking to content creators, rather than other ads in your industry for inspiration.
A vertical video in a feed is not a replacement for a long format trailer screened before a feature film. It’s an extension; an edit designed with context in mind, with the user in mind, as part of a wider content strategy. This is the principle we hope to see more brands adopt, considering the wider ecosystem of their posts to produce content that speaks to different moments and levels of intent.
Content that applies these principles to their strategy will help to build an engaged audience, an informed content calendar and, ultimately, help to create a more valued brand.
Oliver Hall is a Senior Campaign Manager at Bolster.
