Letting Someone Else Create Your Content
Today, one of the best ways to reach a hyper engaged audience is by having your brand be embedded in the social media content your targeted consumer views throughout the day. One option all brands should be exploring is creating their own content – but the reality is what you produce will only be shared within your own social universe.
So what’s a brand to do if they want to reach new viewers and potential purchasers? We're going to dive into some of the options you have to achieve this. Such as working with a blogger develop a relationship with a social influencer, and more. In this blog, Hollywood Branded shares 4 steps for brands to get branded video content created by someone else and shared beyond their own social media universe - and who our favorite content producers are to work with.
Who To Choose To Partner With?
Millennials especially need outside reinforcement about a brand before making a purchase – and having a 3rd party share information is more likely to lead to sales than a mad cap ad campaign. So it is up to you to find a partner that supports your brand and helps provide a little star dust shine.
Some of the following names you may recognize from what is popping up from your own Facebook feed. They differ in a few important things:
- Consumer target
- Follower count (careful here – high follower count DOES NOT mean high engagement or shareability)
- Engagement and shares
- Real followers - and their location
- Costs (and boy oh boy oh boy… with some of these you need to really be prepared to spend and spend and spend.) Guaranteed cost per every thousand (CPM) people viewing the content starts at the lowest $25 and can range up to a walloping $250. You might still end up at the end of the day with a CPM of UNDER $1… but it’s not guaranteed views – it means your post went very very viral.
Digital Media Outlets
You can choose to partner with digital media outlets – most print magazines and TV networks offer an offshoot of sorts, but expect to pay digital ad buy costs on top of the cost of the content you have created. IF they even will create customized content for you without also being an advertising partner on their TV network or in their print magazine. And that can mean hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars in addition to the content piece you want created.
5 Digital Platform Options To Consider
- BuzzFeed – https://www.buzzfeed.com - if you haven’t heard of Buzzfeed, then you don’t spend a lot of time online, and are definitely not a millennial. The self subscribed “social news and entertainment company” content platform brings in brands to partner with media that is viral in nature, offering the ability to sponsor the content versus truly BE the content in most instances, although options do exist for $$$ to have custom content created and pushed out with guaranteed minimum views.
- Diply - http://www.diply.com - with its “focus on fun content” Diply creates Style, DIY, Funny, Parenting and Inspirational content and videos.
- Nifty - https://www.buzzfeed.com/nifty - and Tasty - https://www.buzzfeed.com/tasty are digital platforms that share through their social networks, and are offshoots of BuzzFeed targeting DIY’ers and foodies with content created by the company which will include your brand.
- Tastemade - https://www.tastemade.com - targets millennial foodies, and content is created by influencers that are part of the Tastemade network, and shared across Tastemade’s social media, “digital show” content, and own website.
- Upworthy - http://www.upworthy.com - this viral content website uses virality to promote stories with an emphasis on political and social issues.
Four Steps To Create Effective Social Media Branded Content
And finally… the meat of our blog! There are four steps brand managers should take to ensure a successful branded social media content partnership.
1. Determine the Objective
The brand manager should first figure out what the overall goal is to achieve with the branded content partner. The better defined the objective, the more rounded, on-target and successful the branded content will be. Things to consider include:
- What’s your key specific timing of year/quarter/month.
- What product do you want to focus on? Pick one. Only one.
- Is there a ‘feel’ you want it to have?
- What’s your messaging?
- Who’s your audience? The goal is to have the content producer meld a message that reaches who you want it to reach.
- And…specifics are terrific – if there are certain sales goals that need to be met or impressions created – all of this information will help create the backbone to the partnership.
The brand manager should then determine what assets the brand offers that can be utilized for the branded content piece. These may include:
- Do you want to cobrand the entire post? Or do you want to be subtler? While a social media post with your brand’s name standing at the top with a flag on top works wonders for your team to pat yourself on the back – it might come across ad advertisey – and diminish engagement.
- What’s your budget? Time to get real and truly look at your option so you can decide if you want one post, or a multiple of posts at a discounted rate. Knowing this upfront will save you money in the long run. And also allow you balance if one post is a goldmine, and another not-so-much.
- What products do you have with that logo/brand? Share the whole line so the branded content production team knows what they have to work with, and can be creative!
- What IS going to make you a happy camper (or your boss happy)? Figure it out before you ink the deal. Is it content that is highly shared? Is it a certain # of views or likes?
- Are you looking to drive sales, or increase awareness for future purchase? Please say the latter – with the exception of a few categories (hello diet teas) sales should not be the absolutely focal point. Look beyond and how you can create a long term relationship.
- The brand management team will need to work with the content production partner to establish timelines for https://blog.hollywoodbranded.com/4-steps-to-get-your-branded-video-content-created-shared-by-someone-else# due by both sides, as this will be the most important part of keeping your branded content piece on track. When the campaign is activated, success will be ensured with consistent communication so that expectations can be managed by both sides, and any hurdles or delays that arise can be openly and swiftly dealt with.
- Do you want final approval before the content is posted? Say that too! It’s not a given.
- Leverage your social media universe and share share share.
Getting Your Content Created
As a brand begins to think about having branded content produced – and distributed through known outlets and individuals - they will be well served to enlist an agency which specializes in the entertainment marketing space. Because that is what this is – entertaining content. Not only will the agency have proven experience, but the established relationships and overall industry know-how will ensure the brand knows of all viable opportunities, and where red flags may exist and how to get around them. The agency will ensure you have all know-how, assets and most up to date materials, and remain your primary point with the content developer to ensure the process is seamless. And let you get your day to day job done.
Find More Ways To Get Someone Else To Create Your Content & Work With Social Influencers!
Are you interested in learning more on how your brand can work with social media influencers? Download our infographic that provides case studies, rates and strategies for success when creating a social media influencer program.
