With the current social media landscape and an increased need for things like Connected TV creative, we have the unique opportunity to execute social media and digital campaigns that stretch into the world of commercial video. Two areas of marketing that were once separate are now merging together into a broader digital arena, allowing agencies like Socialfly to diversify campaign work and increase storytelling across social media channels. Here’s how we approach and execute creative for a multi-channel social media campaign:
The first step is making sure creative goals and objectives are clearly defined. Whether we are trying to build brand awareness, educate the audience, increase sales or generate leads, it is crucial to identify this core information as the first building block of the creative brief.
The second area to explore is audience data. At Socialfly, our social strategists work hand-in-hand with the creative department to pull important insights that help us craft the “North Star” ideas for our campaigns. The strategy team takes a deep dive into audience insights to help paint a more robust picture of who we are talking to and what types of creative will resonate with them most on social media.
The next question is, “which channels will you be utilizing?” Each primary social platform is unique, so it is key to craft your creative ideas with platform nuances in mind.
From there, utilize this information to craft a concept for the creative campaign. Once the creative wrapper is established, it’s time to get strategic about how the idea comes to life across different channels. For example, story and video execution will be different on Connected TV vs. a vertical paid media video ad. That said, it is important that the campaign looks and feels cohesive as a whole. Vertical video can be created in the style of TikToks with poppy transitions, whereas Connected TV should follow a longer, more polished commercial format. The creative assets across different channels should be like different luggage pieces from a matching set.
When producing custom creative, we recommend shooting all assets together, even when mixing different asset types like vertical video and standard 16:9 spots. This ensures that all scene details are consistent across all creative: lighting and mood, propping, location, etc. It is key to find a shooting location that meets all your needs for all platforms. That can be a mix of studio and lifestyle scenes, as long as they are tied together by a strong overarching campaign look.
The post-production stage is where you can add another layer of customization for each social media platform. The editing style, transitions, length, use of graphics and format used should feel organic to the different platforms. You want your content to feel authentic and native to the channel it is running on.
Last but not least, check your learnings once the campaign assets are live. This will help you go into the next campaign cycle with more strategic insights to make sure all your creative choices are backed by audience data, so your work can make the biggest splash possible.
Our creative team would love to help you with your next multi-channel social media campaign! Get in touch with our experts at [email protected].
Written By: Lindsay Gilbert, Creative Director, Studio
