Christoffer has also noticed that video content makes Bil-Nilsson more visible on Google.
– I have worked quite a bit with SEO for our website and I can see that when we are using video, which generates more clicks, our ranking improves as well.
– Video is simply a central part of the ecosystem and hopefully we it's also reflected in the business.
Having access to Storykit has been fundamental for Christoffer, since it has enabled him to create the quality content in short time:
– I can't work in Premiere Pro. It would take me far too long to create videos with traditional video editing software. Storykit has been so important for me, because it saves me so many hours. And it also looks really great.
In addition to everything else, Christoffer produces two videos per week on average.
How do you find the time?
– Since Storykit allows me to create videos so quickly and efficiently, creating videos doesn't demand too much of my time at all. The time-consuming part is doing the research and writing the articles. When I am done with the article, I just insert it into the video template, and then it's done.
Christoffer has a lot of ideas for the future:
– I want to bring our mechanics into the spotlight and make videos with car hacks and tips, and it would be fun if our employees could write chronicles. I also want to focus on some of our favourite spots in Alingsås... There is so much!
Do you have any tips for companies that struggle to find their stories?
– When I worked at Spoon, we used to talk about finding a specific sweet spot, half-way between the customer's needs and your sales goals. All companies have stories and you can always start by highlighting your employees. Another tip is to gather people from different departments and just brainstorm freely. It tends to get the ball rolling on some interesting stories.
Bil-Nilsson is a family owned car dealership and is proud to off vehicle-related products and services.
Therefore, Christoffer has established a number of various content formats to create brand recognition.
– We have our “Bil-Nilsson Story” for example, where we tell stories about our staff. It helps us to connect with the customers in a personal way, and it also works a bit like employer branding. I also do "The Classic of the Week", where we present a classic car model, which helps us to position ourselves as experts when it comes to the history of our industry, and there is a rich history to be told about the world of Volvo and Renault.
With the third format, Bil-Nilsson takes a step out from the company's premisses to contribute to the local community of Alingsås.
– When the pandemic hit, we felt a need to do something to celebrate some of the companies and entrepreneurs of our town. Those people who provide us all with local products and services, which creates a great environment for the entire community. We created the hashtag and concept #alingsåsärfantastiskt, which means "Alingsås is fantastic", and we do outdoor events in collaboration with different local companies and present their businesses. We also have articles on the blog and video in our social channels.
What are the benefits of working with formats?
– As I am the only marketeer at the company, my time is very limited, and having the format simplifies my work significantly. Especially when I create my videos with Storykit. When I have written a new article, I simply pick out the best bits to make a video with one of the templates I have created in Storykit.
Why do you have such a big focus on video?
– I can spend endless amounts of time on our website and our articles, but if I don't get any traction on our social channels it's all a waste. Videos get a lot more attention, especially in social channels.
– Video is also effective on our website. I can create a video ad for a car, or an instruction video about our process for people that bring their cars to us, instead of just writing a long boring text for the site.
Christoffer Hiding is the Marketing Coordinator at Bil-Nilsson in Alingsås close to Gothenburg; a job title that includes a lot of responsibilities.
– One day I take care of things that need to be done at the shop and the next day I create video content for our social channels. I handle the marketing department on my own, which means that I do everything marketing related.
With an extensive background in content marketing, including a role at the Spoon agency in Stockholm, Christoffer is well aware of how impactful a structured content strategy can be.
– Bil-Nilsson covers a pretty small market, so we want to approach our customers in a personal manner, with an emphasis on local engagement, and creating good content is one of the ways which we are able to do that.
Oliver's work has yielded positive results.
– Our videos are easily our most engaged with content. We always see a big spike in engagement when we have published a video.
Speed and simplicity are essential to Oliver, but he is also very pleased with the level of professionality.
– We've tried to replicate organizations with high performing social channels by matching and exceeding the quality of their video production. Our team is too small to reach these specific channel's production rate, but we wanted to match the quality of their videos, which I think we do with Storykit.
Oliver would also like to use the tool to make short documentaries in the future.
– I would like to make them in Storykit without digging too much into other software. I'm quite proficient in Premiere Pro, but using it to create every video from scratch would take way too long. Working in Storykit reduces my video production time by 90%.
This is not just something Oliver says.
– We are constantly striving to optimise our processes, and hence we measure how much time we spend on each video. I would never be able to create video so quickly and in such high quality with any other tool.
Oliver will soon be onboarding two new colleagues to the Storykit team.
– Once they have learned the software, they'll never want to use any other video tool.
Gridlines is a British financial modelling company that supports their clients with financial modelling, valuations and due diligence.
Since then, Oliver has been able to dish out the company's stories quickly and efficiently.
– We have many stories to tell, and we have established a quick process. At this point I know how to structure a manuscript and what is needed, so it's easy for us to discuss a topic and put together a video. This is a great advantage, especially when we want to talk about a current topic.
When the British financial modelling company decided to invest in video production for their social channels, they spent quite a bit of time searching for the ultimate tool.
– Due to my previous experience with Premiere Pro, we decided to compare it to Adobe Spark and Storykit, says Oliver Durston, marketing manager at Gridlines.
They performed a simple test: Oliver made the exact same video using the three video tools.
– It took me four hours to finish the video in Premiere Pro. It was a bit quicker with Adobe Spark, but I encountered some technical limitations, which was annoying. With Storykit, I managed to finish the video in less than half an hour, although I was a beginner.
What were the results?
Oliver gathered his colleagues to show them all three videos without telling them what software he had been using.
– Everyone thought that the Storykit video was best, by far. And I was happy because I preferred Storykit: it's far more intuitive than the other tools, I really enjoy the built-in video library, and the support has been great.
They were off to a flying start in Storykit.
– Learning Storykit was easy. It was a positive surprise to realise how simple it was to start using it, says Malin Skoog, Marketing Coordinator at ESSVE.
After only a couple of weeks, Malin and Caroline had produced over 150 videos.
– We were going on a tour and needed to make three videos for all the 25 cities we intended to visit. Additionally, we made each video in two different formats. By copying each job, changing background images, and adapting each video for every city, the process was really smooth.
Duplicating and adapting videos to the local context is something that Malin and Caroline have continued doing.
– Through Storykit we have ramped up our video production, also in our other markets. We work in a centralised manner here in Sweden to make videos, and in accordance with our content calendar, we make a certain amount of videos per month. Then we use slide notes in the tool to write an English translation so that our colleagues in other markets can translate it to their local language. After that, we send them the video through the tool, and notify them by e-mail that they can get the video directly through Storykit, says Malin.
Which are the benefits of centralising making video in-house instead of producing video content locally for each market?
– The most significant benefit is that we are saving their time. Our marketers have a big workload, and by getting nearly completed videos, they can publish the content in no time. Something else to consider is that the brand becomes more consistent – we retain control over the video experience, says Caroline.
Today ESSVE publishes a total of around 35 videos per month, and the work has been paying off.
– The Click Through Rate (CTR) has definitely increased for our Facebook videos. We experiment quite a bit to understand how to make videos that give the biggest effect, says Malin.
Are there any disadvantages to working in Storykit?
– Haha, maybe that one wants to make everything in a video format and that everyone starts providing suggestions for upcoming videos. The tool gives us huge opportunities, so it is important to set up a strategy for how and when to use it, says Caroline.
Essve is one of the leading fastening companies in Europe. Since 1970, they have been making everyday life easier, safer and more profitable for construction professionals in the industry.
Instead, Caroline and her colleagues started working in Storykit.
– We realised that Storykit would be perfect for enabling us to create more video content by ourselves. None of us had any video creating experience since before: I would say we are a classic marketing department with some knowledge of Photoshop, Illustrator, and PowerPoint, but video editing was new to all of us. With Storykit, we can suddenly create videos by ourselves, and as the tool is so simple to use, we can give more people in our organisation access to it, says Caroline.
By making the videos in-house, they speeded up the production radically.
– We can now work much faster, have more flexibility, and save a vast amount of time, says Caroline.
Since 1970, ESSVE is a leading fastening company in the Nordics. For example, the company sells over 5 million screws – every day.
– Our biggest sales channels are our retailers, but in our marketing, we are also targeting the end consumer: The carpenter, says ESSVE’s Brand Manager, Caroline Larsson.
To reach out with their message, they mostly use social media.
– We use Facebook and Instagram and work actively with the website. The amount of ”traditional” marketing we do is meager, says Caroline.
Why did you start working with video content?
– We recognised the need and noticed the increasing popularity of video. However, we also realised that we were lagging. Previously we worked with big, expensive agency productions. Despite the fact that we have a reasonable marketing budget we couldn’t afford spending 40 000 SEK (approximately 4 000 EUR) per video, given the fact that our intention was to produce several videos every week.
However, the idea is not to completely stop buying videos from external studios.
– We want to continue making more prominent and more advanced videos, but with Storykit we can do a lot of efficient video in-house. With the platform, we can also tell a lot more stories with video: for instance, I'd love to try to communicate more internally with short videos. For example, if we would replace a system, we could inform and educate our colleagues about it using video created in Storykit.
What is the biggest challenge when an organization like yours want to communicate on social media?
– As for everyone else: to be relevant in the right context. It is true as they say today: "Content is king, and context is queen".
– This means that we can produce even more video. For example, we want to customize our messages to a much greater extent so that the communication feels relevant to the audience around every billboard, and that is incredibly easy to do in Storykit, says August Jakobsson, Communications Officer, City of Stockholm.
Another advantage is that they can now work even faster.
– For example, we will be able to produce crisis information to the screens, without any extended lead times.
To further simplify video production, Storykit has developed a number of templates for the City of Stockholm, tailor-made for OOH.
– We need to be able to adapt the message to fit the billboards. We work very hard to get the message across in 10 seconds. Using Storykit, we can now deliver material to the web, video to social media and billboards when something happens in a short amount of time, which is an extremely cost-effective way to work, says August Jakobsson
Start.stockholm is a website that provides information about Stockholm, Sweden. It includes an overview of the city's history, culture, attractions, and practical information for visitors. It also highlights Stockholm's sustainability initiatives and offers resources for entrepreneurs and businesses interested in establishing themselves in the city.
Since last summer, the City of Stockholm are using Storykit for their video production.
– We wanted to be able to tell stories in an objective, educational and entertaining manner. We also wanted our videos to look good. I was thinking of developing Adobe Premier templates mimicking KIT's video look, but with Storykit we could just start working instead.
Now August and his colleagues can create their own video in Storykit instead.
– It's the perfect tool when we need to be fast but still work with high quality. This type of content, fully adapted for social media, really helps us reach through the noise.
With the help of Video Studio, more people in the communications department can create video.
– People who previously planned the video and wrote the script, but didn't know how to edit the video, can now complete the entire project on their own.
The official website start.stockholm has around 18 million visitors a year, but when they truly want to reach out, the City of Stockholm communications department is also actively working with social media.
– We see that people visit Stockholm.se to look for specific things, such as how to apply for preschool or school. But when we want to reach out with information, the website is no longer the right platform to use, says August Jakobsson, Communications Officer, City of Stockholm.
For this type of content, video is often an excellent choice.
– Video is a suitable format for many reasons, partly because it's a great way to tell stories, but also since it can be shared in its entirety and is easily portable in social media. This makes video easy to distribute.
The results? Since the introduction of short videos and their new strategy they have increased their number of viewers on Youtube with a massive 2900% and seen a 25% increase in subscribers. And they don’t want to stop there:
– We want to be the biggest Youtube community in terms of business in Poland, says Paweł Sołtys.
Instead of filming bald guys in ties, Paweł’s team creates videos like these:
A social campaign in Portugal used Neymars overreaction on the field as a meeage not to call emergency number without a reason.
A social campaign in Portugal used Neymars overreaction on the field as a meeage not to call emergency number without a reason.
Bankier.pl is a trusted financial and business website since 2000, providing content and tools to assist with money management decisions. They aim to offer reliable and valuable information on investing, personal finance, taxes, and running a business.
Paweł and his team realized they had to take action and do something else, so they started using Storykit Video Studio, and combined forces with digital marketing specialists.
– Paweł gave me free hands and pretty much told me: this is the content we currently produce, but we should try something else, says Agata Zych, Social Media Specialist at Bankier.pl.
Bankier.pl had just started working with Storykit, and the tool was a superb fit for Agata's strategy.
– We introduced short videos and began working strategically with them.
To create the most significant impact Agata, Paweł’s video team and Bankier.pl’s editors started working as a video newsroom with focus on real time search optimization.
– Every morning we are exchanging ideas and do our daily planning. What topics are trending? Do we have video material? Which story can be told better with a video instead of text, says Agata.
– We always work hard to create something different. We know that the classic business videos, often interviews with bald guys in ties, don’t work on Youtube or social media, says Paweł.
The business site Bankier.pl is one of the most visited websites in Poland, but the last few years they have seen a rapid shift from text to video.
– We knew we had to do something on Youtube. But Youtube in Poland is filled with entertainment, not business news, says Paweł Sołtys, Chief of Audio Visual.
They were posting traditional business videos on their channel but struggled to reach out to their audiences.
– Since we were telling business stories, many of our users perceived them as difficult and complicated. Also, the formats we were producing were quite time-consuming, many of our videos were 30-40 minutes long. And, as we all know: time is money.
With Storykit, SKF have been able to enable several employees to become video producers, even some who weren’t used to creating videos and people with limited technical knowledge.
– I am a great example: I had never created videos previously, but I have probably made over 100 films in Storykit over the last year.
Have you increased the production of videos for social media channels overall?
– Haha, to say the least. We made about 300 films last year, and that’s probably 290 more than we would have done without Storykit.
What do you see as a result of this work?
– Since we started using Storykit, we have seen good growth in our social channels, even in the local markets. As mentioned, we also create a lot more videos than previously.
What do you personally like most about the tool?
– I love the format adaptation and how easy it is to work with templates in Storykit. It increases productivity tremendously. The fact that the tool also offers pictures, clips, and sounds, creates a freer form of storytelling. A video isn’t going to fail just because you don’t have the best picture in the world.
Sarah is also using Storykit in other areas, in addition to social media.
– To me, Storykit is a tool with which you can create video content for platforms and purposes way beyond social channels. We use it to create videos for all types of screens, such as internal screens, for exhibition showcases, we include a video with each press release… Yes, everything.
– I also think that we have one of the nicest looking corporate Twitter accounts available today!
SKF is the world's largest bearing manufacturer. They are proud to offer prove tools for their customers to to explore, improve and rethink the performance of their rotating equipment.
Since they started using Storykit, SKF has been able to increase their content production, as well as create content for several of the organization’s markets.
– With Storykit we have definitely increased the number of videos we create for the local markets. Partly because it is so easy to create templates and masters and send them out to the organization. I create masters here at the head office, send them out to the local offices, and say ‘go translate’.
– Thanks to this, we can for the first time see that the different markets are communicating the same thing and that the brand is more coherent.
– We are always aiming to move beyond traditional, linear storytelling, and towards dynamic and social storytelling in our videos.
What is the difference?
– One thing is that the storytelling sequence is reversed, with the most important part in the beginning, and then it’s about really keeping it simple. Many content producers aren’t used to this, but we have to create videos in which there is something new happening each the time viewer is about to scroll away from the video, which happens around every third second.
Even if SKF is the world’s largest bearing manufacturer, it is easy to think that they might not be overly interested in being active on social platforms. Come on, a 100-year-old company that wants to talk about ball-bearings and seals? They can’t possibly have anything to share on social media?
– Haha, are you kidding? Social media presence is incredibly important for all types of companies, says Sarah Larsson Bernhardt, Head of Social at SKF. She continues:
– Partly for brand building purposes, to maintain the relationship with the customers and users and to attract new workforce. But it’s also an important way to reach out to new potential customers. It’s simply crucial to be present in your customers’ daily lives.
SKF has been active on social media since 2013, and Sarah joined the company a few years later. The fact that she can work with social media in a focused way has made a big difference for the company’s presence on social channels.
– We are much more consistent, with a proper tonality. Everyone who works with social media has undergone training, which means that everyone has the same basic prerequisites and understanding of why and how we work in social channels.
– I am absolutely convinced that if a company wants to grow in social channels, it needs to be both an internal and an external journey.
Content has been a strong trend in social media over the last few years. Is it still as important?
– Oh, yes! Content is what the audience is looking for, and I mean content that is created based on the recipient’s needs, not the organisation’s needs. People still forget about this. We are often really good at talking about how we need to focus on the customer, but I still find that, for example, LinkedIn is full of people shouting about themselves.
And why is it so important to work with video?
– That’s how we all prefer to consume content today. Why should I read a text when I can watch a video instead? We know that the viewers have a short attention span on social media, and moving images capture us much quicker than text.
Although they wanted to work with video content, the team at SKF found it challenging to get started. It has, for example, been more or less impossible to create videos for over 130 markets in 10-12 languages.
– It used to be hard to localize our video content. It was just too difficult and tedious. We tried using agencies for translations, mainly for subtitles in different languages. It was both expensive and time-consuming, and therefore we only produced a few videos that could be used in several markets.
– Each market has been responsible for its own video production, which has resulted in a variety of designs and storytelling formats.
But is it really that important to localize content?
– Yes, even if I didn’t think so in the beginning. It would be so much easier to just do it all in English, but we have realized that it’s important for many markets to work in their own language. In Latin America, for example, the audience is mainly Hispanic, and therefore the content needs to be in Spanish. The same goes for countries like France and the Czech Republic because they want videos in their native languages.
– It’s not just about language, but it’s also necessary to include a local person who makes a statement, or about representation and recognition. One example is when we created a Christmas greeting for all markets. Then I saw that the office in Brazil had switched out all the photos with snow because they don’t have any snow at Christmas in Brazil!
