2 million connected individuals is a huge audience, how do you create content that appeals to all of them?
– Firstly, we create comprehensive content that will appeal to the whole audience, for example, telling them about the support we offer. Then we also make sure to create content that is specifically aimed at individual professionals, for example. We do this simply by replacing images and videos.
– When a video is aimed at professionals in the hospitality industry, we might choose images of people in a commercial kitchen, and when we are targeting industrial workers, for example, we use images of people operating large machines or vehicles. Whatever your line of work, we can help you with conversion support, so we can easily reuse lots of videos.
How do you think Storykit differs from other video production platforms?
– The knowledge to create video in more complex production tools was there before, but the resources and ability to do it quickly were lacking. Making animations in that kind of video software just takes too long, says Sofia.
– Storykit also makes it easy to use templates for different types of videos. We never have to start from scratch when we want to produce a new video. The fact that it's also easy to use your own branding all the time adds enormous value for us. It's easy to keep a common thread in the graphic profile in Storykit.
Tell us how you work with templates in Storykit.
– The templates give me a head start in the creative process, because I never have to start over with a design. To make it easy for our audience to recognise us as a sender, we always try to keep a consistent graphic profile in our videos. We can seamlessly insert the text and images we want to use.
Do you think more organisations should use Storykit?
– I can definitely advise other organisations and companies to use Storykit! As well as being able to make a lot of videos in a short space of time as a communications professional, I also get great creative support from the support team, who always offer help and solutions!
Trygghetsfonden TSL, a foundation owned by Swedish business and industry, offers insurance to over 2 million employees and 80,000 companies. They offer support for those who are dismissed due to lack of work, illness or termination of a limited-term employment.
To scale up their video creation and reach more people, Sofia and her team started making videos in Storykit. By posing more videos on social channels, they've seen a significant increase in their reach.
– Our motion-based content has helped us get a wider reach. Since we started making videos, we have a range of almost half a million people, and doubled our audience on several social platforms. Thanks to video, we're able to capture audiences in the important first few seconds of their feeds.
Do you have any tips for those who are considering making a lot of videos themselves?
– First of all, it's about getting to know your audience: what value can we bring? This is where Storykit is a perfect tool to use to get your message across in an appealing way. Aim for short, simple messages to maintain a constant presence on social platforms.
At TSL, a small but ambitious team manages their social media. That means creating a lot of content to communicate quickly to their million-strong audience, and sharing the knowledge they possess about transition support and industry news.
– In total, 70,000 companies and 2,000,000 professionals in commerce, hospitality and catering, manufacturing, transport and more are covered by our transition support. When the pandemic broke out, we were not able to visit everyone, so it was important that we had an extra presence where they were, which was on social media. In this way, we were able to spread our message in a quick and accessible way, says Sofia Lund.
– We already knew that video is an effective format to use on social media to reach and engage an audience, statistics also show that video has a greater impact than static images.
– In the beginning, I was the only one who made videos, but now I realize that everybody needs to be able to create videos. Now, our marketing coordinators and TA Partner are also working in Storykit. Just as I want everyone to be able to manage LinkedIn or Hubspot, everyone needs to be able to work in Storykit for us to work as efficiently as possible. I want video to be a go-to format, we must be able to have a short lead time. We do not have the time to bring in external help every time we want to make a video.
The goal is, of course, to make even more videos.
– Video works really well for both customer testimonials and employer branding, and our sales staff love to use videos. We have also started to explore using video to attract attention to our webinars, both before and after.
For tech companies selling their solutions with a subscription model, billing often quickly becomes a mess. This is where Swedish Younium comes in to solve the dilemma that subscriptions cause. "Traditional systems cannot handle SaaS companies' complex payment models. So our customers turn to us when this problem has become too big of an administrative burden," says Emelie Linheden, VP of Marketing at Younium.
When Emelie started working at Younium, she wanted to publish her customer testimonials in the feed quickly.
– I looked at various tools, and since Storykit is one of our clients, I wanted to try your solution. I immediately realised that "wow, I can do this all on my own"! This was during the pandemic when we couldn't visit and interview the clients, but with Storykit, I could make a video with only a picture and a quote.
That sounds like an efficient way of working!
– It is! I published several client videos in a very short time. After the pandemic, we can also go out and meet the clients, film them, and create videos using text, still images, and video clips.
According to Emelie Linheden, choosing Storykit had a lot to do with the simplicity of the tool.
– The bottom line is that I'm not really interested in creative tasks such as video creation and layout. I'd much rather work with text. Storykit is genuinely a simple tool, even for us who aren't creative masterminds.
– Additionally, getting started is super easy. I don't know how many times I have bought a new system, being promised that "it's so simple, it'll only take a couple of hours, and you'll be ready to go" when the system actually requires a lot of onboarding. But with Storykit, this was literally true. I was up and running in no time. I also have to say that your customer support is incredible. I always get a reply immediately, which is invaluable when I'm in the middle of creating a video and can't afford to wait for days without knowing how to solve the problem.
CFOs at SaaS companies are a relatively small audience; how do you reach out to them?
– Many people think that CFOs aren't the most progressive audience, but I have worked with this audience for a long time and know how to reach them through traditional social channels. We use LinkedIn as our main channel, but we also work actively through communities on the local job market.
An essential element of Younium's social media strategy is video.
– At my last job, we worked a lot with video, but this was at a huge, global company, and I seldom did anything hands-on. So instead, we hired an agency. This approach's problem was the long winded processes and clumsy machinery.
When Listgrove adopted Storykit, their strategy was to post videos consistently on LinkedIn to improve brand awareness and increase their followers. In just one year of regularly posting videos, the marketing team was able to earn 20,000 more followers to their LinkedIn account.
“When we started we had 58,000 followers and now we have 78,000,” says Airelle.
Being able to present themselves in a new way has made Listgrove more visible and they can see that they’re having an impact on their clients and candidates.
And what makes it even better, is that the marketing team at Listgrove loves doing them.
Listgrove is a global recruitment & HR specialist that specifically supports organisations operating in the plastics, packaging, recycling, chemical and petrochemical sectors.
When they discovered Storykit: "The timing was perfect," says Airelle.
Getting started with Storykit was a breeze for the Listgrove team because they didn’t need any prior knowledge of video creation. Listgrove received onboarding support right from the beginning to help them overcome any obstacles they might face.
"The customer service has been really helpful. From the start, every time we had a question, we had a reply within the hour — which is impressive,” says Airelle.
The video platform is used for the following:
Storykit has made it easier for them to post regularly on Twitter and Instagram too.
"Each video we create can be adapted to the right formats for the other channels in the platform. It's very easy to use and all ready to go," says Airelle.
As a small company working on a global scale, Listgrove recognized the need to improve their presence on social media.
The marketing team at Listgrove headed by Airelle Charra, Director of Marketing, understood the importance videos could play on social media and were interested in learning how they could incorporate it into their strategy.
Marie says it’s important that in her role as a communicator to build trust with the researchers about the work she does. “Not all researchers understand why their study should be posted on social media. It’s important for me and the university to explain why social media is just as important as sending out a press release.”
Turning reams of research into a short, snappy video is obviously a challenge. Compressing and simplifying research work loaded with nuance demands sensitivity and respect.
“My job is to shorten something that researchers have been working on for years, and to do that successfully requires respect for the research and the researcher. After all, I want to help that person to reach out to new audiences using short videos to tease their long work, and I have to convince them this is the right approach," Marie explains.
And it’s paying off: Marie has been contacted by researchers at the university who wanted her videos in their presentation material - and people from outside have also taken notice of her work. “People have called me after seeing our videos, which has been great fun,” Marie concludes.
When it comes to publishing research using video on social media, it’s not always about creating something spectacular – it’s about testing what works for your audience. Keeping up with the times - what’s happening here and now - is also important, says Marie.
1. Zoom in, to reel your audience in
“Scale down the information to find the most interesting and relevant stuff. It’s hard to say exactly how I do this, it’s in my backbone. But you have to try things out, and not everything has to be a success. One way to find interesting angles is to start from a current debate that engages people” – Try and find a news or pop culture connection to get eyeballs where they need to be.
2. Use great imagery
“The quality of the images is important. It’s also good to get real people into the videos - either students or researchers” – after all, people relate to people!
3. End on a call to action
“The video is a sneak peek, the aim of the work we do on social media is that those who see the video will ultimately go in and read more about the research” – Understand your purpose and provide a call to action that makes sense for their user journey.
A leading university in Sweden, The University of Gävle offers approximately 60 study programs and second-cycle programs with a focus on sustainable development. With 370 courses in various fields, including distance education, the university is committed to providing a flexible and innovative learning experience for its 17,000 students.
“And that’s how we got in touch with Storykit. One of the biggest advantages is that it’s so easy to work with; it’s no more difficult than making a PowerPoint. You add text and images, you can use pre-made templates and control your branding. With the tool, it’s easy to put together a video in just a few minutes. There’s so much content on our site that can become a video, and now anyone can do it. The researchers themselves don’t produce videos yet, but they certainly could,” says Marie.
Now they know that video works so well, the university uses Storykit for almost all communication - not just to promote research. It could be turning press releases and news into videos by picking out the crucial points – and social engagement has never been stronger.
Elsewhere in the university, the school’s student union and library also use the tool for day-to-day comms including alerting students to exam registrations or application periods.
A complex study isn’t always easy to repackage into hard-hitting headlines to attract a wider audience, something Marie Hägg Zetterlund quickly realized when she started working in social media at the University of Gävle a few years ago.
“We want to tell people how we contribute to society and show we’re an important player. Our school sits on a lot of research with heavy messages, but it doesn’t work to put 50 pages from a thesis into the hands of the public”.
Marie’s background in journalism meant she knew combining social media and video were the right way to reach out.
When she started, Marie was the only person in the communications department who could produce video. Everyone relied on her, and it hampered the pace of production. She knew she needed a tool that allowed her whole team to produce text-driven video easily.
What should you do when you want to increase your video production radically, but simply can’t find the time? The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) started using Storykit and increased their video production by 400%.
– We have gone from a video per month (sometimes none at all), to producing one per week on average.
– On Facebook alone, we've gained about 8,000 followers since we started working with the tool and we also have a much wider reach than before.
One of SSNC's greatest successes so far is a video they made for Earth Overshoot Day. The video currently has over 200,000 views, 3600 shares and lots of likes and comments. But above all, they saw that the site the post linked to, Fixa Grejen, received over 250% more visitors.
– The wide reach we got with Earth Overshoot Day exceeded all our previous results, which was really exciting.
But it is not just the obvious themes that work. Shortly after the Earth Overshoot Day video, SSNC published a video about bee-friendly flowers, which may not be an equally obvious subject, and that video quickly gained a reach of over 200,000 without any promotions.
– We have noticed that clear and concise, almost sort of magazine-like themes, work well for our video-based storytelling. Now as the climate issue is red hot, you can have a large impact with a video that clearly addresses the subject.
Storykit is perfect for this type of storytelling. Is there anything else you would like to do with the tool?
– Absolutely. One of the challenges we are faced with in the environmental movement is that the issues we work with can appear to be very abstract. I consider video production to be one of the absolute best and most effective tools we have as we strive to explain these issues in an easily accessible way.
The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) is Sweden's largest environmental organization with the power to change. Since it was founded in 1909, it has been involved in and influenced most major decisions on environmental issues such as environmental legislation, the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and the existence of environmental labeling of goods and services.
The onboarding process to Storykit went smoothly, but it required a joint effort from Liselotte and her team.
– The basics of the tool are easy to learn. You can start making simple movies right away, but as a relatively new manager I still recognised that there was a need for me to provide my communicators with some guidelines for a smooth start - by helping them with planning and prioritization.
After the training with Storykit, Liselotte wanted to make sure that the communicators could get started with video production at once.
– Immediately after we had learned how to utilise the tool, we started thinking about which videos we could do, and we came up with three ideas right away. We made the three videos pretty fast and made sure that as many as possible were involved in the process. That got the ball rolling and now everyone feels comfortable with the tool.
– Our main task is to form public opinion on the issues we are passionate about and which are important for the climate, nature and sustainable development. The goal is also to educate and present facts in an easily accessible way, which we obviously have managed to do very well, because we see that people are looking to us for answers to many of their questions. In social media we reach both current and new followers, says Liselotte Lundström, head of digital content at the SSNC.
The choice to work with video is just as obvious to the organisation.
– We clearly see that video has a great impact and that it is highly rewarded on social channels.
But just like many others, the SSNC has been dealing with restrictions on time and resources for video production.
– The problem is that we have been wanting to make more video content but lacking the time to do it. We are involved in many different issues, and it has been a real challenge to add video production to our tight schedule. Project management of traditional video productions is generally extremely resource-demanding.
In what way is it resource-demanding?
– I remember when I first learned how to work with traditional video editing software. My reaction then was "Oh, what a fun tool, but yeah, it is really time-consuming." And when making video with this type of software, it is not just about taking the time to edit the video, but the whole process demands a lot of resources. You often need a person who works with the sound, one with the light, one camera (wo)man and one person needs to keep an eye on the overall picture. Therefore, we saw an incredible opportunity when we found a tool that could help us make stylish videos on our own.
By working in Storykit, Dun & Bradstreet has scaled video creation over almost all markets and departments. By minimizing the need for external agencies for video production, they are also saving time, thanks to little to no time spent on bouncing corrections back and forth, and the ability to localize videos instantly and saving significant amounts of money.
Last year, Dominika Dzielak at Dun & Bradstreet made 119 videos in 17 different languages. When she calculated the company’s savings by making the videos in Storykit, she was surprised.
– I requested quotas from an agency to make a similar video, and the maths was simple: a master video would cost us 2 000 EUR. Every adaption to a new language would cost us 500 EUR per market. That is 10 500 EUR per video. If I would have hired an agency to carry out this work, it would have cost us 12 495 000 SEK, over 1,2 million EUR.
That’s astonishing!
– Yes, I got a bit surprised myself. Moreover, Storykit has opened plenty of opportunities for us! Earlier, the local offices barely made any videos – it was too complex and a waste of time. Now that it only takes a couple of minutes to translate the copy in a master video, my European colleagues request Storykit-videos for everything we do.
– The sellers love having client cases in video format in their sale pitches. HR uses Storykit for employer branding and recruitment in social media. The product team makes internal product presentations, and our digital marketeers are making paid ads using the tool.
In the future, Dun & Bradstreet will work even more with video.
– We will start using Storykit in several big markets, including China, India and the U.S. The markets I’ve displayed the tool for are super excited to get started.
Below is a video that Dominika made for Dun & Bradstreet, which was then translated into several languages:
Swedish:
English:
Hungarian:
Dun & Bradstreet is a leading global provider of business decisioning data and analytics. They have more than 6,000 employees around the world and are trusted by organizations around the world for their end-to-end solutions that guide winning strategies.
When Dominika later entered the role of Group Content Lead and stumbled into Storykit, she knew that the tool would be the perfect fit.
– It was a rapid decision. The purchasing division helped me to conduct meticulous research to find out whether there would be any other tool that could match our needs whilst at the same time being simple to use and accessible. We didn’t find any product comparable to Storykit.
–Having leaders who trust internal expertise also helped speed up the decision. Our CMO Anna Albinsson, and my manager Lena Dour-Andersson dare to invest in pioneering initiatives and innovative MarTech.
Today Dominika is working with a sophisticated video content strategy across all markets.
– All companies produce plenty of written content, not the least for the purpose of SEO. Now we can make all these texts into video too. We make videos for client cases, press releases, when releasing trend reports, for products, webinars… Pretty much everything!
Dominika makes the master video herself and then shares it with the local offices.
– I ping them: “Now we have a new video in Storykit”, ready for them to start translating. The day after, the video is published on other markets. We are saving an incredible amount of time!
When Dominika Dzielak started working at Dun & Bradstreet (then named Bisnode), almost no video content was made in her department.
– I worked with video at my last job, and I knew it would make a big difference here as well, so I started working with video through different agencies. But I quickly realized that process would be both cumbersome and expensive.
With a large number of markets, where every video is translated to 17 languages, the costs quickly escalated, which resulted in the company not being able to localize their content for all markets.
