See how Billboard quickly created a square video that drove over half a million views on Facebook.

The Goal

Fast turnaround for covering news

When you’re creating content related to current events or trends, you don’t have much time to respond — either you tap into what’s happening as it’s happening, or you miss out. That’s why, even though Billboard has a whole video editing team, they still use DIY tools such as Animoto to keep up with what’s latest and greatest in the world of music. For instance, Billboard knew the Women’s March on Washington on January 21, 2017 would garner the highest engagement in the few days following the event. Their goal was to create a short synopsis of the event quickly, so it could be shared on social media while it was the most relevant and shareworthy.

The Solution

Mobile-friendly square video created quickly

Since they needed their video right away, Billboard decided to use Animoto to create a square video about the march. With access to Getty images and video they already had or had captured on the day of the march, Billboard was able to create a video about musicians attending the march that was timely and relevant to their publication. And because video creation was so quick, they were easily able to post their 45-second story on their Facebook page the Monday following the event.

The Results

More audience engagement with well-timed videos

With a video turnaround time of less than 24 hours and a square-formatted video designed to perform well on social media, Billboard’s Women’s March video was a huge success. The video amassed 591,435 views on Facebook, with more than 14,000 reactions, 1000 shares, and 200 comments on the original video. Their Animoto video out-performed their other Women’s March Coverage, including their Facebook Live video, even though Facebook gives preference to Facebook Live events in its algorithm.

“Animoto is the tool every content marketer needs in their back pocket,” says Everett Brothers, Billboard’s Senior Content Strategist. “When Facebook’s algorithm shifted to prefer video, Animoto offered the best solution for us to develop video content incredibly quickly and effectively.”

Key Takeaways

• Choose square videos to optimize for mobile
• Post quickly to capitalize on current events and trends
• Find a hook for your video that relates to your business