In the social media-driven age of today, consumers don’t want to engage with cold, corporate products and services. People are increasingly seeking authenticity from the brands they buy from. It isn’t just about the products and services you offer, but the humans behind the brand. Potential leads want to know who they are buying from and what they stand for. This is where marketing and transparency come in, in the form of behind-the-scenes action!
By pulling back the curtain and allowing your audience a glimpse into the inner workings of your business, you can humanize your brand, build trust, and create a personal connection that goes beyond being just transactional. You as a company can utilize photos, videos, and social media to let customers see your business’s personality shine.
Why Behind-the-Scenes Content Matters
Before diving into how to create effective behind-the-scenes content, it’s important to understand why it matters. Here are a few key reasons:
Building Trust: Transparency is key to building trust. When you show your audience what happens behind the scenes, you demonstrate that your business is willing to show what it does on a daily basis. This openness can foster a deeper trust and loyalty among your customers and potential customers.
Showcasing Company Culture: Your company culture is a significant part of your brand identity. BTS content allows you to showcase the unique atmosphere, values, and people that make your company what it is. This can be particularly attractive to potential customers who share similar values and can relate to your team.
Creating Personal Connections: BTS content puts a face to your brand. It gives your audience a chance to meet the people behind the products or services they love, creating a more personal and emotional connection. This can be good for networking and creating relationships with other businesses that share similar traits to yours.
Differentiation: What makes you different from your competition? You and your team. In a crowded industry, differentiation is crucial. BTS content can highlight what makes your brand unique, whether it’s your innovative processes, dedicated team, or commitment to quality. Authenticity shines in our social media-driven environment, you want people to know they are buying from a real human and not a cold corporate robot.
What to Showcase in Behind-the-Scenes Videos
Now that we understand the value of BTS content, let’s explore some specific areas you can highlight in your content to humanize your brand:
Day-to-Day Operations:
Show your audience what a typical day looks like at your company. This could include snippets of meetings, brainstorming sessions, or even casual interactions between team members. By doing so, you highlight the effort, collaboration, and passion that go into your products or services.
Employee Spotlights:
Introduce your team to the world. Give some background/fun facts about each member if they are willing to participate. Feature interviews with employees where they discuss their roles, what they love about working at your company, and perhaps a bit about their lives outside of work. This can humanize your brand and boost employee morale by recognizing their contributions and showcasing them as a valuable member of your company.
Product Development:
Take your audience on the journey from concept to creation. Whether you’re launching a new product/service or refining an existing one, showing the development process can be incredibly engaging. It helps customers appreciate the craftsmanship, attention to detail, and innovation that goes into your offerings. This can shine a light on services or products that seem simple but are a lot more intricate than many think.
Company Events:
If your company hosts events—whether they’re internal celebrations, industry conferences, or community outreach initiatives—BTS content can capture the energy and spirit of these moments. Photos and videos of people in action, smiling faces, and interactions can really showcase the greatest moments of the event. This is a great way to display your company’s personality and involvement beyond the office walls.
Challenges and Triumphs:
Don’t shy away from showing the challenges your company faces. Whether it’s a tight deadline, a tough project, or an unexpected setback, sharing these moments (within reason) can make your brand more relatable. And when you also showcase how your team overcomes these challenges, it highlights resilience and determination.
How to Create Compelling Behind-the-Scenes Content
Creating BTS videos that resonate with your audience requires more than just pointing a camera at your daily activities. To make content with intent and not post boring things no one wants to see, here are some tips to ensure your content is engaging and impactful:
Be Authentic:
Authenticity is the cornerstone of truly effective BTS content. Don’t script every moment or try to present an overly polished image. Instead, capture the genuine interactions, the unscripted moments, and the realities of your workplace. Audiences can tell when something is staged, so you could potentially steer customers away with poor content judgment in mind. People are more likely to connect with and buy from a company whose content feels real.
Keep It Relatable:
Remember that humans enjoy relating to each other, the goal is to humanize your brand. Focus on aspects of your business such as:
- Shared experience of working towards a common goal
- The excitement of launching something new
- The friendly interactions or even banter between your team.
Tell a Story:
All your BTS content should have a narrative. Whether it’s the story of how a product is made, a day in the life of an employee, or the journey of overcoming a challenge, storytelling adds depth and context to your content. It gives viewers a reason to care and keeps them wanting to know more about what goes on behind the scenes.
Keep It Short and Engaging:
Attention spans are short, especially online in the current landscape of Reels, Shorts, and Tik Toks. Aim for concise videos that get to the point while keeping viewers entertained. Use a mix of shot angles, graphics, and text to maintain interest.
Incorporate Voice Overs or Text:
Adding a voiceover or text can help guide the narrative and provide context for viewers. For instance, if you’re showing a complex process, a brief explanation can make it easier for your audience to follow along. If you’re displaying an interaction between employees, context can help viewers understand the situation better. Voiceovers can also add a nice personal touch, especially if narrated by someone from your team.
Engage with Your Audience:
Encourage interaction with your viewers. If you are going live on social media, you can talk to the people in your chat. On live or just posted content, ask your audience for their thoughts, invite them to share similar experiences, or even solicit questions that you can answer in a future post or video. Engaging with viewers not only boosts visibility but also strengthens the personal connection you’re trying to build. If people like their interactions with you, they will tell their friends who could also be potential customers in the future.
Where to Post Your BTS Content
Where and how you share your BTS content can significantly impact its reach and effectiveness. Here are some platforms and formats to consider:
Social Media:
Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok are perfect for BTS content. These platforms thrive on visual content and offer features like Stories, Reels, and live streaming that are ideal for sharing short, engaging videos.
YouTube:
While YouTube has Shorts, YouTube is a great platform for long form content as well. It allows you to dive deeper into the stories behind your brand and reach a broad audience that’s actively seeking video content.
Your Website:
Don’t forget to feature BTS content on your website, especially on your About Us or Careers pages. This content can enhance your site’s personality and give visitors a reason to stay longer and explore more so they can get to know better who they are buying from.
Email Marketing:
Including BTS videos in your email newsletters can add a dynamic element that catches the reader’s eye. It’s a great way to keep your subscribers engaged and offer them exclusive insights.
Measuring the Impact of BTS Videos
To ensure your BTS videos are effectively humanizing your brand and building connections, it’s important to track their performance. Here are some key metrics to monitor:
Engagement:
Look at likes, comments, shares, and overall engagement rates. High engagement indicates that your content is resonating with your audience. If you aren’t getting much engagement on your BTS, try switching things up and see what works! This can help you learn more about your audience in the same way they are learning more about you.
View Duration:
This metric shows how long viewers are watching your videos. If viewers are dropping off early, it might indicate that your content isn’t holding their attention. If this is happening, double check and make sure that you have a good “attention grabber” to reel them in, and make sure the meat of the content isn’t too boring to make them not want to stick around.
Conversion Rates:
If your goal is to drive specific actions (like signing up for a newsletter or purchasing a product), track how well your videos are contributing to these conversions. Make sure to integrate a Call To Action in your content somewhere.
Sentiment Analysis:
Pay attention to the tone of comments and feedback. Positive sentiment is a good indicator that your audience appreciates the transparency and authenticity of your BTS content. Bad attention isn’t necessarily good, so while you may be getting eyes, be sure to watch out if you are getting too much negative feedback. It could turn away potential customers.
Conclusion
Behind-the-scenes videos are a powerful tool for humanizing your brand. By offering your audience a glimpse into the inner workings of your business, you can build trust, showcase your company culture, and create powerful personal connections that go beyond mere transactions. In a world where consumers crave authenticity, BTS content can be the key to differentiating your brand and fostering lasting relationships with your audience. So, grab your camera, your phone, just start creating, and let your brand’s true story shine through! Need help with creating content? Lead Lamp Media can help!