The goal: To make an engaging project brief and turn your audience into an army of videographers
So, what’s the easiest way to do this you ask? By writing a simple and engaging landing page.
To maximize video submissions, we recommend three core things – A simple ask, an incentive and a deadline. Always ask yourself, “what would I need to see to get me to upload a video myself.”
- The title
- The title is the first thing your contributors will see, and more importantly, read. It needs to be both catchy and easy to understand. We recommend making it either a question or adding adjectives to bring emotion such as “Sensational Singapore”
TIP: Make sure your name reflects the task you want your contributors to take, i.e. “Give a shoutout to Brewpods to win”. You could also ask a question like “are these the best pubs in Sydney?”
- The incentive
- REWARD, REWARD, REWARD: This is by far the most important item to look at if you are running a competition in a low-cost environment. Make sure your prize is attractive, fits your audience and is clearly visible on your competition post. For community projects, the reward may not be monetary, but for commercial projects, you can offer complementary products, money-can’t-buy experiences or discount coupons. You know your audience best, so tailor the incentive to them.
Read more about why you need a project incentive here
- The deadline
- Create a sense of urgency. By reducing the amount of time people have to contribute videos, you create a sense of urgency within them to complete their video submissions sooner rather than later.
- How to participate
- Keep this section short, sweet and to the point. Provide a short description of what exactly you want your contributors to do and make it as easy and simple as possible for them, whilst still achieving what you want for your brand or business. Think ahead about the resulting video, it needs to show something fun or interesting to make sure your viewers will engage, share and comment.
User-generated video campaigns usually fall into one of two categories:
Video testimonials (people speaking) or product-in-action (people filming something).
For both, keep the brief tight to maximize uptake.Some examples of product-in-action briefs could be:
- “Upload a video showing your best milk art design on your coffee” – for a home barista supply store
- “Upload the most awesome video you have on your phone of the skateboard in action” -for a sport store
- “Upload a video of your favorite moment from the trip” – for tour operators
Some examples of effective video testimonial briefs:
- “Upload a video. In it tell us your name, occupation and how much you saved this tax year with our product” – for a piece of bookkeeping software
- “Film yourself saying what lifelong learning means to you, then upload it here” for educational institutes
- “Be a part of our online community. Record a message of support for our cause and upload it here. We’ll compile the best ones together” – for an advocacy organisation
- Project Rules
- This is where you can write more details for guidelines. You can be as specific or generic as you want. This section can include things like specific requirements for filming, locations you need people to be in or things you want people to hold in shot.
NOTE: Remember not to go overboard and provide too many specifics, as this will reduce your number of video entries, with people putting your project in a ‘too hard’ basket.
- Project tips
- In this section, you will want to give any filming tips to provide more guidance and help ensure you get the type of content you’re after. From lighting to sound tips, composition and props. We recommend writing a short bullet point list to helps your contributors.
- Terms and conditions
- By submitting a video to the platform, contributors are already agreeing to have their video used for marketing purposes and abiding by Vloggi’s terms and conditions. However, you may want to add a link to additional terms and conditions that fit your brand or business.
NOTE: This needs to be a URL link only to your additional terms and conditions
–
Think about your audience
Depending on the type of project you want to run, you will probably reach different types of people and the number of videos submitted will vary depending on the target. The communities you should target in priority are the “enthusiasts” who are those people who love to share and shout about your products or the competition topic and here is why:
- They will be more than happy to show off their latest purchase (motorbike exhaust, surfboard, brand new facial toner…)
- As a superfan, there is probably a big chance that they already have the video you need on their phone ready to be uploaded.
Tip: Leave it up to the crowds to interpret your brief or set specific pointers.
–
Here are some examples of good briefs
Either copy directly and adapt the following examples or use them as inspiration to begin your landing page copy.
Example 1 – Testimonial
Title: Join the Turbo car community
Prize: $50 credit off your next service
How to participate: If you love Turbo cars, we’d love to hear in your own words. Film a quick video message to us with your feedback.
Project rules: Stand in front of you car if you can
Project tips: Turn your phone horizontally
Example 2 – One Liner Challenge
Title: Tell us how much you saved with WigitSoft
Prize: A $100 prepaid VISA for each clip received
How to participate: Upload a video. In it tell us your name, occupation and how much you saved this tax year with WigitSoft
Project rules: You must include an estimate of total tax year savings
Project tips: Try and film in your place of work, if possible
Example 3 – Video Contest
Title: Show us your awesome adventures
Prize: We’ll give a 100% refund for the best clip each month
How to participate: Upload the best clips your filmed throughout your trip with us. we want to see the real adventures and amazing places you saw.
Project rules: No limit to the number of clips you upload, just make sure each one is totally awesome.
Project tips: We hate to be the fun police, but no nudity or swearing, please
Example 4 – Location listicle
Title: Showcase destroyed koala habitat
Prize: n/a
How to participate: Help us get the message out. Upload any clips you have on your phone of the destroyed koala habitat in your area.
Project rules: Allow location settings, so we can pinpoint the koala habitat accurately
Project tips: Don’t add stickers or filters, we’ll do this later
Example 5 – Best of
Title: The Best quotes about lifetime learning
Prize: See your quote featured on our Facebook channel
How to participate: In less than two sentences, tell us what Lifelong Learning means to you and your tips for future students.
Project rules: Don’t start with “My name is, as it will be displayed on screen”.
Project tips: Prop your phone up using a cupboard or another stable surface. Not too much backgound noise.