Share of voice is a numbers game and not everyone can afford to work with big channels. The popular alternative is scaling campaigns with smaller creators and embracing a multi-platform approach to content creation.

A real-world scenario

You have decided to run a campaign. You have planned it out you know your type of campaign, you have vetted to ensure brand safety, you have a brief, even a contract. You sit back and wait for your creators to make content.

But where did it go? Which platforms? On what days? Did all the content meet the brief, and were they advertising compliant?

Which social video platforms fit your brand and why?

There are many social video platforms, or social media platforms that feature video,  and each have pros and cons, and are better for different types of content and industries.

• Instagram, which is currently one of the most-used platforms for influencer marketing according to many surveys of marketers, and is highly effective in certain verticals like Beauty, Fashion, Home Improvement, Food, and Fitness. Instagram has 3 locations on their platform.
  
  
  • Stories are temporary photos or videos that disappear after 24 hours unless added as a highlight. They appear at the top of the Instagram feed in a horizontal bar and can also be viewed on a user's profile by clicking their profile picture. Typically highly engaging as the temporary nature encourages followers to check frequently, and tools like polls and question stickers foster direct interaction with followers.
    
    
  • Posts are the standard photos or videos shared to a user's profile grid and appear in the main Instagram feed. They remain on the profile unless deleted or archived. Posts allow the author to tag other users, brands, or locations and the longer description can help with product launches and hashtags.
    
    
  • Reels are short, entertaining videos up to 90 seconds long, designed for quick consumption. They appear in a separate Reels tab on the profile and can be featured in the Explore section. These have a high potential for virality through the Explore page and dedicated Reels feed.
    
    
• YouTube, which is the second-most used platform behind Facebook and most popular video platform. It generally has a high ROI for influencer campaigns. YouTube has added new content types recently to compete with TikTok and Instagram.
  
  
  • Shorts are vertical videos up to 60 seconds long, designed for quick, engaging viewing experiences. They appear in a dedicated Shorts section on the YouTube mobile app. They are designed and optimized for mobile viewing. The publishing tools have access to a vast library of music and audio clips. Shorts are ideal for engaging in viral trends and challenges. And with a broad reach, can attract new subscribers and viewers, boosting channel growth.
    
    
  • Long-form videos are traditional Video-On-Demand content that can range from a few minutes to several hours in length. They are the main content format on YouTube, appearing in the main video feed and channel playlists. Perfect for detailed reviews, tutorials, and storytelling, which build trust and credibility. Traditionally they have facilitated multiple revenue streams through ads, sponsorships, and memberships. SEO Benefits: Well-optimized and tagged videos can attract long-term views and subscribers.
    
    
  • Livestream videos feature as a live event and then can either simply go off-air or be saved as a VOD. By their nature, live streamed videos tend to be more organic and freeform compared to edited and editorialised VOD uploads.
    
    
• TikTok has grown incredibly quickly and attracted audiences biassed towards the younger end of the spectrum, and a 52% female audience by 2023. TikTok has two posting options.
  
  
  • Standard Videos on TikTok are short-form videos, typically ranging from 15 seconds to 3 minutes. They appear on users' feeds and can be discovered through the For You page, which is tailored to individual user preferences.
    
    
  • TikTok LIVE allows creators to broadcast real-time video to their followers. Viewers can join the live stream, interact through comments, and send virtual gifts.
    
    
• Twitch, which is super important for the video gaming industry among others. Twitch is predominantly a live streaming platform, and the content has a number of lifecycle options post-stream, including highlights and VODs.
  
  
  • Twitch Live Streams are real-time broadcasts where creators stream content such as gaming, creative arts, talk shows, sports events, or other activities. Viewers can watch and interact through chat in real-time. Viewers can support streamers financially via subscriptions, bits, and donations. As the majority of streamers are broadcasting into a games category they can be often collaborated with by the games publishers.
    
    
  • Twitch VODs (Video on Demand) are recorded versions of previous live streams, available for viewers to watch after the live broadcast has ended. How long they stay available to watch depends on the account of the streamer. Partner, Prime, or Turbo users can keep VODs active for up to 60 days. Everyone else is 7 days. Videos can be clipped, stored and shared as Highlights. There’s no ‘time-out’ for these.

There are other platforms like blogs, Pinterest, Facebook, Whatsapp groups, WeChat, Douyin, Telegram, Snapchat, Kuaishow, Reddit, Twitter, Linkedin, Quora, Discord. Some are global and some are country specific.

Importantly, you’ll find platform audience overlaps with your brand or product, and for longer-term campaign strategy it’s essential to track the ebbs and flows of where your customers are spending their time.

The one-to-many challenge

The number of platforms across which influencers typically publish the same content can vary widely based on their goals, audience, their audience’s devices, and the nature of the content. However, a common practice among influencers is to repurpose and tailor their content for multiple platforms to maximize reach and engagement. On average, influencers often publish the same or similar content across 3 to 5 Platforms.

For a marketer, it’s good to know where each content iteration has been posted and how it’s performing, which requires a well-thought out tagging strategy where the tags you ask to be used are unique enough not to get lost in the chaos but still allow you to track content effectively.

New automation tools are making this easier for the creator!

Automation is good. Good for creators who wish to publish across multiple platforms.

A new breed of AI video tools promise to auto clip long-form video into multiple viral-size pieces and some will even schedule and publish that derived content. This promotes discoverability, audience growth and retention, all of which is beneficial to your campaign and needs to be factored into the ROI and ROAS calculations - if you can find it all!

As an example, a single long-form ‘how to’ YouTube video could easily be turning into 7 to 10 Shorts. These shorts can also be used on TikTok and build an Instagram Story, so to get the full picture you need to be able to identify and capture all related content - which gets harder as you scale campaigns.

1 x 30 minute YouTube Video could end up being:

• +7 YouTube Shorts,
• +7 TikToks videos,
• +7 Instagram Stories,
• Plus, hand crafted Instagram Posts and Reels.
• And then maybe Twitter/X post.

One commission could generate between 1 to 27 individual posts.

Running that same campaign with 50 Creators has the potential to lead to 1,350 pieces of content in a matter of days.

Are you ready to capture it all? Then what? Do you have time to watch it?

Why RippleXn?

RippleXn can simultaneously watch thousands of hours of social video. It can harvest the text and descriptions, but most importantly it can understand the spoken word.

You can follow their channels over the campaign duration looking for content to be actively monitored. If you need to monitor products brand mentions for reporting alongside advertising compliance, talk to the team.

What should I do next?

Talk to the RippleXn team at hello@ripplexn.com or via the onsite forms to discuss how to accurately report on your social media campaigns and advertising compliance.

Talk to us to get started