One of our favourite examples of creating content that reached the Third Circle is Reflections of Motherhood.
Alison was looking for a way to inspire moms, while also getting in front of them and increasing her brand's visibility. Our goal was to create something moms would enjoy and share, without feeling like they were watching a commercial. This was especially important as Nummies was a small business with limited resources and Alison was looking for a cost effective way to market.
The whole project was created and driven through social media.
Starting with a blog post, where Alison asked moms what advice they would go back and give themselves before having their first child. The post and answers were put together and we then invited moms online to come out to a photo shoot for the project. The result was a series of photos, set to music, of moms holding up signs with the advice that spoke most to them.
As you can see on the website, the results are pretty awesome. Advice like, “Sleep now” and “Google doesn’t have children” ended up being especially popular. The video is a great case study for using social media in business. Most of the moms in the video came out because of the tweet looking for participants, and the ideas started with a blog post asking moms what they would tell themselves looking back. Even the brilliant photographer Sara Collaton was found on Twitter.
It has received more than half a million views, all because it reached that Third Circle, and here are some of the reasons why.
- Now is not the time to be modest; the idea was awesome. We came up with a great idea and knew right away people would love it. People ask us all the time if we knew it would be as popular as it ended up being, and the truth is, we loved it so much we knew other people would too. If you’re not excited about your idea, why would anyone else be?
- It is not commercial. You don’t need to buy anything, like anything, or sign up for anything to watch and enjoy “Reflections.” This was very important to Alison and really the only way you know it was from her company is because of the picture at the end of her saying thank you. And she had to be convinced to even do that.
- YouTube doesn’t make anything go viral, but it does help something already taking off to continue going. By not having to worry about bandwidth or how many people are watching something at one time (things you would have to worry about if you had it on your own server), the video was free to be seen by as many people as wanted.
- No restrictions were put on sharing it. Settings were adjusted on purpose to allow the video to be embedded on anybody’s site. So they could share in the viral. A lot of brands lock down this function, wanting to own all the views, but that is a huge mistake. This video was embedded on practically every major parenting website in the world. Just remember, this is why you should identify your company somewhere inside the video.
- It’s mobile-friendly. Another big reason to use YouTube is that it can play on all smartphones. One problem you can run into is with music copyright, for example; if you someone else’s song, there may be restrictions, and one of the common ones is that it won’t play on a mobile device. We were lucky that the band InAshton not only let us use their song but recorded a customized version for us.
- The visuals are awesome. The photos were strong, because we hired Sara Collaton, a professional photographer, to take the photos. She captured the emotion in everyone’s faces.
- We had a broad topic. Although Alison’s target market for the most part is new moms, this video was broad enough in topic that many moms wanted to share it. Grandmothers, mothers, daughters, fathers, and sons even wanted to pass it along. This is a huge part of reaching the Third Circle. The topic of the video didn’t deter people from sharing it. You didn’t have to be nursing or even be a woman to enjoy it.
“Reflections” is continually reaching a new audience. Every day, Nummies receives emails from parents who are touched by the images and message of the video, which is both strong and evergreen. All social media–driven and 100 percent awesome, it doesn’t get much better than that. If you haven’t seen the video, or just want to watch it again, you can check it out below. Just be warned you might want to grab a Kleenex, its been known to make a mom or two, and even a dad, cry.