19 Nov How to Budget High-Quality Vine Videos
Vine, a social media darling as of late, has grown rapidly during 2013, and brands have gotten in on the action. Thinking about creating Vine videos for your brand? Well, it might not be as easy or inexpensive as you think.
Behind the Scenes
After creating several fantastic Halloween-themed Vines, Tide released this “Behind the Screams” featurette. It’s a great marketing piece that helped milk a little bit more buzz from the content series. More importantly, the behind-the-scenes video shows just how much effort goes into making high-quality Vine videos.
3 Factors to Consider When Budgeting for Vine Videos
If you’re thinking about proposing Vine videos like these for your brand, here are a few factors to consider:
Production
Creating high-quality Vine videos isn’t as simple as tapping a smart phone screen. To make videos like the ones Tide created, you’ll need set-builders, lighting experts, writers, costume designers and makeup artists (if you’re working with people as opposed to laundry detergent), and if you want fire like with the Carrie spoof, you’ll probably want a special effects supervisor. Basically, a crew similar to one you’d find behind the scenes of a television commercial.
Timing
You definitely want to budget plenty of lead time after you factor in storyboarding, set-building, filming, and editing (if you plan to edit raw footage and then upload it directly using various methods like jailbreaking or iExplorer, or more simply using a smartphone to film a computer screen). I would budget two weeks to brainstorm the ideas and get them approved and then two days per video to build the set, film, edit, and publish.
Cost
The factor you’re probably most interested in, I’m sure, is the bottom line. I’ve reached out to a few video production experts and estimates were around $6,000–8,000. That’s right. At least $1,000 per second.
Is it Worth It?
Obviously, this is a considerable cost for such a short piece of video content. And then when you think about the opportunity costs (e.g., what other social media marketing you could do with the money), it makes selling Vine videos to whoever approves the budget more difficult.
However, if you’re trying to sell them, sell the idea that you’re not just making Vine videos; you’re establishing roots in a new social space. Think about how difficult it is to build a fan base on Facebook today compared to two years ago. Spending money on creating great content and building an audience now will save you money later when there will be more competition. Consider it an investment in the future.
And as with any social network, you need to consider where your audience is and where your audience is going to be.
