Over the past couple of years we've been publishing best practices videos on our social strategy. I was looking at the playlist the other day and it's a testament to the power of video. I thought I'd share the story to inspire others to create thought leadership videos. Having such a video library on hand will help you advance the conversation, scale your ideas and reach, and become an innovator in your field.    

The reach and value of the videos

The social media team here at salefsorce.com has produced 30 videos. Collectively they have generated 120,000 views.

In people terms, that's more people than you could interact with in one lifetime. 

The average video has been viewed 4,000 times so far.

You'd probably expect the average engagement to be 2 minutes.

That means each video is equivalent to 3 weeks on the phone....pitching the strategy, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, no breaks. 

Traffic patterns

Many of these videos have a first week spike, but the format lends itself to a relatively long shelf life and sometimes the video will get stronger over time because of YouTube search traffic and inbound links. 

We also could and probably should use social advertising to juice these videos with paid traffic. When you find videos that generate lots of likes and shares organically, it makes sense to extend the reach.

This type of thought leadership content gets lots of likes compared to demo videos or customer stories. This month  3 of the 4 most liked videos on the main Salesforce YouTube channel were from the social strategy playlist. 

What's the time commitment?

At the current rate, I produce ~1.2 videos a month. That might seem like a little or a lot depending on how you look at it. It is by no means a full-time job. Each video takes a couple days to outline, build the slides, and record. 

Key takeaways

Video has proved to be a great way to deliver a clear and concise message, that is entertaining and easy to share. 

We’ve found that being open and adhering to S.O.C.I.A.L principals help you innovate faster. You can gather feedback, spark conversation and create alignment around ideas. 

So take a look at the social media playlist and let us know what you think.

Is there a video that stands out as your favorite? 

What does it take to go viral? has been one of our best performing so far with over 150 likes and +21,000 views.  What is Social CRM has also caught fire over the last year. 

I think 6 Plays for Driving Pipeline from Social  and the Social Media Command Center also have a good shot at picking up steam. 

What videos do you think you should produce? How would they help you?