Using video broadcasts can significantly improve communication across large enterprises, but it is difficult to get right. There are so many pitfalls, particularly as most companies don’t see video production as a core competency. The challenge for them now is that in the social media age, all companies are content companies – every business needs to learn how to tell its story uniquely and effectively.

We talked to Kollective’s top video strategist, Patty Perkins, who works directly with many of the company’s clients on how to make the most of their video investment so that it is scalable, engaging and effective. She has more than 35 years of broadcast and enterprise production experience and is one of Kollective’s secret weapons in helping businesses take their communications to the next level.

According to Patty, many executives find the whole prospect of video broadcasting to employees, stakeholders and customers to be daunting – unless there is a clear plan. “Many companies don’t know what “good” looks like in terms of video messaging,” she said. “They ask ‘how many people watched my video? Is that good?’ But there is so much more to consider.”

Here are five steps Patty recommends you take to ensure that you are seeing ROI on your video investment.

Step One: Strategy

This is the most scalable step, whether the video is one to few, one to many or one to thousands. Developing a clear plan with all the right stakeholders on board is a critical first step. There needs to be a clear identification of what the desired outcome for the business is, in terms of engagement, transparency and education.

Secondly, what is the right voice and visual style for the video message? What are the key company message touchstones that need to be put in place from the first video event through to the Corporation’s messaging strategy?

Patty recommends that whoever is putting the video together needs to have a seat at the Communications Strategy table – to be a trusted advisor who can provide the guidance needed for those people who are not professionals in the video world.

Each event needs an owner regardless of whether it is the CEO or teams further down the organization. The essential idea is that there is a “keeper of the vision” to ensure the right message gets out and is received. Read Patty’s blog on the Video Center of Excellence.

Step Two: Planning

The emergence of video meeting platforms like Microsoft Teams makes broadcasting your message technically easier and quicker to implement. You can be sure you are using the right platform and video production approach by asking these questions:

  1. Who is the audience for this event and how large is the audience?
  2. Where is the audience located? How many can join live or in person at the time of the event?
  3. What is the communication style needed? Is it a formal presentation event with multiple speakers and assets, or is it a more casual team meeting?
  4. How confident am I with using a self-service platform like MSFT Teams? Do I need additional video production support to achieve my goal for this event?

Every video project needs a plan no matter the scope, and Kollective can help you build your custom Live Event Playbook that brings together everyone and everything you need to ensure a successful live video event.

Step Three: Resources

In conjunction with the planning step is allocating the right resources to ensure the event goes smoothly. This is often the hardest piece, as cross-functional teams need to be engaged, including IT, Network Architecture, Desktop management, content development, production and distribution. Those groups may not have experience hosting and managing video.

And what about the execs who are going to appear in the video? They are not TV stars but are nevertheless expected to be professional in front of a camera.

Patty commented: “We have a lot of experience coaching executives. They generally enjoy telling their company story in presentations and auditoriums, so we help them translate that experience to video.”

Step Four: Storytelling

“This is my favorite step,” said Patty. “The Kollective team runs a workshop to help you craft the story that will be told, working through role modeling and using tools like The Message House and proven storytelling techniques. The key point: Challenge yourself constantly to tell the best, most engaging, most transparent story – be clean and concise.”

One regular question that comes up is “How long should a video be?” And the answer is “as long as the audience will remain engaged with it.”

Step Five: Analytics

As we mentioned above, it’s not simply about how many people watched the video. There is so much more that can be learned from the data and then turned into a repeatable, scalable process with continued improvement in the key strategy metrics. Kollective IQ video distribution analytics reveal how many people are watching the video, their geographic location and length and number of content views to help you better understand engagement with your content. Kollective IQ also collects network data to provide insights into your network’s performance and potential bottlenecks. Our software distribution analytics can tell you if all your devices are current with their patches.

Patty says her goal is to “help our customers become systematically better at producing great video experiences.” Kollective’s hands-on support improves the opportunities for large firms to engage in an authentic way with employees and key stakeholders.