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Audio has always been a tougher nut to crack for editors. A windy day outside, a cough, background noise in the room, or a poor microphone can render great video useless. Traditional editing doesn’t scale, either. The longer the video, the longer the edit.
That’s why we’ve solved audio editing with Studio Voice.
Applying Studio Voice to a video creates a more polished, professional sound without needing perfect gear or perfect recording conditions.
Studio Voice is just one of the many new features coming to Socialive’s AISuite in early 2026 — here’s how it works.
The obvious first benefit of Studio Voice is the output. With the click of a button, anyone can clean up audio and make it sound great. But it’s not just a fancy way to edit out a few stumbles or to remove a few obvious errors.
Studio Voice can fundamentally transform audio and bring a video into the 21st Century. Here’s a quick example of archival footage from coverage of Lou Gehrig’s final appearance at Yankee Stadium.
Studio Voice not only removed some of the echo from the tinny 1939 audio track, but it also removed the background music and boosted the speaker’s audio levels.
While your recordings may not sound like they were one of the first “talkies,” this audio balancing helps speech sound clearer and more intelligible, gives voices more presence with crisper highs and fuller lows, and reduces harshness, muffled tones, or clipping.
OK, so you’ve heard the magic of Studio Voice, but the benefits go well beyond the output itself. There are a couple of considerations in particular that have made good audio hard to scale.
It takes the average audio editor about 3 hours to edit 1 hour of audio, so good luck if you’re starting up a new podcast and plan to do manual edits. Studio Voice cleans up audio behind the scenes in minutes, so editors can work on something else.
There’s also no need to worry about reshoots. Every creator, editor, or enterprise video team will have been there. Lighting in the shot was great, everything looked fantastic, but the mics weren’t on — or there wasn’t a way to listen to the mic audio as you were recording, so you hardly noticed all the noise from traffic behind your shot.
Studio Voice reduces the need to go and record again because of bad audio quality.
If you’re outsourcing editing, this saves tons of manual work for your editor. And since audio editing can range between $50 to $100 per hour, every second counts.
The less obvious cost saving is in equipment. A good microphone is expensive, with common desk microphones costing upwards of $150 and solid wireless microphones going for around $100. Studio Voice can give you that level of production quality without the costly equipment.
Again, these kinds of hidden costs stand in the way of scaling video creation, but Studio Voice is here to save the day.
Studio Voice is just one of the major new features launching with AISuite.
Eye Contact will give your presenters a more authentic look — and they don’t have to worry about the perfect take. Check out more details about Eye Contact here.
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Key takeaways:
Sometimes it’s tough to look and feel your best in videos, especially if you have a habit of looking off-screen or are locked in reading a teleprompter.
Eye Contact is here to help.
The AI-powered feature works behind the scenes to keep your eye level in line with your camera. So if your eyes are darting all over the place, we can fix it!
Eye Contact is just one of the many new features coming to Socialive’s AISuite in early 2026 — here’s how it works.
For talking head videos with a single speaker, it goes a long way when the presenter looks into the camera. We feel more comfortable with someone who looks us in the eye — we feel like we can trust that person a bit more.
But maintaining eye contact can be tough. For many people, continuous eye contact feels awkward or just isn’t possible. You also have to consider that someone might be reading from a teleprompter or referring to their notes. None of those should be a reason to scrap an otherwise great recording.
Eye Contact cleans up your recording to add that little extra touch of humanity — while using AI.
The great thing about Eye Contact is how subtle it actually is. While the above stills show an obvious moment when the speaker looks away, over the course of a longer video, it feels more natural. You’d hardly notice it if you weren’t looking, but Eye Contact guarantees your speaker will continue to address your audience directly.
Notice in the above video how David’s eyes remain on the camera, even as his head tilts back and forth. He’s an energetic speaker, so Eye Contact guarantees that all of his energy is directed towards the audience.
So, outside of subtle adjustments, how does Eye Contact help video creation? Well, if you’ve ever worked with a nervous speaker, you’ll feel the impact immediately.
There’s no need to worry about reshoots because of darting eyes. Nervous speakers tend to look across the screen, trying to find something comfortable they can latch onto.
Likewise, if you have a subject-matter expert or speaker who is trying to nail precise messaging, you may want them to read from a teleprompter. But reading from a prompter is an art form — most people will end up reading line by line, their eyes cruising along and pinging back and forth like a typewriter.
Eye Contact fixes that automatically.
Eye Contact is just one of the major new features launching with AISuite.
Studio Voice will give your presenters a more authentic look — and they don’t have to worry about the perfect take. Check out more details about Studio Voice here.
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Employee advocacy is a powerful top-funnel communications and marketing strategy, and we’ve seen staggering results with our own employee advocacy program.
The participants in our employee advocacy program have more than doubled the performance of our brand’s LinkedIn posts. Meaning, each individual saw their post outperform the single post from our Socialive LinkedIn account.
Why? LinkedIn posts from employees earn 8x more engagement and 24x more shares than posts from faceless corporate brands. And each person has their own unique network, which further amplifies overall reach with each employee who participates.
This is where CreatorSuite has been a game-changer for us. It provides ease of use for our employees — our content contributors — and streamlined everything for me as the program admin. We’re now able to make tons of content, fast, and stay on-brand every time.
People engage with other people, not brands, so using your people to deliver content and feature as an authentic connection point just makes sense. This logic follows for social media, outbound email, website content, you name it.
Here’s how we built this engagement-driving video program at Socialive.
It didn’t take long to see results (I’ve got the spreadsheet to prove it). The first few posts from each of our employees performed about 5x higher than the same content on the Socialive page.
The funny thing is, these weren’t really folks who were active on social media. In fact, those who hadn’t posted in over a year saw the highest engagement of the cohort. So, “I don’t usually post” is a strength, not a weakness when picking participants.
It’s truly a personal experience when actual people are involved.
When scrolling through the posts from our employees, you see tons of comments that have nothing to do with the actual content. But keep in mind that every “great to see you” or “we should get coffee next time you’re in town” further exposes the post — and our content — to a larger audience.
For every quick comment, invite to catch up, or well-wish, your brand’s reach is scaled exponentially. Your people are your strongest distribution network.
OK, so that’s why we did this, now for the how.
We set up a content calendar that mapped to the overarching content roadmap. At Socialive, our content calendar syncs up with major product releases, targets a key buyer persona, and also highlights one of our target industries.
As a video creation technology vendor, of course, we create a number of videos to address those different audiences. We primarily use a short demo, a walkthrough video, or thought leadership that ties everything together.
Once we established what we would cover, it came time to build out the employee advocacy program. The behind-the-scenes work was necessary to keep everything simple for both the talent (all of my coworkers) and the creator (me).
The members of our employee advocacy group simply record a 10–15 second intro for a short video that touches on our product or thought leadership content. The resulting video is a 1–2 minute clip they will share from their LinkedIn.
Our leadership team has been involved from the beginning. They understand the power of short-form video and see value of organic social content. Leaders from our customer success, sales, and product teams picked out a few employees whom they determined:
The key here was setting expectations early. I would do the heavy lifting; participants would just need to follow the prompts I sent through Socialive.
Once we identified our team, we had the makings of a pilot program.
The CreatorSuite made it simple for our participants to contribute their recordings. Each week, I set up a new template with branding, load the core content, draft and get approval on a script, and assign the project to a program member. The invite includes the recording link and script.
Just in case, I also set up a Slack channel where I post a Google Doc with the instructions and script for that week.
All my talent needs to do is click the recording link, do a quick rehearsal, and then they record on their own time. They are given the flexibility to adjust the script and social copy to fit their voice.
One of the biggest benefits of doing this process end-to-end in Socialive is that I can bifurcate the experience. I don’t want my speakers overwhelmed by all the production choices that I can make as the creator.
The ask is that they view the script, make it their own, and then record. I then make quick edits (if even needed).
Again, my contributors only need to nail a quick 10–15 seconds on screen. I’ve already loaded the core content into the project, so there isn’t much work left for me to do if they nailed the take.
At that point, I usually give the green light for them to post the final video with the social copy I provided. Below is an example of the resulting post, using the above CreatorSuite announcement video as the core content.
We mostly use employee advocacy at Socialive to promote our enterprise video creation platform. We’re constantly rolling out new features, so it’s always easy to plan innovation stories. But we’ve used this same process for a few other internal and external-facing use cases:
CreatorSuite makes it easy to tell stories at scale and make sure it feels more personable. It’s partially about our people being the distribution for our messaging, but it’s also about making them the focus of the content itself.
We’ve noticed that this approach has incredible potential for a couple of industries in particular.
A few of our customers in the financial space have already started experimenting with similar programs. It’s fast, easy, and most important of all, a chance to flood the market with a unified message — personalized and localized for each target audience.
Here’s how one of the global wealth management firms we work with uses CreatorSuite to run an advisor video program:
It’s quite often a conveyor belt of content for wealth management marketing teams. One core asset at the global level fuels the content engine for every advisor under their umbrella. Regardless of whether they operate as a DBA and need separate branding and disclosures or if it’s all in-house, everything comes together quickly.
We’ve heard from law firms that “video is too risky” or “too new” to take on. A few of our innovative clients have developed a successful routine by repurposing some of their long-form content into an entire campaign that is then distributed through the attorneys.
Each short-form asset is created to drive traffic back to the firm’s website. It’s a quick and straightforward way to engage clients and prospects, while also ensuring the firm comes up in searches related to the primary practice areas.
CreatorSuite is built to make snackable video creation faster and easier than ever — particularly for the enterprise.
So while I outlined for the video program and got my teammates on board, CreatorSuite made it possible to keep things on-brand and provide a simple experience for them.
Book a demo to see how you can scale thought leadership and drive more engagement with less lift.
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Key takeaways:
In highly regulated industries, teams across both the employee and customer lifecycle face a familiar tension: how to cut through the noise while staying compliant and credible. The attention economy doesn’t wait for perfectly polished internal rollouts. It rewards content that is short, human, and fast to consume.
That’s why snackable video has become the go-to format for organizations that want to scale impact across platforms, audiences, and teams.
It’s not just theory. Short-form video works, and the data prove it. When you scale snackable content creation across your org, the results multiply.
In a world where inboxes, feeds, and dashboards never stop moving, brevity isn't just appreciated, it's expected. Videos under 2 minutes earn 2.5X more engagement than longer ones. It’s because audiences don’t have to commit to a lengthy piece of content.
Think of it as a quick trial, rather than being locked into a long contract. You want to try out the piece and make sure it’s right before you invest your precious time.
Plus, snackable video gets to the point. It pulls people in fast, builds trust through tone and expression, and gives a clear next step. A snackable video is like a headline, not the whole article. It’s designed to stop the scroll and spark curiosity.
With more and more voices contributing to the marketplace of ideas, you might think it’s the most polished or professional voices that stand out. Quite the contrary, it’s authenticity that signals trust.
Studies have shown that 75% of people trust industry experts more than corporate brand marketing. Crucially, it’s not just about getting a well-rehearsed or scripted person with great credentials. It has to look and feel like these are insights that the SME are sharing directly with the audience, with much more of a personal touch than a perfected polish to it.
So what about AI or other means to get “people” into content? It’s not looking good.
A recent TechSmith report found that 87% of audiences prefer to see real people over avatars or animations. Especially in regulated industries, where messages often come wrapped in disclaimers and formality, real people stand out. A quick, off-the-cuff check-in from an executive or team lead often feels more trustworthy than a scripted explainer.
Authenticity creates connection. And connection builds credibility.
Most people don’t rotate their phones. And platforms know it.
75% of viewers now watch video on mobile, and vertical videos see 10-20% more conversions. So, whether it’s an executive update or a product tip, formatting for the way people actually watch makes a real difference in performance.
If your content is cropped, hard to read, or simply not built for vertical, you’re missing a big piece of the mobile-first opportunity.
Snackable doesn’t mean aimless. Great short-form content leads somewhere.
Videos that include a clear call to action see an 81% completion rate, which means your audience is more active and taking action at your CTA. Whether it’s “Read more,” “Register now,” or “Book time,” snackable videos can serve as trailheads to deeper engagement.
They don’t have to say everything. They just need to say enough to make the next click feel worth it.
Let’s be real — most of your audience is watching with the sound off. It’s how we scroll, especially when we’re in public places or just need a few moments of silence.
As many as 92% of mobile viewers watch videos without sound, which means if your message depends on audio, it’s probably being missed. Captions help you capture attention in silence and make your content more accessible.
As an added bonus, captions boost SEO, searchability, and watch-through rates. Each time you add captions to your content, it’s another chance for a person (or algorithm) to understand the content within the video.
Captions are an essential part of scaling video performance.
Want to see snackable video really scale? Put it in the hands of your people.
Content shared by employees gets 10X more reach and 8X more engagement than the same content shared by brand channels. It’s because people trust people, not logos. When your executives, managers, and team leads post short videos with a clear message, your brand gets seen in a more human, credible light.
It’s the power of employee advocacy, amplified by video and multiplied by platforms’ algorithm favoritism toward personal accounts.
Today’s audiences give you about 8 seconds to earn their attention.
That’s how long you have to stop someone mid-scroll. This applies to LinkedIn, Slack, or their email inbox. Snackable video is your hook, handshake, and preview of what’s worth their time.
Once you’ve earned that pause, you can guide them to what’s next: a longer video, a report, a conversation.
Short-form content works.
Optimize for mobile. Use snackable video to promote long-form content — and scale your impact.
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Key stats:
We’re all competing for audience attention. In a digital world where people move at the speed of the scroll, breaking through the noise isn’t just about better messaging — it’s about who is delivering the message, and how an audience engages with it.
That’s why smart field sales and marketing, corporate communications, learning and enablement, and video services leaders are turning to employee advocacy, especially when paired with snackable video. It’s a powerful lever in the attention economy.
Real voices, amplified at scale.
For a start, employee voices matter more in a distributed world.
In our hybrid and remote-first workplace, traditional communication channels aren’t enough. The water cooler moments of the past have moved online. Even with many businesses returning to the office, large businesses, like financial institutions or large law firms, effectively function as remote workplaces.
In this environment, employees become key messengers, serving as brand advocates and a largely untapped distribution channel, both for internal and external-facing content.
Employee advocacy is about empowering your people to share company content, culture, and insights in their own voice. It can be as simple as:
And here’s the kicker: these messages often outperform official brand posts.
People trust people more than logos. It’s that simple.
In fact, employees are 3x more trusted than CEOs when sharing content or messaging related to a business. Whether it’s a compliance tip, onboarding story, or thought leadership clip, snackable videos from employees break through where brand posts can’t.
Employees and peers are the most trusted messengers, even more than CEOs. People trust people. In today’s digital ecosystem, that trust is currency.
It’s no wonder that as many as 88% of buyers act on recommendations from individuals they trust.
Whether it’s a peer review, a quick tip from an internal expert, or a team member sharing a company milestone, employee voices carry weight. Real people and their authentic thoughts influence decision-making in ways brand messages simply can’t.
When employees post, their connections see it as advice from a real person, not a sales pitch. That’s why employee advocacy drives impact beyond marketing. It shapes perception, drives action, and builds lasting credibility.
Trust and authenticity go hand in hand. Content shared by employees is seen as 3x more authentic than content shared by a brand. Why? Because it’s real. It feels unscripted, personal, and relatable.
Snackable video content is short, mobile-first, and human, so it excels at this. It’s easier to consume and resonates more than polished corporate explainers.
Your employees are your brand. When they share their stories, passions, and challenges, it puts a human face to the company. That’s not just great for external trust — it boosts internal pride and engagement too.
We’ve seen companies across financial services and healthcare use short-form video for everything from “Meet the Team” series to explaining new protocols. It works because it connects.
Let’s talk numbers — because the reach of employee voices is hard to ignore.
Your employees’ collective social networks are 10x larger than your brand’s. That’s a massive multiplier when it comes to organic visibility.
Posts shared by employees receive 8x more engagement than those shared by corporate pages. Even more surprising: just 3% of employees can drive 30% of total engagement if properly enabled.
Brand messages are shared 24x more often when posted by employees. That’s the kind of network effect you can’t buy — but you can empower.
Let’s go a touch deeper into the impact of bringing your people into content. Yes, it’s great to have trust and scale, but how does it tie back to the algorithm favoritism we explored in a separate piece?
LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook all prioritize content from people. A post from an employee will always have better odds of appearing in someone’s feed than a post from the brand page saying the exact same thing.
The algorithms reward relevance and engagement. When people interact with employee posts (because they feel genuine), they rise in visibility. The result? A flywheel of trust, reach, and influence.
Here’s the bottom line: if you want to win in the attention economy, don’t just invest in your message, invest in your messengers.Start by:
Whether you’re in financial services, consulting, insurance, or other compliance-heavy industries, you don’t need to sacrifice control to build trust. With the right enablement and tools, your people can be your greatest voice.
Next, see how organizations are scaling snackable video across departments to drive real, measurable results.
👉 See the scaled results in: Winning in the Attention Economy with Snackable Video
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In a world of scrolling thumbs and short attention spans, who delivers your message matters more than ever.
The takeaway? Your audience doesn’t want another brand update — they want to hear from people they trust.
In today’s hybrid, distributed workplaces, your employees aren’t just part of the story—they are the story. Their authentic perspectives cut through the noise, whether it’s:
When employees share real stories in real voices, engagement follows — and with it, trust.
Activating employee voices with snackable video delivers exponential ROI.
When paired with employee voices, snackable video becomes a trust-building engine — especially in industries where credibility and compliance matter.
Winning in today’s content landscape doesn’t require a bigger megaphone — it requires more human messengers. Here’s how to start:
Want to see how leading enterprises are doing it? Dive deeper into how businesses are winning in the attention economy with employee advocacy.
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Key takeaways:
In the attention economy, visibility is everything. But for leaders in field sales and marketing, corporate communications, learning and enablement, and video services — especially in highly-regulated industries — grabbing that attention is harder than ever.
And here’s the kicker: the rules of engagement have already changed.
Algorithm favoritism is a core concept to understand if you want to break through the noise, build trust at scale, and keep pace with your peers.
Simply put, algorithm favoritism is the way platforms like Google, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram now prioritize snackable video in search and feed results.
Here’s what goes into how content is promoted and prioritized in Search and social media.
We’re seeing a fundamental shift in search behavior and infrastructure. Today’s top-performing content is:
It’s no longer about long-form articles — it’s about giving users fast, visual answers right where they search.
Digital-first audiences — of which Gen Z is a massive cohort — are shaping how platforms evolve:
Search engines are evolving to meet those expectations, with snackable video rising to the top.
If your brand isn’t leveraging short-form video, you’re falling behind:
In the attention economy, snackable video isn’t optional — it’s essential to visibility.
Simply put, snackable video is reshaping SEO. Depending on what you type into your search bar, you may be served (and satisfied) by short videos way before you engage with any of the written content buried at the bottom of the page.
Search engines increasingly surface short-form video before traditional content. The list of blue links is an antiquated view of a SERP. And this is years in the making for search engines.
One major reason is that video drives higher engagement and longer dwell time, both of which are key ranking signals.
Recent updates show just how serious Google is about video:
Snackable video now plays a leading role in SEO, especially for fast, answer-based queries. Why read through a lengthy article to decide if you found the right piece of content when the AI overview can give you the bullet points? Why read at all when a snackable video gives you TL;DR in just seconds?
Be honest — how many of you got to this article after viewing a short video (like the one at the top of the blog)? It’s a much more efficient way to quickly decide if you want to dive deeper into the topic.
Search algorithms love content that performs well and is fast. Snackable video hits the mark:
Adding auto-chapters, captions, and proper metadata? Even better for search.
The same trends are reshaping the social search landscape and favoring video-first organizations.
LinkedIn is building a professional-grade TikTok experience:
Executives posting short, authentic insights are seeing more views, shares, and credibility across the board.
Here’s the bottom line — algorithms favor content that people want to watch, and people want snackable video.By aligning your content strategy with algorithm favoritism, you can:
This isn’t just a trend. It’s a strategic advantage, especially for large enterprises looking to scale visibility and impact across the organization.
Curious how enterprise teams are using snackable video to drive results across the employee and customer lifecycles?
👉 Read: Winning in the Attention Economy with Snackable Video
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The Socialive ProducerSuite just got a major upgrade — and it’s putting even more power in the hands of producers.
With the introduction of Producer Controls, production leads can now remotely manage presenters' devices to ensure flawless execution, whether it’s a webinar, podcast, or livestream.
These controls bring the polish of a professional studio to your browser — without the need for physical equipment or external crews.
The new Producer Controls allow producers to guide presenters’ audio and video settings in real time — without disrupting the flow of the session. Here’s how that makes a difference:
ProducerSuite brings the entire production workflow into one browser-native platform. Here’s what makes it stand out:
From scene switching to music overlays and brand-safe visuals, ProducerSuite lets you produce multi-segment events without leaving your browser. Everything is designed to support livestreams, webinars, and long-form content creation with ease.
Features like the Green Room, Tech Check, and Teleprompter help ensure every guest looks and sounds their best. Tech Check runs automatically to verify mic, camera, and bandwidth quality, while the Green Room offers backstage chat, slideshare, and rehearsal capabilities.
Whether you're simulcasting a live panel or recording a leadership interview for later distribution, ProducerSuite supports both live and on-demand workflows — complete with isolated local recordings and multistreaming to platforms like LinkedIn and YouTube.
We’re not stopping here. Soon, producers will gain even more real-time control — including the ability to manage each presenter’s teleprompter and virtual background settings directly within the session. These enhancements will help teams maintain consistency, boost confidence, and streamline branded experiences even further — all from the browser.
ProducerSuite is just one part of the next generation of enterprise video creation. With CreatorSuite for snackable video, Enterprise Controls for compliance, AISuite for AI-powered editing and localization, and dozens of new integrations, Socialive is designed to help enterprises create more professional, on-brand video faster, and with compliance.
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Key takeaways:
Written by Socialive CEO & Founder, David Moricca
The fastest-growing content format in the enterprise? Snackable video.
In today’s attention economy, snackable video drives 2.5x more engagement, and videos under 60 seconds see completion rates as high as 81%. When paired with a clear call to action, these videos don’t just get watched, they get results: driving everything from job applications to demos, content downloads to event registrations.
We've seen how our phones and social media have had a profound impact on how we consume content. The way we engage with content for work is more reflective of how we engage during our free time.
And thanks to algorithm favoritism on platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, and Google, short-form video gets up to 8X more reach and 2.5X more engagement than traditional branded content. It’s one of the smartest ways to earn the attention that you don't have to pay for. For enterprise teams, the question is no longer why short-form video — but how to scale it.
With CreatorSuite, teams across your organization — Marketing, Leadership Communications, Field Sales, Employer Brand, and L&D — can source, guide, edit, and publish short-form video from trusted voices across your organization in minutes, not weeks. It’s the easiest way to unlock the power of people-powered video companywide, while staying on-brand with compliance.
When we first launched Socialive, it was to make video creation easier and more accessible for enterprise teams. Over time, our platform became the go-to for remote recording, podcasts, livestreams, and webinars.
We saw huge adoption during that time in 2020 and 2021. That period forced our team to constantly keep an eye out for shifts in the world that we often can't plan for.
But the world has changed. Communication today is faster, more visual, and more human. Our customers want to put more real people in their video communications — from their executives, employees, and experts — and it has to be at a high level of quality that represents the brand. The resulting snackable video has to be authentic, fast, on-message, and scalable. Of course, this impactful video is part of a strategic push that convinces your audience to take the actions that move them down the funnel.
So, we listened — and built the solution.
Authentic short-form video is now essential to enterprise success. It drives reach, trust, and action — whether it’s an executive update, thought leadership post, employee spotlight, or field sales tip.
But creating it at scale? That’s been hard. Especially if you’re juggling:
CreatorSuite changes all that.
CreatorSuite is your customizable toolbox for short-form video creation. It brings structure, guidance, and automation to every stage of the workflow — without requiring video expertise.
Key features include:
All of it is wrapped in enterprise-grade guardrails for control and compliance.
Including CreatorSuite, the Socialive platform is built on four integrated layers of enterprise value — working together to help you scale human-first video creation with speed, security, and strategic impact.
Produce high-quality livestreams, webinars, and podcasts right from your browser — without the need for a production crew. With powerful Studio and Green Room features, ProducerSuite puts your team in full control of every production, live or simulated live.
From permissions to compliance, Enterprise Controls give you the tools to scale video creation with confidence:
Push content directly into the platforms your teams already use. Socialive integrates across:
AISuite, launching later in 2025, is Socialive’s new AI engine for unlocking more value from every video. Fully integrated with CreatorSuite for short-form video and ProducerSuite for long-form productions, AISuite enhances quality, surfaces key insights, amplifies reach, and streamlines workflows, helping enterprises deliver more high-quality, on-brand video at scale.
AISuite unlocks four key advantages:
In addition to AISuite, Socialive is developing AI-powered translation capabilities, which will let you localize video content and ensure compliance for diverse global audiences in 75 languages, increasing reach.
Socialive is the enterprise solution for modern video: fast, flexible, and built to meet the real demands of global organizations.
This is more than a product launch — it’s a vision for the future of enterprise communication: human-first, powered by AI, and ready for scale.
👉 Watch our “Snackable Success” Webinar: Webinar Replay
🎥 See the CreatorSuite in action with this 10-minute demo: Watch Demo
📰 Read our CreatorSuite press release: Read press release
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Key takeaways:
If you’ve ever been tasked with getting a thought leader on camera, you know it can be a tricky proposition.
Subject-matter experts, busy executives, employees, and just about anyone else who might feature in your content likely have something in common — they aren’t on-camera talent by trade.
That’s OK. Your job is to coach them up and get the best out of them.
Nerves, camera shyness, and a general lack of time can make it seem like getting someone who isn’t perfect on camera isn’t worth it.
But it is. Video is a powerful way to position thought leaders. No one can replicate their expertise, experience, and shining face. Of course, getting the best out of them isn’t easy.
And it's important to nail the take because thought leadership is massively important in B2B marketing. In a recent report by LinkedIn and Edelman, 61% of decision-makers considered thought leadership more influential than product marketing, and 55% said that thought leadership is important to driving business.
Yet, only 33% of thought leaders believe they're putting out high-quality material. We can help fix that by making your video of the highest quality possible.
We’ve compiled some quick tips to help you make your thought leaders comfortable and confident on camera.
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Advice by Benjamin Franklin worth way more than $100.
Each and every time you ask someone to go on camera, you need to make the experience as easy as possible for them.
You’d never expect an actor to go take the stage without knowing her lines — and even the best improv artists have a framework to work with.
Doing the heavy lifting ahead of time will boost your speaker’s confidence and increase buy-in. And it’s noticeable in the final video.
The first step for any wise producer is to prepare a quick information packet for your speaker with a script and production rundown. It’s crucial to get the right information to your thought leader. Not too much, or too little, just right.
You don’t want your thought leader to simply read from a script and have to think about every production note. Nor do you want them to show up and wing it. Rather, you want your presenter to comfortably speak through their information.
So think in bullet points.
Distill the production information down to who, what, where, and why. If the audience doesn’t need to know it, likely neither does your thought leader.
As for the script, if your thought leader isn’t used to creating their own talk track, you can help guide them. Simply ask that they provide a short summary of what they will cover, including any supporting information or graphics, and boil them down to 5-10 bullet points.
You’re in it together, so you can share the burden on the talk track. Just remind them to “help me help you.”
You shouldn’t expect your thought leader to have the perfect setup. Even if you’ve sent camera equipment and a microphone for them to use, video isn’t their primary role. It’s yours.
It’s helpful to have a checklist ready to go, and perhaps include it with the information packet you send in advance.
Just remember to remind them of:
Many of these things are second nature for anyone who creates video regularly. But for your brilliant SME who doesn’t make content for a living, it’s best to help them out by giving them tips for their setup. Make sure all your bases are covered by having a checklist handy.
It’s a little thing, but scope out 5–10 minutes to do a practice run.
Your thought leader may have done tons of warmups on their own, but it’s always different when the cameras are rolling. It doesn’t matter if it’s a short promo video or an hour-long panel, give your speakers space to get out any hiccups.
Your thought leader is looking to you to be the professional during the session. They may know finance, healthcare, DEI, or artificial intelligence. But they might not know video.
If you come to the table calm, cool, collected, and confident, they will follow your lead. Confidence breeds confidence, so do your best to prepare to win, and your thought leader will bring their A-game, too.
Don't be a hero. No matter how well-versed someone is on camera, it's always better to have support. A built-in teleprompter can help your speaker do their best work.
And we know — the last thing you want is for your thought leader to look like they are obviously reading a script. But reading through a script once or twice can help nail the material. Even professional actors do table reads!
Then for the main event, your SME can just use their teleprompter for the bullet points to make sure they nail their talking points.
One of our other tips is to opt for the safety of recording when possible. Sure, this might mean an extra step, but if you’re using Socialive, recording and then sending out your livestream in a live-to-tape workflow is seamless.
Unless your content absolutely needs to be live, such as if it’s a Q&A session or has some other digital audience interaction, recording can reduce your presenter's stress. It gives your thought leader peace of mind, knowing that they don’t have to be perfect.
But if you do choose to go live with an inexperienced or nervous speaker, make sure you schedule that practice run.
It doesn’t need to be a full walkthrough, just enough time to get loose, get the stumbles out of the way, and hone in on the talk track. This is especially helpful for any busy individual who is pulled from meeting to meeting.
If this isn’t a livestream and you have the benefit of recording, always ask for one more take. Note: this is just a recommendation for a quick segment or statement. We’re not saying you should ask a thought leader to redo their hour-long panel!
Time is valuable, of course, but it’s much easier to get everything you need and have redundant footage than to have to try and fix something in post-production.
You might find in the final take that your presenter has more energy. They’re more comfortable. Maybe the lighting coming from their window is just better. Either way, it’s great to have options for editing.
Now that we’ve given you, the producer, plenty to think about, here are just a few tricks that your thought leader can do to feel more comfortable.
Laughing releases endorphins. People feel better and more comfortable when they laugh, so it’s a decent warmup to get in a few chuckles before going on camera.
This can easily be paired with doing a vocal exercise. Who can resist a grin after doing a few Ron Burgundy–style “unique New Yorks” or a Peyton Manning-eque “Omaha” cadence?
The benefit of working in a platform that is remote and captures video from anywhere is that it can be done, well, from anywhere.
So before hitting record or going live, consider letting your presenter pick a place that is their physical “happy place.” Of course, it still has to be a quiet area with a good background and nice lighting.
You’d be amazed the boost in performance when people are in their element. Not everyone is cut out to have the bright lights of a studio on them. Rather than forcing a sterile environment on them, let your thought leader pick a spot where they feel at their best.
OK, we understand how ridiculous it sounds, but hear us out.
There’s a reason every self-help guru under the sun talks about “power posing” — it works. Body language has an impact on how a person feels. It might sound like “fake it till you make it,” but anyone who has worked as talent on stage or on camera knows how important posture is.
Yes, smiling also factors in.
For our radio producers and podcasters out there, you understand there is an audible difference when you smile. You project your voice, you’re more upbeat.
If nothing else, if your thought leader appears to be in a cheerful mood, it lifts the spirits of everyone around them. It makes for a much more hospitable work environment, making it easier to get the best out of everyone.
The better you prepare yourself and your thought leader, the easier it will be to get great content out of them.
End-to-end video platforms like Socialive make it easy to record, edit, and publish your videos or to run a livestream, but your presenters will be the ones to truly make content great. Clearing the way for them to be at their best doesn’t have to be difficult, it just requires a bit of coaching and attention to detail.
For those who might not be seasoned producers but want to get started, be sure to download our guide on how to make video a part of your strategy. It contains additional tips and tricks to transform your video comms.
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Key takeaways
It seems like every year has been “the year of video” for the past decade or so, but there’s a truly different energy this go around.
For too long, video has been seen as “too expensive,” “too time-consuming,” “too complicated,” — or, in the case of the enterprise — “too risky to the brand and compliance regulations.”
That’s where 2025 promises to be different.
Video technology is continuing to evolve, making it faster and easier to create content. You already knew that. What you might not know is the latest innovations are enabling workflows that support on-brand and compliant video creation at a scale never seen before.
Here’s how Socialive’s leadership team sees it playing out in 2025.
The trendline across the enterprise continues to push toward a more streamlined, self-serve model for video creation. Powerful video technology continues to democratize video creation, which makes it easier for people without a background in video to create high-quality content.
It might sound frightening to brand and compliance-focused teams, but newer tools have accounted for those concerns. Everything from compliance, security measures, and best practices are built into enterprise-ready toolkits.
Simply put, video technology developers know that simply making it easy to create a video isn’t enough. There have to be safeguards and workflows in place to ensure those end-users are only creating content that meets brand and compliance standards.
It’s the only way the self-service model scales. Expect to see technology vendors continue to stress that point in 2025.
The push for video often comes from the field. Reps want video to engage prospects and showcase their services. Video is a great way to train and enable employees. Video is a perfect way to send internal communications across the organization.
But the traditional approach has been to wait until production services can get to a request or marketing brings in an agency for a project.
In 2025, the new approach will be led by those production and marketing teams to instead provide the field with the tools to create the content they need.
This democratized approach to video creation has a massive impact on the business, as video leaders at Best Buy, Akamai, and KPMG revealed during our webinar late in 2024.
The traditional approaches are further exposed as the demand for video from all parts of an organization continues to rise. 2025 is the year when video services teams flip the model.
Technology is allowing video services to focus less on producing content for a myriad of specific single-use cases for the field and instead on training and enabling the field to create its own content.
This strategic “production enablement” approach will continue to grow this year. Video services teams will see their role shift to where they set up on-brand, compliant workflows and templates in a video creation tool, set the uses and applications for the field, and are able to take more of a hands-off approach for those video requests.
This will allow video teams to focus on the more high-stakes, highly-produced video needs. Those always-on requests are pushed to the self-service model — powered by technology that promises on-brand, compliant content.
A number of fields will be the biggest beneficiaries of the new “production enablement” approach.
Wealth managers and equity research analysts, in particular, will see 2025 as their “year of video.” These groups are always looking for innovative ways to promote their services to prospects and engage current clients.
Thought leadership video content, industry insights, and a number of other financial video marketing use cases will continue to help drive massive growth for institutions this year.
These professional services industries have always valued streamlined ways to promote thought leaders across the firm. Video democratization promises to get thought leaders in front of a larger audience, quicker, and at scale.
Video is a natural fit for large-scale organizations that need an elegant way to develop field employees. Employee-generated content cuts through to co-workers. It starts by empowering SMEs themselves to create that content.
Why watch a training video from someone who has never worked in that position before? Instead, an emphasis on authentic micro-learning content will revolutionize the way the enterprise handles learning, enablement, and training.
2025 is the year when “video is too complicated” will no longer be a viable excuse.
The same technology that makes content creation more efficient will give organizations a turnkey solution for on-brand, compliant video. Enterprise video creation will be an essential way for businesses to run.
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B2B marketing thrives on LinkedIn. So it stands to reason that if livestreaming is a part of your media mix, LinkedIn Live is a valuable resource.
But you already knew that.What you might not have considered is that your livestream on LinkedIn doesn’t have to be a one-and-done marketing play.
Sure, it’s great to put together a video panel for thought leadership. Hearing from customers and prospects alike in real time is valuable. And each piece of content impacts brand awareness.
But what about driving high-quality leads and generating business?
The beauty of livestreaming on the leading B2B social site is that you’re already creating video content where your ICP is. Here’s how you can take your LinkedIn Live and transform it into demand-generation gold — without running up your marketing budget.
Nearly 90% of marketers say video content produces a good return on investment. This mostly comes down to the fact that video is a highly engaging medium.
Livestreams supercharge the level of engagement by creating an urgency and immediacy that don’t exist in evergreen content. They're a huge driver of brand awareness, bolstered by natural opportunities to promote the event in the run-up.
But once the livestream is over, savvy marketers understand that they’ve only scratched the surface of their video content’s potential.
If you’ve heard the mantra of content marketing guru Ross Simmonds, “Create once, distribute forever,” you know where we’re going here.
You can take the transcript of a livestream and chop it into a blog post. Take that blog post and share it in your newsletter. Clip out portions of your livestream and share them as video social posts.
For the demand gen team, this means that each livestream presents endless potential to fuel the content engine.
You immediately have a starting point for a video advertisement.
Video ads are high-performing assets. More than 90% of marketers say video increases brand awareness, better educates their audience, drives higher web traffic, and generates more leads than other forms of media.
You can’t afford not to use video for demand generation.
The beauty of an end-to-end video creation platform such as Socialive is that you don’t need separate teams, freelancers, or other tools to produce the livestream and generate new video content. You can produce, go live, and repurpose the livestream into snackable clips, full videos, and more — all in one platform.
This saves time, money, and effort in your content creation. There are plenty of ways to keep costs down while generating new assets, but repurposing existing content is a key way to maximize your content ROI.
So why LinkedIn Live? Why not just livestream on YouTube, host a livestream on your own site, or take advantage of a number of other social sites and then share those spin-off pieces on LinkedIn?
Easy. Because LinkedIn Live outperforms the vast majority of content on LinkedIn. Compared with a standard video post, LinkedIn Live broadcasts receive seven times more reactions and 24 times more comments. There are plenty of opportunities to post to LinkedIn to promote the event ahead of time, and then your followers are notified when you go live.
With each livestream you are vastly expanding your reach and marketing to a much wider audience that represents your ICP. This means messaging directly to a higher-quality audience, which translates to higher-quality leads.
Why use Socialive and not just a custom RTMP ingest?
Well, if you ask LinkedIn, they would suggest a broadcast partner — with Socialive quite literally being at the top of the list.
As a preferred LinkedIn Live partner, Socialive makes it easy to deliver an enterprise-grade livestream without the need for complex equipment or tons of people to produce the live show. We’re happy to walk you through all the steps, but TL;DR — we put the power of a TV studio in your browser and connect it straight to LinkedIn.
Wait, is this the same as a LinkedIn Event?
No, LinkedIn Live isn't the same as a LinkedIn Event, though a LinkedIn Event can also be a great lead generation tool.
Think of a LinkedIn Live as a massive billboard in Times Square, while a LinkedIn Event is a Broadway show. LinkedIn Live is meant to maximize reach, while LinkedIn Events are best at getting sign-ups — but don't forget, this is limited to LinkedIn users.
Check out our previous pieces on the differences between LinkedIn Live and LinkedIn Events to learn more.
Imagine your team produces a one-hour livestream once a month. It’s shot from a physical production studio, and each presenter needs to come in-studio. Your crew is about a dozen people. The final product: a beautiful, dynamic show that cost thousands of dollars to produce.
Now imagine that same show, that same look and feel, but it doesn’t require any guests to travel to the studio, and only two people are needed to produce it.That’s the difference with the Socialive ProducerSuite, powered by cloud video production.
Socialive’s ProducerSuite an intuitive production suite right at your fingertips. This powers faster, easier video production with an intuitive, drag-and-drop studio that lets you build the perfect livestream.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a quick video you want to play ahead of a live segment, lower thirds for your presenter, custom graphics on screen — whatever you need for your livestream, you can easily produce it in Socialive.
The platform is built so you can manage your content in Socialive’s browser-based live studio, manage your talent behind the scenes in a Virtual Green Room, and instantly repurpose the livestream into new content with ease.
So how easy is it to create new content with Socialive?
Just record, edit, publish, livestream, and repeat.
Socialive is set up so that your content creation flows from one stage to the next — and you can go back to refine or repurpose as needed.
Socialive’s remote recording capabilities are a cost-effective way to create content. With self-recording tools easy enough for anyone to use but that also maintain picture quality in up to 4K, every live-to-tape recording is crystal-clear.
The same is true during a livestream — having guests “dial in” won’t kill your production.
We all know the look of a meeting platform. We've seen Zoom or ON24 used for remote capture in a broadcast. Socialive provides that same flexibility without sacrificing quality.
Since everything is created and livestreamed from one platform, all recordings from before the show are available in a secure content library.
Whatever you have in the library is instantly available to edit. You can easily clip out the best segments and use them as is or use Socialive to quickly add branding. Those quick edits are immediately simplified.
These are then available to use whenever, and however you see fit. By editing in the same platform where you record, plus a touch of automation, creating each video becomes even more cost-effective.
Once your video clip from the livestream has been edited, you can easily send it to the masses. Or you can send that clip into your next livestream or video project. Or both.
While LinkedIn is an ideal endpoint for your livestream, you can use one of the many integrations to easily simulcast or publish. Your recordings are instantly sent to other social media sites and scale the size of your audience in a click. This is how you go from “create once, distribute forever” to sending everything you create everywhere all at once.
For any company investing in livestreaming, it’s important that everything — from recording to livestreaming — is maintained on the same platform. Rather than bringing in four vendors for recording, editing, content storage, and livestreaming, Socialive’s secure platform does it all.
This speeds up the creation process, saving time and money while creating more content at scale. For creators at companies like Akamai, this removes many of the bottlenecks that previously stood in the way.
Socialive is the enterprise’s go-to platform for LinkedIn Live — and the one-stop shop many video teams need to create content at scale.
Each livestream is sent to the recording library, where content can be edited into more videos, which can be used in video ads and livestreams, which are all sent to the recording library, where content can be edited into more videos …
It’s a virtuous cycle of content creation (cue the Lion King theme). Seriously, this is how one concept can fill your funnel with highly relevant, high-performing content. All without the need to outsource to a content farm, you can create content into perpetuity.
This is just a taste of how LinkedIn Live is a massive value-add for video marketing and demand generation. Check out our guide on driving ROI with LinkedIn Live to learn more about how this type of livestreaming can boost your bottom line.guide on driving ROI with LinkedIn Live to learn more about how this type of livestreaming can boost your bottom line.
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Key takeaways:
Artificial intelligence makes for fast, easy video editing. If you’ve been paying attention to the newer uses of AI in video creation, this doesn’t come as a surprise.
In fact, we’ve gone deep on the topic of AI video editing in previous pieces of content. But the big question on the mind of video teams and business executives alike is, “How much of an ROI can we get from AI?”
Fast and easy video editing using Socialive's CreatorSuite has certainly made a major impact on the entire creative process for Socialive customers.
Since editing is often the long pole in the tent of video creation, less time on editing often means teams can create more content — and there’s a cost-saving associated with those efficiency gains.
Video teams will produce an ROI by leveraging automation in video editing.
The fact that AI makes video editing faster and easier is huge for businesses looking to make more video.
Many companies in recent years have stated that video content takes too long and too much money to create. Often editing stands in the way of executing a video-first strategy.
Traditional editing is too expensive and takes too much time.
You could throw people at the problem, either by hiring extra hands or outsourcing editing.
Well, as we’ve covered in other pieces, agency fees alone can add thousands to the cost of creating each video.
If you could add to your team without increasing costs, then you’d see some time savings. Therefore, your cost per video produced would drop. That’s pretty easy to understand.
But that doesn’t really solve the time problem. With increased demand, it becomes harder to maintain the same pace of output.
So this is where speeding up the editing process trumps throwing extra hands at the problem.
AI makes a true difference in its scalability. Powerful AI-driven platforms work the same, no matter if you need to edit five videos or 500.
AI does many of the redundant, mundane tasks of editing, so no person has to. Things like captioning, creating video descriptions, color correcting, and removing those “umms” and long pauses from recordings are done in an instant.
This means your video team can focus on ideating and overseeing projects, not sitting in a dark room trying to catch the subtle differences between each camera source.
The easiest way to make video creation scalable is to raise the floor.
Make it so that everyone is capable of recording and editing content, rather than having a small group of video creators. This places an entire organization at your disposal — even though video creation isn’t their day job.
The goal is to make the entire process more efficient and make it so that everyone, from a veteran financial advisor to a thought leader proficient in new media, is self-sufficient.
The video experts in the room are elevated to content managers rather than content producers. The video experts set up a framework and provide guidance; your self-sufficient creators contribute their portion, and then the AI does the dirty work. Plus, the video team maintains control throughout to ensure every video is pristine every time.
It’s a much more efficient way forward.
The opaque “fast and easy” video editing moniker doesn’t mean much without an understanding of how a given platform produces those time savings and the associated costs.
Here’s a breakdown of how different components of an AI-powered video editing platform compare to the traditional editing process.
Traditional editing: It’s generally accepted that manually creating captions and transcripts takes about five minutes per minute of video.
AI video editor: AI can automatically generate caption and transcript files. Realistically, you’ll want to double-check the V1 to make sure brand names, people's names, and the like are accurate. A conservative estimate is about one minute per minute of video.
Traditional editing: A traditional timeline video editor, depending on who is using it, ranges between 30 minutes and one hour to edit one minute of video. We’ll split the difference at 45 minutes to edit each minute of video.
AI video editor: A text-based editor, where you alter the transcript and move words around rather than looking at still images and an audio wavelength, is an estimated five to 10 times faster than a timeline editor. To make it a round number on the more conservative side, that’s about 10 minutes per minute of video.
Traditional editing: While it may not take as much time to create a description of the video as a transcript, it still requires you to watch the full video. Even if the editor is quick, this is at least one minute per minute of video.
AI video editor: The AI uses the same automatically generated transcript to create a video description. We’ll leave a little time for a quality check, but to edit less than 100 words, this is about one minute total.
Traditional editing: This is heavily dependent on the content of the video. There’s about a 50% chance for disfluency in a sentence of 10-15 words. Meaning, about five to seven edits per minute of video. At 30 seconds per edit to remove the stumble and patch the video together, this is about 2.5X per minute of video.
AI video editor: Most AI video tools will automatically remove those “umms” and “likes” in an instant. You may choose to leave it up to the machine to apply each edit. Many video pros won’t like that. One minute per minute of video to review all the changes.
Traditional editing: Inexperienced editors might not even think to look for inconsistent color profiles or assess how cold or warm the picture is. Unfortunately, this is tedious work that freelancers estimate takes two hours per minute of video.
AI video editor: AI will read the color profiles and match them across clips or provide a few options for the “look” you desire. Everything will be applied at the click of a button, which requires no time at all.
Traditional video editing: It might seem like a small addition, but adding a logo, a branded frame, a pre-roll, an outro, and lower thirds all take time. These are very quick edits that require no more than 30 seconds per minute of video.
AI video editor: Automated video editing tools make this incredibly easy. If you have a template set up with name tags and appropriate branding enabled, everything is applied in an instant.
To get to a final figure, let’s provide a quick sample scenario. The project is to create a five-minute video. The recordings were already created and organized, and branding elements were provided. So, the only thing being outsourced is the hands-on editing.
Freelancer fees range from as cheap as $5 per hour for a novice to well over $150 per hour for a professional. Assuming you want an experienced editor who will give you great quality without the need for revisions, let’s set the figure at $100 per hour of video editing work.
Traditional editing: (5 x 5 mins captioning) + (5 x 45 mins editing) + (5 x 1 min descriptions) + (5 x 2.5 mins disfluency removal) + (5 x 120 mins color correction) + (5 x 0.5 mins branding) = 14.5 hours, $1,450 per project
AI video editor: (5 x 1 min caption review) + (5 x 10 mins editing) + (1 min description review) + (5 x 1 min disfluency review) + (0 mins color correction) + (0 mins branding) = 61 minutes
Of course, this is just to give you an idea of what's possible with AI. Outsourced video editing can take around 15 hours and cost nearly $1,500 per video in this scenario, while AI powers an in-house team to get to the same result in about an hour.
If you’re a large company with enterprise demands like VMware, which compiles hundreds of videos in each project, you can see how streamlining the creation process can produce more than $100,000 in cost savings.
Automated video editing streamlines a labor-intensive process, keeps costs down, and empowers teams to create more video content without an additional spend.
These time and cost savings are only multiplied by creating video in a seamless, end-to-end workflow from recording to editing and then sending content to its endpoint through Socialive's CreatorSuite.
Even if your team isn’t ready to completely automate the editing process, at Socialive, we’re more than happy to help guide creators of all levels of experience through the shifting landscape.
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Key takeaways:
Why did more than 90% of surveyed financial advisors kick off video campaigns in 2022?
Video drives deep connections and authentic engagements, both of which increase wealth advisors' marketing and client retention opportunities. With it, wealth managers can create personalized experiences (and messaging) at scale!
Wealth advisors migrated to video in droves during the pandemic and discovered immense value in the ability to meet with clients and prospects — regardless of location.
Video is no longer a nice-to-have, but a vital part of driving personalized experiences for clients. That’s why Merrill invested in a virtual video studio. It's why PGIM uses snackable video at the heart of its communication strategy, providing immense value for clients.
Both approaches show that the financial industry is in the middle of an arms race to build out the best client experiences with video.
Here’s how to gain an edge on the competition in that battle.
Wealth advisors know how to help people reach their financial goals. If you’re reading this, you probably have that part covered.
But digital marketing might not be as intuitive.
There are tons of tools pitched to advisors, promising more meetings via a multichannel approach. Agencies and tech platforms will sell their social media or email strategy and complex campaigns to help advisors connect with prospects and clients.
None of it replaces face-to-face communication.
Any digital strategy for a financial advisor has to include a personalized approach. Clients desperately want advisors to provide clear guidance, tailored to their needs, and video is the way to scale up that human touch.
Socialive CEO David Moricca went in-depth on the power of building relationships at scale in a 2022 Forbes article. The main takeaway — advisors have to focus on delivering tailored client experiences at scale.
“Clients want personalized analysis, insights, and suggestions that actually make their data useful. They want a wealth manager who anticipates their needs. Loyalty is achieved through a combination of personalization and frequency.”
- David Moricca, CEO, Socialive
Meeting with every client, prospect, and potential lead in-person isn’t realistic, particularly for ambitious advisors. Mass messaging lacks personalization and can be expensive to maintain.
Video provides the best of both worlds. It’s a way to be in the room at scale.
Besides, clients and prospects prefer video interactions. There’s no travel time or logistics to worry about, just log on and craft your message.
Advisors are using video to send market updates, pushing out time-bound communications, sending personalized birthday or congratulatory messages, thought leadership, and so much more.
There are tons of ways advisors can leverage video for marketing and client retention, but perhaps the most important is that any video created looks professional, is compliant, and is branded appropriately.
Socialive makes it easier than ever to create professional-looking video.
It shouldn’t take a degree in video production or years of experience to create the perfect video for prospects. Advisors have all the knowledge they need to get out their message, they just need a video platform to quickly get it in front of prospects.By using Socialive, advisors can record on their own and create video within minutes. Take an introduction to a prospect, for example. Rather than requesting a videographer come help shoot tons of generic messages, an advisor can record for “Jane Smith” on the spot.
Here’s a quick example of the process using Socialive's CreatorSuite:
Think of how long it takes to get a full campaign together, how many moving parts are involved, and how much work goes into personalizing messaging.
Advisors already know what they want to say, and how to say it. The quick workflow in Socialive’s CreatorSuite saves time and recipients will be thrilled with the results.
A big key with this workflow — by enabling advisors to handle multiple steps of the creation process, it becomes more cost-effective to create each piece of content. This is a massive ROI boost for institutions looking to create more video content.
We’ve mentioned a few times now that clients and prospects crave digital interactions. It’s vital to meet them where they are and create content they want to consume.
Relax, we’re not advocating you create a TikTok account.
Once advisors identify how to create video, the next step is to make sure to focus on the right types of video. Fidelity’s quick “smart money” posts gain traction on social media and are a great example of how to provide helpful tips for clients and prospects alike.
As Millennials are aging into their peak earning years and Gen Z enters the workforce in greater numbers, the largest pool of potential clients has lived online for the majority of their lives. So it only makes sense to reach them where they are, powered by snackable video. It’s not just social media, either, as Google is making changes to feature more short-form video to serve its users.
That type of snackable content keeps the firm, and the advisor, top of mind for existing clients. Of course, those interactions also help expose expertise to new audiences.
With the power of cloud video creation, it takes only minutes to create top-funnel content that also serves existing clients.
Getting your institutional knowledge in front of clients and prospects in a digestible format should always be a goal.
If the audience isn’t served the information they crave in a snackable format, they will go and find it somewhere else — whether it be a popular podcast or a competitor’s video feed.
Instead, make sure your audience views you as a go-to resource.
PGIM has crafted an entire library of commentary-driven content to make sure their clients don’t have to go anywhere else. When there’s a shift in the market, advisors are able to quickly craft messaging for their clients and get the video to them within hours, rather than days or weeks.
Speed to market is vital to keeping clients informed and coming back for more knowledge.
On the subject of customization, we recognize that it can’t come at the expense of information security.
Prospects might be a bit wary of discussing financial information with strangers. Likewise, advisors might want to ensure that while discussions are confidential, they can be reviewed at a later date.
From the home office or just at home, it’s crucial to use a secure platform that protects users’ data. Socialive’s end-to-end encryption ensures any financial or sensitive information within the content will only go to the intended recipient.
While the ability to create a personalized financial plan video is great, clients and advisors alike will find comfort that their information isn’t accessible to other users in the system.
Financial advisors looking to grow their business need to nail their video strategy — it’s a way to stand out from the competition. Video is no longer a luxury, it’s a key part of any financial advisor’s marketing and retention strategy.
Whether it’s a promotional video for lead generation, a personalized introduction to a prospective client, or providing answers to questions that prospects have about the market, video is a powerful tool for financial professionals.
To learn the six crucial things your financial institution needs to implement a video strategy successfully, download the wealth advisor video program strategic guide.
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Key takeaways:
For large-scale businesses across financial services, consulting, insurance, and law, it’s a competitive advantage to ensure your brand is seen, trusted, and referred to by people. Executive social is an effective strategy to stand out in today’s attention economy. Featuring business leaders on social media creates a powerful mix of authenticity, accessibility, and strategy designed to meet today’s audiences where they are.
For field sales and marketing, corporate communications, learning and enablement, and video services teams in highly regulated industries, this isn't about going viral. It's about building influence, credibility, and trust at scale — all on platforms and in formats that align with how people consume information today.
Let’s break it down.
When executives show up consistently and authentically online, they don’t just build their own reputation. They elevate the entire brand. In parallel with the attention economy, in today’s trust economy, people follow people more than logos. And they engage with content that feels real.
A strong executive presence online directly translates to trust. Leaders who post on social media drive more than awareness — they drive credibility and emotional connection. Customers, investors, and employees are much more likely to engage with a real person than a press release.
Here’s the kicker: 71% of consumers are more likely to buy from a company with a socially active CEO.
And those executives don’t need to outspend the brand to outperform it — 90% of top-engaged employee social posts are from CEOs.
This isn’t a fluke. It’s algorithm favoritism at work, rewarding relatable content over corporate polish.
Whether it’s LinkedIn or Twitter, executive social offers a direct line to the audience. No gatekeepers, no delays.
Social lets leaders respond to trends, share insights, and show up in the moment. It’s a way to be proactive, rather than reactive, in an ever-changing marketplace. For financial institutions sharing information about new investing trends, insurance companies breaking down impacts from complex regulatory changes, or law firms messaging around new legislation, it’s important to match speed to market with insight and authority.
Now let’s talk format. Why does video, especially snackable video, work so well for executive social?
Text is great, but it can’t match the nuance of a facial expression or the energy of someone speaking directly to the camera. Short-form video shows tone, emotion, and personality, turning executives from abstract leaders into relatable humans.
The attention economy favors brevity. On LinkedIn, videos under 15 seconds consistently drive more engagement than longer clips. Think of it as the espresso shot of content — small, sharp, and packed with value.
Some of the most effective executive posts aren’t studio-polished. They’re casual, selfie-style check-ins that feel more like a conversation than a commercial. In regulated spaces, where trust is precious, that kind of authenticity wins hearts and more reach thanks to search and social algorithms.
If you're wondering whether the platform even wants your video content, the answer is a resounding yes.
Social media posts with video get 48% more shares than text posts. And video is the most widely shared content type on LinkedIn. It’s not just about producing good content. It’s about creating content designed to spread.
LinkedIn video watch time grew 45% year-over-year, and users now post video twice as often as other formats. In other words, the professional audience has spoken, and they prefer video.
Executives who “go all-in” on LinkedIn video often report millions of impressions, a clear sign that the platform rewards personal, video-first content.
In highly regulated industries, trust isn’t just nice to have. It’s non-negotiable. Fortunately, executive social is one of the most effective ways to build it.
When leaders post regularly, they demystify the brand and humanize the business. 86% of executives say that a socially active CEO is seen as more open and transparent.
In finance, one of the most trust-sensitive industries, consumers trust CEOs who are active on social up to 9x more than those who aren’t. That’s the power of visible leadership, and it’s magnified by video.
Let’s bring it full circle. In a digital landscape where attention is scarce and algorithms favor personal, engaging content, executive social isn’t optional — it’s a strategic imperative.
By combining executive voice with snackable video, organizations can:
And the best part? When scaled across the org, the impact multiplies.👉 Read how companies unlock results with scalable snackable video
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Key takeaways:
Artificial intelligence is bringing to life concepts previously thought to be mythical in video creation. AI powers people without a background in video to create video masterpieces — and more of them. The way to easily scale up the amount of content you can create: automated video templates.
In our first post on AI in video creation, we specified how AI powers people to easily create videos. We then touched on the AI-powered tools that make video editing fast and easy for everyone.
We've also tied time and cost savings to automated editing tools to help understand the ROI of these platforms. But you know what's faster than fast editing? Zero-touch editing.
Let's dive into what it looks like when there’s no need to edit a video. We'll show how you can turn a recording into a final video in a zero-touch workflow — the Holy Grail of video creation.
Editing tends to be the sticking point for most video projects. From complex brand videos down to quick messages, once the footage is recorded and all of the approved assets and B-roll have been rounded up, it’s time to turn to the professional in the room.
But that doesn’t have to be the case for every project.
There are many types of videos where it should be easy to add a branded look and feel that businesses expect in every creation. Consider a quick intro video from a team lead to a new employee, thought leadership from a subject matter expert, or even the TL;DR videos we create for Socialive blog posts (check above!!!) — anyone can create content like this in a templated format.
Just record, apply the finishing touches, and the final video is ready in minutes.
This type of approach will make it so that everyone is capable of creating a video ready for prime time. Your editors will thank you, too. They can focus on the big projects while you quickly and easily create as many videos as you like without sacrificing quality.
Here’s how it works.
The quickest way to accomplish any repeatable task is to work within a template.
Think of how a craftsman works within a mold. It first takes an experienced craftsman to design the mold and understand what machinery or tools are needed to create the finished product. But once everything is set up, they can leave it to an apprentice or even a DIY enthusiast to add the ingredients and push the button that spits out a high-quality creation.
Video templates are the video expert’s equivalent of the craftsman’s mold.
The professional video creator sets up the template with the appropriate intro animation, selects the placement of a lower third, decides what the layout should be, picks the outro, and selects the music bed — all based on the type of video project.
All you have to do is record your piece, and the auto-applied template does the rest. It really is that simple.
The video creation process has long been cumbersome, but with AI, it’s becoming easier for anyone to partake and cut down on the time it takes to make a video.
AI can recognize the type of video content a person wants to create based on the automated transcript from the recording. Keywords in the transcript, the person’s name, or the person’s role could all be used so AI “knows” which template to apply.
Then the video goes through the template, snackable clips are created, and the final result looks just like what a video pro would have done in an editing platform — in a fraction of the time.
Even in an easy-to-use editor, there are still a few decisions and clicks that need to be made. AI-powered video templates are the most efficient route to the same result.
The biggest benefit of AI-powered video templates is the amount of flexibility it provides large, distributed companies.
You know you have a number of videos you want to create. You’d love to record a quick message to provide insights at the drop of a hat, but your video services team is already overwhelmed. More than 90% of video services professionals say they are overtaxed by the rising demand for more and more content.
So rather than giving them a bunch of busy work, have them set up a template. You’re then free to create videos at will without adding to the video team’s workload.
Here’s an example of a type of video where a template is perfect.
Financial advisors, on average, need tons of personalized engagement with clients and prospects to do their job effectively. Advisors can get their messaging out at scale and increase business with recorded videos. But many advisors aren’t formally trained in video — that’s OK.
The templated workflow lets an advisor create a market update or overview of new offerings within minutes. Assuming the template has already been set up, creating a video is just a few easy steps.
This, paired with final content reviews, will probably take the longest. After writing a script and showing the need for the video, it’s up to the brand and legal team to approve the message
Once it’s approved, which can be easier if creating the same type of video over and over again, the advisor hops into a self-guided recording session and delivers the perfect take with crisp picture quality!
Now that the recording session is complete, the video file is automatically transferred to the next step. AI “recognizes” the type of video the recording is for, selects and applies the template to the best take, and then creates the final video. Now it’s ready for review.
The video is instantly transferred to the brand team’s review portal via a back-end integration. There’s one final review, and since the video concept was already approved, this last step goes forward seamlessly.
Using those same back-end integrations, the approved video is sent to the final destination. Finally, the video is instantly sent everywhere it needs to go, such as any social media site, content management system, or Slack channel.
These steps are easy to follow and are highly repeatable. It’s time for your video program to take off!
We’ve mostly focused on DIY video creators to this point. For the video strategists, the brand teams, and the experts who will set up these templates, don’t worry. It’s a fairly straightforward process.
AI video templates are meant to save you time. They save time both by removing some of the low-stakes tasks from your plate and in the process of setting up the templates themselves.
Think of any no-code design platform. All you need to do is drag and drop assets into place, choose the order and layouts for each, make sure the styling matches your brand, and save your template.
That’s it.
You can actually use Socialive’s traditional studio interface to give you an idea of how it works. Choose a layout that fits your video, create your scenes to arrange each piece of media, and add graphics or other overlays in a single click.
Even without AI, creating a video template is an easy way to set yourself up for success. All you have to do is add the recording, and your video content is ready to go. It’s a low-touch way to add to a recording and create a well-crafted video.
Every video professional knows that working within a video template makes it easier to create the same type of content. It doesn't matter if it's powered by AI or in a traditional timeline editor — templates are the way to go.
This is the way to a scalable approach to video creation, AI just makes it faster and easier for everyone. Now, video teams and anyone in an organization can team up to create as much high-quality content as they like without needing to spend more money or dragging out timelines.
Automated video templates are truly the “Holy Grail” of video creation.
"It’s important to give people an easy way to record that message and then not having to touch it again. The ability to do just a little bit of automated polish is critical — I think this is a bit of a Holy Grail."
- Craig Chapman, Sr. Manager of Broadcast and Live Events, VMware
Creating in a rinse-and-repeat process may not be perfect for every video project. But there are many types of videos where automated video templates are ideal. No need to reach out to your video services team to create that quick piece of thought leadership — you can do it on your own, and it will look amazing!
We’re dedicated to this idea, democratizing video creation. At Socialive, everything we do is geared toward making your videos top-notch! The platform makes it easier for you to create and then share your content.
Even if your team is taking baby steps down the AI path, such as only using automation in parts of the editing process, there's still immense time and cost savings.
To get a more complete idea of what a business can do with video templates and a cohesive video infrastructure, check out the VMware case study. A templated, repeatable process saved the company thousands of dollars in a single video project.
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Key takeaways:
Yes, artificial intelligence is here! As we covered in part one of our AI video creation series, AI isn’t here to replace content creators but rather to make parts of the creation process easier, saving businesses and creators time and money.
In this piece, we’ll walk through some of the major ways AI video editing makes it faster and easier than ever to edit video. If you want to get an idea of how much time and money can be saved, check out our piece on the ROI of automated editing.
For those ready to see exactly what AI can do, let's dive in.
As we mentioned before, many AI-powered video editing tools refer to themselves as “magic.” This great innovation can seem mystical, but it has very real business uses and benefits.
The true magic isn’t in how AI makes a specific task within video editing easier, but rather in how all the features combine to make it easier to create more video content.
As Vimeo called out in the unveiling of their AI-powered editing tools, 80% of people prefer videos over written text.
This means that better editing tools benefit an audience that craves more video. Making it easier to create video removes the barrier many people have to leveraging the most impactful form of digital communication.
With AI editing tools, creating video is no longer a cumbersome, specialized task. Empowering everyone to create on their own, without an expert involved in every part of the process, lowers overall costs and improves the ROI of each piece of content.
There are a number of ways AI transforms video editing, but let’s focus on six that the majority of business users can leverage right now without any video editing experience.
AI can be used to automatically generate caption and transcript files. The machine pulls from the audio track of the video to generate .srt and .txt files with timing.
If you’ve ever had to manually transcribe long videos and manually add captions — you’re welcome.
As the AI creates a transcript, it pairs the words and timings to the picture and audio in the editor, so you can really think of this as “transcription-based video editing.”
Rather than scrubbing through a timeline to make changes, simply select text on screen to edit the video. It’s important to note that text-based editing is just the user-friendly version of the editor. The traditional editing timeline still exists for more precise edits.
As it generates a transcript, AI can repurpose the text to create a quick overview of the content within the video. The AI uses the transcript’s timings and text to create sections and titles for key moments and topics throughout the video.
AI can automatically remove long pauses, stumbles, filler words, and portions of video that clearly won’t make the final cut.
Balancing the color between multiple pieces of video can be especially tricky, but AI can automatically match the color between different clips. With a click of a button, sync up color profiles and temperatures automatically.
By setting up templates in advance, paired with AI “understanding” the content of the recording, AI can automatically suggest or apply branding such as custom intros, outros, graphics, and lower thirds to create a final video.
The main thing that most video editors will recognize here — these are all tasks that require a specific bit of expertise but are often repetitive, low-stakes tasks.
If a creator is short on time, they might not touch up each subtle color correction, they may let the social media site auto-generate (usually hit-or-miss) captions, and would possibly disregard chapters for the final video.
Each of the mentioned tools does a specific task that would have previously been delegated to a low-level copywriter, designer, or intern in an ideal situation. Otherwise, this is work that’s well beneath the skill set of a seasoned professional.
Let the machine do the grunt work and let the pros focus on those complex edits. Simply manage those dull tasks rather than making them hands-on edits.
Great, so we have these AI video editing tools, now, how do they speed up the process?
Every individual works at their own pace, and each situation is unique, but here are some industry averages for traditional forms of editing and how much time AI can save editors. This is the baseline to determining the ROI of AI video editing.
Multiple sources agree that for every minute of video, it takes five to ten minutes to create a final caption file. That might not sound like much, but that’s someone who regularly creates captions and is used to that workflow taking 5x – 10x the length of the video.
A much more scalable approach is to have AI produce the V1 of the captions and then have someone edit it, which can be done end-to-end for even lengthy content in minutes.
Rather than scrolling through the video and typing along as the audio goes, it’s much quicker to simply refine an existing caption file. AI removes that burden from people and produces a file nearly instantly.
As we’ve said before, video editing is difficult for people unfamiliar with the tools and best practices in place. Even if you know what you’re doing, it might take between 30 minutes and a couple of hours to edit each minute of video. Every second saved while editing each minute of video can make a huge difference.
Text-based editors make it a visual experience. No need to have the perfect headphones to listen to the audio as you scroll through, searching for portions you should keep or cut. Edit the script just like you would a document, and AI will apply your changes.
Similar to captioning, coming up with a sufficient video summary and creating chapters for each moment is a hands-on, manual process. While it might not be as exhaustive as captioning, writing the description and coming up with the best moments requires, well, consuming the entire video.
Have fun with that one, podcasters.
With AI using the automated transcript to create segments, you have a great starting point. Rather than manually keyframing each moment, you automatically have a description and chapters from the start.
Google points to research that states there’s a 50% chance for disfluency in a sentence of 10 – 13 words. Meaning, if your job is to clean up stutters, repetitions, long pauses, and mistakes throughout a lengthy recording, you likely have a lot of work ahead of you.
Automatically removing some, if not all, of those blemishes, means that editors simply don’t have to worry about going on a search-and-destroy mission for each of those moments.
In most cases, it takes a professional to catch coloring inconsistencies. It’s why in large productions, one of the first things each camera operator is told by the director is to white balance their camera. And that’s in an environment where all the recording devices are uniform.
It takes a very keen eye to catch slight imbalances across different videos captured across a variety of devices.
Since color grading and temperature can both be calculated, AI can do a much better job of catching those slight inconsistencies and balancing them. Rather than having a professional go through each clip with a fine-tooth comb, the clips are automatically color corrected.
Manually applying graphics is mundane, mindless work. While non-experts can be trained on how to apply lower thirds, branding, and other visuals created ahead of time, it still takes time to apply and then render those changes in a timeline editor.
Those quick changes can be automatically applied, taking that workflow from minutes down to an instant. By using AI to automatically apply templates, those additions are made in an automated zero-touch workflow.
Perhaps the most impactful part of automated editing tools is that they make each task simple for anyone to manage parts of the editing process.
With one click of a button, anyone can produce transcripts and captions. This makes adding subtitles or on-screen captions quick for anyone.
Timeline editors are very specific to video editing, but anyone can rearrange text in a way that makes sense. Quick edits, such as rearranging parts of the story or cutting out entire sections, is easier for everyone.
Many people outside of content creators might not notice descriptions and chapters in videos they consume online. Without a second thought, it’s easy to have those helpful navigable bits of information tied to the video.
Just the word “disfluency” is real inside baseball. Catching those stumbles might not be difficult, but stitching the footage around them together in a way that makes sense sure is. Leave it to the AI to catch and fix those mistakes.
If the term “white balancing” goes over your head, that’s OK. Without needing to determine if a clip is warmer or cooler than the others, the AI will handle them for you.
We think “zero-touch post-production” speaks for itself. AI makes those easy, standardized branding additions so you don’t have to.
With this in mind, video creators without specific editing expertise can still do parts of the editing process — or can even be self-sufficient in video editing.
AI video editing tools are to video what the Crock-Pot and Air Fryer are to cooking. While you still need the right ingredients and should probably follow the guidance of a professional, pretty much anyone can create a masterpiece in moments.
Ideally, businesses will empower individuals to create without over-reliance on video experts, leveraging the pros as creative oversight rather than tacticians, making the entire process more cost-effective.
Text-based editing makes video editing as simple as cleaning up copy in a Word doc.
Auto-applied templates and graphics, color corrections, and chaptering all speed up manual parts of the editing process that take time but not necessarily tons of expertise.
These are just a few examples of how editing video with AI powers a user-friendly editing experience — but even this AI-driven experience isn’t radically different from what we’re already used to. AI just makes the entire process faster and allows everyone to pull off professional edits.
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Key takeaways:
Artificial intelligence. The latest tech du jour or the innovation that we've been waiting for?
AI is here to stay — and that's a good thing for content creators!
It's the answer to many inefficiencies and issues we run into each day. AI makes video faster, easier, and cheaper to create.
Rather than thinking of it as a new way to create content, think of AI as a catalyst that enhances what enterprise video creation platforms like Socialive already do well — recording, editing, publishing, and livestreaming.
This post, the first in our series on how AI enhances video creation, will go through the benefits of AI in video creation, lightly touch on how it all works, and, most importantly, debunk myths about AI video creation.
AI empowers people without deep video expertise and the grizzled video veteran alike, tearing down what were previously high barriers to creating professional-quality video.
The way we harness AI in video creation will largely change the way we work and the amount of content we are able to create. But the key appeal of video remains the same: highlighting the voices of real people.
First off, let's make it clear that by AI in video, we're referring to AI tools and features that make it easier for people to create video. We’re not talking about synthetic media, which refers to computer-generated images, text, and speech.
Whether it’s ChatGPT, Midjourney, or an avatar-based video generator, synthetic media is usually what people are referring to when voicing fears of “the robots taking over.” That’s not what we’re talking about here.
Those types of generative AI have some nifty uses, such as cleaning up a script or helping with reshoots. But they could never fully replace real people and years of actual experience.
All of the ‘80s and ‘90s kids out there should remember the depictions of the “future” machines. There’s the dystopian, machine-attacks-humans future. Skynet, the Terminator, the machines take over the world.
But that’s not the reality of what AI presents in video creation. AI is much more like cybernetics used by people to do incredible things previously thought to be unachievable.
Enter Inspector Gadget.
The titular character of the popular show was equipped with an array of devices and tools designed to make him that much better at his job. Better, stronger, faster.
Of course, one of the main themes of the show was that while all the gadgets in the world made Inspector Gadget unique, his intuition and uniquely human qualities (plus, of course, Penny and Brain) drove his success. The tools just helped him get from Point A to Point B quicker.
For those who are deep down the rabbit hole of AI, you may know this concept as "centaurs." It's the idea that AI is only used to augment people, not replace them. The "Go Go Gadgets" are only meant to help us.
That’s what AI video creation tools are here to do — supercharge our creativity. We can build better video creation tools. We have the technology.
Arthur C. Clarke was right when he said that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” — that’s why so many new AI video creation tools refer to themselves as “AI magic.”
Don’t worry, we’re not magicians. We’ll present specific examples of AI and its uses in content creation throughout this series to cut through the mystery without any sleight of hand.
AI video tools allow users to record and select the best take, add graphics, add music, add in other video clips, delete moments, and transfer the finished video — basically, anything that someone can do with a traditional video tool, just easier.
Think of the difference between manually altering raw footage in a program like Adobe Premiere vs. using a platform like Canva to apply pre-set templates.
AI creates an easy, user-friendly experience that anyone can pick up quickly, combined with the power and customization of traditional video creation platforms. That’s the true idea behind AI-powered video creation.
Fast, easy, powerful video creation. For all.
By making it faster and easier to create video content, businesses will save both time and money. The value prop of AI in video creation is pretty much the same as every great piece of technology — it’s all about efficiency.
VMware saved $100,000 across a 150-video project by saving time in file transfers. This was a project that required tons of guest recordings, which included the occasional mistake, and short videos that were combined into longer videos. Consistent branding (and coloring) was needed across all the videos. Socialive made it faster and easier for the team to get all of this done.
AI would have driven even higher cost savings by multiplying the amount of time the VMware team saved. By layering AI over already existing video creation platforms, businesses will see their ROI rise exponentially.
Much like in the way Socialive has saved businesses time and money in the overall creation process, AI makes it that much more efficient and cost-effective.
Bill Gates is credited with saying, “The advance of technology is based on making it fit in so that you don't really even notice it, so it's part of everyday life.” When it comes to AI in video creation, that’s the ultimate goal — to integrate these powerful tools into every creator’s workflow in a way that becomes normal and boring in the near future.
Yes, AI makes video creation easier, better, faster, stronger. But that’s only if the tools are built in a way that makes sense for everyone. Not just professionals with a degree from Full Sail.
The heart of what we do at Socialive is empowering people of all ability levels to create professional video. That's because while a chemist or financial advisor might have decades of experience in their field, they don't have the same level of expertise in video creation.
By making it easy for people without a wealth of knowledge in video to contribute or create, the video creation process becomes more cost-effective for companies with a huge appetite for video content.
We use AI to make the job easier for people to focus on delivering the take and crafting killer content.
If you’re ready to dive deeper into AI in video creation, check out part two of our series. It's all about AI in video editing.
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Key takeaways:
You just put the finishing touches on your thought leadership campaign. You have the data and messaging you want to get across. You’ve identified the target audience. You know the precise channels you want to leverage.
But you’ve got little-to-no budget to work with to promote it.
For many marketers, this might feel like the point of no return, and the campaign needs to be deprioritized. But there’s a lever that just about every marketer can pull — their internal subject-matter experts.
Once you know what needs to be said and how to say it, you only need to identify who should say it. There might not be a better place to turn than in-house.
Using your own subject-matter experts will help with the budget, but also goes a long way to humanize your content with real perspectives from your people. The trick is to identify the right person to deliver the message. Once you do, it’s off to the races with your in-house subject-matter experts leading the charge.
Outsourcing video creation is expensive. Agencies, travel, and in-person video shoots all add up.
The ROI of in-house content creation is easy to recognize. Fewer moving parts, less money spent on agencies, and less of a need to rely on others.
For an earlier piece, we outlined that just the act of sending an internal video team to do an on-site recording can cost nearly $5000. So many marketers leave video out of their thought leadership campaigns due to these costs.
But this is where the “Growing Middle” of video creation shines.
Most projects won’t meet the justification of a $25,000 studio shoot just for a few promo videos and a social clip or two. Still, many need to be of a much higher quality than Zoom or other meeting tools can deliver. This middle tier of content creation using digital video platforms can hit the mark.
Video is a must for each campaign to help with promos, teasers, social content, short explainers, and a number of other ways to distill the information into a digestible format, especially at the top of the funnel. A 5000-word PDF won’t hit the mark there.
This is why there’s a need for a subject-matter expert to drive the point home.
OK, so you’re convinced video should be a priority! Now comes the hard part — identifying your SME and then getting them on camera.
The first piece is pretty intuitive, but still needs to be thought out. You know the messaging for the campaign better than anyone. Your SME needs to be someone who knows the material inside and out. They may have been the same person you met with for an informational session or the individual whose research you’re promoting.
For example, we met with Naomi Titleman for a campaign about the power of video for DEI and HR professionals. We recorded her with both the written piece and the promotional videos in mind — one of which is featured at the top of this blog.
Titleman hit the mark in each of those categories. She has ample experience in the field of HR, she hosts her own video podcast, is the co-founder of her company, and had just enough time on the calendar to meet with us.
It’s best to prepare your speaker well in advance of any recording session, so they can get their thoughts and notes together. Plus, this will streamline the recording session for the sake of your SME’s calendar.
Now comes the easy part — recording your thought leader, editing the video, and getting it out to the right channel.
First step, set up a date and time where you and the speaker can meet. You should do this in a high-quality recording platform. Of course, we recommend our own, but you should be covered so long as you can capture the speaker in HD. Plus, your speaker can feel confident and relaxed using our in-platform teleprompter.
Next, the video needs to be edited down to the perfect soundbite to promote the rest of the campaign. Socialive’s CreatorSuite is another great example of a platform to use. It should allow a way to quickly find the right spot, trim out the rest, add branding, and get the clip on its way.
All in all, this should ideally be a same-day project — not a days-long journey to create the video.
Of course, our marketing team follows this process. Here’s an example of one of our recording and editing walkthroughs for a video featuring an SME.
So why go through the process of recording everything yourself? Why not just pass along the work to an agency to handle the recording? Why not just draft up a script and send it over to an external SME with a bit of notoriety?
These tactics drive up costs — and remember, we’re working with a thin budget here.
Many business analysts and consultants can serve as great spokespeople for a digital campaign. They specialize in thought leadership, and analysts are great at digging into the research.
The average business analyst charges around $60 per hour of work. Everything from reviewing the data, crafting a narrative, and recording their content counts as billable work.
Hiring a consulting firm or other group to do primary or custom research and own the project end-to-end guarantees that your team doesn’t need to do as much work on the front end. It should be expected that video content, promotional materials, and rich content are all a part of the package.
But this is the most cost-prohibitive approach.
A custom research project can cost between $20,000 and $50,000 per project. Again, the benefit here is that it can be a hands-off approach for the marketing team.
This probably wouldn’t be a realistic option since you’ve already done the legwork on the research, and cost is a factor.
Many marketers will choose to hire an influencer or well-known expert on the topic to be the face of the campaign.
For a mid-tier business influencer, you could expect to spend somewhere between $250 and $1250 per video. It’s not nearly as costly as outsourcing the entire project, but it’s still much more expensive than turning to your own internal SMEs.
Besides, hiring someone to speak on your company’s behalf is pretty obviously a paid promotion.
There are clever ways to make it seem more authentic — such as working your messaging into organic content that the expert or creator is already known for. Creating a roundtable or webinar on the topic and letting them be the face of the promotion.
But this still risks coming off as inauthentic and can’t replicate the real experience of someone who specializes in the area you’re highlighting.
We’ve mentioned authenticity a few times now. There’s a reason why — your audience wants to know the real opinions and experiences of real people. Paid sponsorships defeat the purpose of creating authentic thought leadership content.
There is space for the larger, $50K project, but it’s much more scalable to have more cost-effective solutions. The “Growing Middle” fits this concept perfectly. High-quality, professional video content that matches the effort and thought that has gone into the campaign. Just with a more cost-effective approach.
The best way to sum up the Growing Middle: the ease and flexibility of self-service video tools combined with the power and quality of a studio shoot. Striking that balance ensures that your costs stay down as you launch your thought leadership campaign.
Again, your internal SME has as much knowledge on the subject matter as anyone. Rather than using them as an auxiliary resource, make them the primary focus of your external-facing content. Allow your SME to provide their perspective in a real, human way, and your audience will connect with them and what they have to say.
The best way to present your data, research, insights, and positions is with your people. Your in-house SME might not have the same level of media training as a professional influencer or a paid consultant, but they know the material better than anyone.
Authenticity, storytelling, and a genuine approach to your content allow your audience to resonate with it. This person-to-person connection is tough to replicate in a high-budget production.
Take a critical look internally, think through who is right to speak to the material, and take the time to flesh out content with your people. Your audience will thank you.
Once you’ve identified your thought leader, you need to figure out what kind of content you want to create with them. We previously put together a quick guide on positioning thought leaders. While the post focuses on DEI thought leaders, the types of videos and sample content work across many thought leadership campaigns — particularly summarizing industry research and creating educational content.
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Zoom RTMP (real-time messaging protocol) ingest allows you to securely stream video content directly into a Zoom webinar or event from an external source.
This feature is handy for professional broadcasts, as it enables you to use Socialive to produce, stream directly into a Zoom session, and then repurpose it into other content.
Here are the steps to setting up your preferred third-party video production tool with Zoom so you can upgrade the quality of your webinars and virtual events in Zoom.
In addition to producing a webinar, you can use Socialive to create additional rich content needed to promote each event. It's also easy and straightforward to repurpose clips from each webinar into new content.
Webinars and live events provide ample video content that can be repurposed into new pieces — many of which can be the basis of an entire content campaign.
Check out our post on driving a demand-generation campaign from live content for more tips on how to get the most out of each live event.