About David Moricca
David Moricca is the Founder and CEO of Socialive, an enterprise video creation and live streaming SaaS platform. Trusted by organizations from startups to the Fortune 100, Socialive brings unprecedented ease and scale to high-quality video content creation for teams across the enterprise.
With 15 years of leadership and innovation in digital media, David is helping drive and shape the video-first communications revolution in business. Before Socialive, David developed and launched Scholastic’s first digital learning platform and worked as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company.
A New Jersey native, David holds a B.A. from UNC Chapel Hill and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
“Audiences don’t want to go to another virtual event on Zoom. They want an elevated video experience.”
– David Moricca, Founder & CEO at Socialive
Socialive: Tell us about yourself.
David Moricca: As the Founder and CEO of Socialive, I work across multiple groups within the business. I help work with the product team in terms of prioritization roadmap, the sales team as we bring on amazing enterprise customers from the Fortune 1000, and the customer success and marketing teams as we share stories in the marketplace.
SL: What is a key takeaway you learned from brands producing video content in 2020?
DM: Creating high quality video content has been hard for a long, long time. Over the last nine months, the pandemic accelerated the need for innovation in content creation because we can’t just do it the old fashioned way. We can’t get on a plane, lug a bunch of hardware around, and go film content. We need to change the way we do things. The reality is Socialive has made it a lot easier to create content by not having to leave the comfort of your home, but still produce and capture HD quality content.
One of the things I’ve learned from companies doing this well is that you’ve got to be nimble in how you think about production. It’s not just about the hardware. It’s about the stories you’re trying to tell and simplifying how you capture that content.
Second, I’m learning how authenticity plays in the marketplace. The type of content that resonates, especially in a trying 2020, is authentic content with a real human face around it. Don’t just be a faceless brand, add a human face to that brand.
Third, content that is truly engaging. You need to be thinking about your content from a storytelling perspective. What is your message? What’s the objective of your message and how do you tell the right story? Focus less on producing content and making it so pristine, and focus more around the stories you’re trying to tell. Those are the three important themes I see in the marketplace right now.
SL: What do you consider the top video trend businesses should know about in 2021?
DM: 2020 will be remembered as the year of the coronavirus. It’s been a painful year for business, and for humanity as a whole. But it has also driven a level of innovation and a new form of operating business.
First and foremost, I think one of the big trends going into 2021 is how we engage with employees in a remote working environment. The traditional, passive in-person employee events and large gatherings such as town halls are on hold, unfortunately. Even with the vaccine coming, it will take quite some time before we all get together in-person for employee engagement. What we’ve found is how important it is for executives to make sure their voices, messages, and stories are heard. Do it in an authentic way. Put down some of that guard, and level down the production a little bit without losing quality. Make it scalable so your messages are heard by employees.
On the flip side, it’s also about making sure employee voices are heard through video. Figure out a way to share stories about your employee base. Showcase the great work being done by your team so they don’t feel isolated during this trying period.
The second theme is around events. Physical events are quickly moving virtual, and may swing into hybrid in 2021. I don’t think we’re ever going back to a period before COVID-19, when you only hosted a physical event and nothing beyond that. We’re going to think about how we can bring digital experiences to audiences wherever they are.
A big theme emerging around virtual events is the value of content. In a digital environment, it’s not just about the event itself. It’s about all this great content you have access to. How do you turn that long form content into short, snackable pieces that can be digestible on your social channels, demand generation funnels, and partner channels?
Last, we’re seeing a collapse of solutions and companies don’t want to have ten different technologies to handle virtual experiences. The all-hands, townhall, webinar, virtual conference, or sales kickoff are all virtual experiences and are in digital environments. Companies want a great video solution for content creation and live streaming, and a great virtual engagement experience so internal or external audiences can engage.
SL: What do you consider the top challenge for businesses looking to produce video content in 2021?
DM: It always comes down to the stories you’re trying to tell. Historically, there has been less focus on the actual message you’re trying to put out there. Now more than ever, companies are looking to produce content quickly and one of those challenges is making sure you have continual, fresh messages and themes that stick.
Another challenge is getting executives to embrace the new way of doing business and feel comfortable with video. The reality is executives who produce thought leadership or employee engagement content such as all hands are used to showing up in a room with the production all set up for them.
Now, the ask is a little higher. You need to become comfortable using this device right here [picks up iPhone] as your video device because the production quality of a phone is at an extraordinary level. Getting senior level executives more comfortable with the idea of clicking into a cloud-based or mobile platform to create content and share messaging is a challenge.
But it’s breaking down. The ubiquity of Zoom has certainly made that more realistic because executives are used to being on video in Zoom. It’s about taking that to the next level, so executives feel comfortable producing premium content.
SL: How can businesses minimize digital fatigue?
DM: Let’s talk about why there is ‘Zoom fatigue’. Throughout the pandemic, there has been a lot of market definition around ‘Zoom fatigue.’ Prior to the pandemic, everyone would lump all kinds of video platforms together. Virtual meeting, virtual event, and live streaming and video content creation platforms weren’t that different from each other. To an enterprise, it was all seen as video content creation.
We’re quickly finding there is a line between where Zoom starts and Zoom ends. Meeting platforms are really great for small, interactive group meetings. When you try to use them for elevated video production and content creation, they hit a wall. They are not built for those kinds of use cases.
Companies and marketers are looking for solutions to help level up that experience. If you’re on Zoom eight hours a day, you don’t want to go to a virtual conference and watch another Zoom. You don’t want to go to an all hands and see another Zoom. You want an elevated experience. You want to see what you expect in your normal out of work social environment.
Think about content in a new way. The event itself is not where all the investment should go. During the event, you’re creating amazing content. There are plenty of 20 or 30 second nuggets of gold you can cut down, repurpose, and publish out so you can extend the value of your event. Very few people are watching 30 or 60 minutes worth of content. You’re more likely to get people watching those 30 seconds and engaging with the key message. Thinking about the long tail of content is going to be a big transition as we move into 2021.
SL: What advice do you have for B2B marketers who want to generate leads and drive sales through video?
DM: As an organization, you need to break down the walls that have historically existed within marketing groups. The good news is this is already happening. You might have your corporate communications, social marketing, demand generation, and general marketing teams coordinating a little bit. But in many organizations, these teams are not unified with a go to market approach.
The pandemic has forced these groups to collaborate more and build a consistent strategy. When you think about how you work together, ultimately you are planning your overall message, key themes, and campaigns. The events are a component of that strategy to build awareness, and content marketing is inextricably linked to that.
How do you promote an event in a way that is powerful? How do you deliver an amazing event experience? How do you repurpose that content quickly through your demand generation funnel, social media channels, and partner channels so the content has value beyond the event itself? There’s no need to be siloed anymore.
