From Instagram to Snapchat to YouTube, brands have more platforms than ever for which to create videos. That's why video-making software company Animoto is rolling out a new tool today to help marketers and amateur producers create social videos quickly, cheaply and on the fly.
The drag-and-drop software works similarly to that of web design companies like Squarespace and Wix, and is meant to appeal to people who don't have professional video-production experience.
Here's how it works: Marketers upload existing creative and can then apply voiceovers, photo collages and music to craft social videos for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other platforms.
"You don't need to know anything about video to create a video," said Brad Jefferson, CEO of Animoto. "Folks like Squarespace and Wix completely disrupted [web design] and now, people don't think of website editing. We foresaw the same evolution coming to video. It's not about video editing—it's about video building."
Crate and Barrel has tested the video tool for Instagram and Facebook posts, claiming the do-it-yourself approach netted a 7.9 percent ad-recall lift and 155,000 impressions.
Like other brands, Crate and Barrel is cranking out more and more video content, but "the reality is that if we start building more cost into our content, we're not using as many dollars to be media dollars," said Suzy Cirulis, vp of marketing at Crate and Barrel. "We have to balance how much cost we're putting into our creative development."
Check out the two examples from Crate and Barrel below. The Instagram post shows off the brand's spring catalog, and the Facebook video is a look at an art installation created for DIFFA's Dining by Design fundraiser in May.
