#14 - Yes, you do need to spend more money on your content.
While some of the most viral hits of recent years had VERY low production costs, it's time to really start investing in your social strategy.
It's like the more money we come across
The more problems we see.
- Notorious BIG
Budget first, ideas second. That's the reality.
How much money can you realistically spend? Base your content around that. That's the boring truth.
So here's some good news: You don't need £1000 to go mega-viral.
Last week's newsletter highlighted the 'Gen Z employee made this video for me' 60 million view hit. Remember the 'DoggFace' guy vibing to Fleetwood Mac with the Ocean Spray bottle? Even the Hawk Tuah girl clip… (did you really think we'd not mention that meme at some point?).
Virality is so often a cocktail of circumstance yet what these hits prove is that you don't need a large budget to achieve it.
Now, let's look at the first example again. On its own, that video will have cost very little to make. The 'Gen Z video editor' is on the monthly payroll, a quick scan of their page shows they regularly shoot content so they must have camera equipment bought & available... (They even had a follow-up video that also went viral).
The production was just a funny idea and probably wasn't outsourced... so technically those 60M views cost nothing, right? Wrong.
That wasn't a 'sOCiaL MEdiA iNtRrn'. That's a salaried employee based in the US at a high-end real estate firm who is clearly no fool - i.e. $35k-$45k salary... probably worth renegotiating asap.
The point is: in 2024 - content is science & art.
To do it well - not 'great' or 'groundbreaking' - WELL, comes at a cost.
Shortcut, lowball & 'intern' your way through the social landscape & prepare to see your channels suffer. The social game is no longer a debate on whether it gives ROI, that debate ended 5 years ago, it's time to put money behind your content. Or maybe putting the "intern" in charge is part of your strategy, like this TSA vid.
But OK, we get it. Saying "you need to find €40,000 and hire another person" doesn't roll too well on the practical advice. Especially in Motorsport when that actually means €65k-€70k with travel costs factored in.
Beyond hiring an extra staff member, here are three content series proposals (you're welcome) achievable for under £1000:
1. POV clips with Ray-Ban Meta glasses or go old skool with GoPro
- Frequency: every other event (11-12 posts per year)
- Cost: Ray-Ban Meta specs are £350 or a decent GoPro getup is £600
- Content: Each team member wears the POV cam for a key part of their work during a race weekend. Chop it up into a 30-90sec edit with a trending audio.
- Note: Don't worry about going 'overkill' on a certain type of content, algorithms take care of showing the different posts to people who will like 'em.
- Check out this GoPro edit from the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup
2. Audio-only MotoGP team podcast show
- Frequency: One per event (23 episodes over a season including testing)
- Cost: Recorder + mics for under £450 + £500 yearly Adobe software subscription (assuming you already have a laptop to edit)
- Content: Magazine show 30mins long presented by a member of the team. Includes - feature interview with a different team member to learn about different job roles, 'vox pop' or fan Q&A with team members, and race weekend review with the riders.
- Micro-content: Photo dumps with transcribed interviews in captions, double up the vox pop or fan Q&As with an Instagram Story feature, use free Canva templates to put key quotes from episodes into graphics cards…
Just quickly - Genuinely amazed no-one in international motorcycle racing has even tried a low-budget podcast yet. How much could you get from a Hotel partner to always carry out the Fan Q&A in their foyer? Or a hirecar partner on the way into the track Thursday morning? A computer company for an 'Edited on XXXX laptop company' tagline? Seriously…
3. Let the pro creators loose: invite content creators to race weekends with all-access passes
- Frequency: Every other race weekend
- Cost: Depends on your negotiation skills! Some will come with a fee (perhaps one of your sponsors can cover it)... others will be so pumped about creating at a race, they'd come for free, just add them onto the hotel booking and feed them.
- Content: Daily posts during the weekend, evergreen content for weeks after... collabs or shares are the aim here.
- Note: Finding the 'right' creator and sorting their logistics can be time-consuming, not to mention fees. However, bringing creators along to events is something that's more justifiable to your sponsors' marketing budgets as that's "the marketing thing" right now.
Bonus Idea (you fill in the blanks): Dad-cam edits. £100 camera, old-skool look that the kids love. Put some audio on it that ‘slaps’.
"I spent Sunday morning's coffee having a flick through the official Paralympics TikTok account. Which is mainly World Feed footage of the games memed to f*ck, having fun seemingly all with a tone of being in awe of the athletes. The Paralympics doesn't typically get the same level of coverage as the Olympics and the figures suggest this has been a great way for the Games to connect with new audiences. Some of the views & engagement are off the scale. Perhaps there's a lesson here for some of motorcycle racing's less viewed series - MotoE????”
1. Your MotoGP riders like to get out on the road bikes? Give them a GoPro before they head out
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POVs, especially when you can find uncommon angles + the added data to go with them are always a solid piece of content.
2. Oscar Piastri's journey to become an F1 winner -
You know what content is COMPLETELY FREE to make that 9/10 times always bangs? Origin stories & journeys to the top. This was a superb post from Oscar's fan club (that he collabed with) demonstrating the long road to the top. But why necessarily only post this kinda content when an athlete's achieved the dream? Why not talk about the journey every step of the way...
3. Waffles of Chocolate?
Saw the word 'vox pop' earlier and thought "WTF is that?" This is vox pop. Go and ask team or other paddock members, even fans, to answer a question on a popular debate to gather the general public opinion. £10 whiteboard, iPhone, one person filming over an hour, couple hours edit - bosh.
Sticking with the theme of high-quality output for a minimum price... what if you could up your phone-captured photo game x10 for free?
Enter: Lightroom & its "Blur" tool, taking your Portrait Mode & standard shot pics alike and giving them that professional touch!
Yes - Lightroom Mobile is completely free.
It's simple to use, choose your Blur Amount (don't just whack it up to 100), then what shape of blur (or 'Bokeh') you want, and finally in 'Focus' - set which parts of the photo you want to be blurred. THAT is the genius part. *Chef's kiss*
Check out the results below, a Portrait Mode shot from 2021 re-edited with added Blur tool as well as a new pic shot standard a couple months back. It ain't always perfect but if you're on a low budget, learn to master it.
Before:
After:
