Did you see that?
These are the stories that caught our attention this week – from the a look into the Denver Broncos social media team’s playbook to the rise of the cinemagraph.
Scroll through to get our take and check out the quotes that grabbed us.
Click the links to follow a rabbit hole of interesting reads.
Roundup:
5 Visual Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2016
Forbes
By Jayson DeMers
In 5 Visual Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2016, Jayson DeMers’s shares predictions for 2016 ranging from an increase in video on brands’ homepages to an uptick in brands experimenting with live streaming. In fact, four out of five of his predictions were video-related (the fifth is about GIFs).
And that’s not surprising. In a recent visual asset management survey by the CMO Council, in partnership with Libris by PhotoShelter, 79% of top marketing executives said video’s importance will increase in the future.
One interesting prediction is that video will revitalize email marketing.
Marketers will rely less on heavy text content and more on videos that encourage recipients to interact with their brands. The key to successfully using video in email depends on the quality of the video and its length. Anything longer than three or four minutes will be overlooked.
The video experts at Wistia demonstrate this tactic (and practice what they preach) with emails like this:
Will a play button encourage your email recipients to click? Time and testing will tell.
5 ways brands are using Facebook and YouTube 360-degree video
Digiday
By Garett Sloane
It’s 2016. Welcome to the future… a future that just might be embracing 360-degree video and virtual reality.
The latest tech for brands to latch onto is 360-degree video. The spherical videos are coming into their own this year with Facebook and YouTube showing more of them, and new virtual reality goggles are helping promote the concept of immersive viewing.
Garrett Sloane outlines five brands using 360-degree video and highlights the possibilities of this new medium.
Here’s ANOTHER ONE. Enter the Rock.
Posted by Cycle on Tuesday, December 22, 2015
This video from Rockefeller Center shows the potential for travel brands to use 360-degree video. The immersive nature can give hopeful travelers a preview that’s one step closer to the real deal, and encourage them to book a trip.
Even basketball star Lebron James is getting in on the action. Check out his virtual reality film.
Why Brands Should Embrace Cinemagraphs for Storytelling
Ad Age
Michael Aaron Flicker
Photos and videos are crucial in marketing, and Michael Aaron Flicker argues the new in-between is a perfect way for brands to communicate.
As the new year gets underway, brands need to be paying attention to cinemagraphs for visual storytelling, because each image has all the visual punch and immediacy of video, without the barrier to entry of a play button.
A cinemagraph is a GIF, and it combines still and moving elements to create something unfamiliar to the eye.
“It is a moment,” says Flicker, “both with and without time, that can create a lasting impression for brands.”
The trick with cinemagraphs is to do it well, and it will be interesting to see which brands stop social media followers in their tracks with these neat images.
How One of the Most Popular Pro Sports Teams in America Shares to Social Media
Buffer Social
By Kevan Lee
In How One of the Most Popular Pro Sports Teams in America Shares to Social Media, Kevan Lee takes us behind-the-scenes with the Denver Broncos social media team.
Ben Hunt, the Broncos’ Director of Digital Media, and Scott Ward, the team’s Social Media Coordinator, open their playbook to share how they choose content to push out on social media, how they plan their posting schedule, and how they share whether they’re on the field or in the office.
Tomorrow, we find out who we play.
Today, we continued our prep.
📸's https://t.co/nCVq9H8GZU pic.twitter.com/s8e5pnr6xM
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) January 8, 2016
Lee explains that the Broncos face an interesting challenge, in that their posting schedule ebbs and flows between live events and off-times.
Ben and Scott have found some neat ways to work within this duality.
1. Get a standard schedule in place to help make sure content is always going out at the right times
2. Be flexible on game days and with news by sharing right away or setting custom times
Every sports team deals with this challenge, and many brands that host live events (from universities to travel organizations) can learn from checking out the Broncos’ Twitter account. (Bonus: Check out all of the fantastic imagery the brand shares – the team’s feed definitely has a visual focus.)
In Case You Missed It
Here on the Libris blog, we dove into the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s rich visual media archive, and ranked the top 10 visual content marketing ideas to steal in 2016! One looks back, one looks forward – but both will inspire your future visual storytelling.