Toronto Star: Lessons from the Snapchat producer
If you blink, you might miss it, and if you miss it, you may never get a chance to see it again. That's how Snapchat entices users who share and receive fleeting photos and videos before they disappear forever. Now brands are seeing the benefit of telling stories over this medium too.
The Toronto Star publically announced our Snapchat account on April 1 — the same day the thestar.com’s paywall came down. However, we had soft launched the account weeks before to experiment with which photos and images worked for us. Here are six lessons we picked up along the way.
Be authentic and have a sense of humour
The first rule of Snapchat is to treat it like Snapchat. Your photos and videos are meant to be immediate and fun. Consistently posting professionally edited photos and videos merely shows there’s a division between you and the event that’s in front of you. A few months ago we covered the brontosaurus being reinstated as a legitimate dinosaur. Our social media team decided to get crafty. We borrowed a toy, blow-up dinosaur sitting on a colleague’s desk and photographed him looking like he was reading the article. We hand-drew a pink crown on his head (we knew he was celebrating in his heart). It was silly, but it garnered positive feedback from followers who appreciated our sense of humour.
Be consistent
Every morning before 7:30 a.m. the Toronto Star posts the morning weather and a photo of the front page to Snapchat. This habit means our followers have a certain level of anticipation when they roll out of bed. We try to mix up the location or style of the photos too. For example, videos that accompany the morning weather have been shot in the Annex, Little Italy and the Financial District. You never know where it’s going to be—it’s consistency with a twist.
Tell a story
We use apps like Upload N Roll or SnapUpload to post original videos from thestar.com. These apps can be unreliable, especially when Snapchat rolls out new updates. When the programs aren't responsive, we do without the pre-edited videos. However, when they are working we can be a little more creative with our storytelling. The Star’s Amy Dempsey recently produced a feature on the science behind sneezing. The article was accompanied by a hilarious video of coworkers and friends impersonating each other's sneezes. We cut the video down into four bite size clips of each impersonation and uploaded them with the introduction: "What's the craziest sneeze you've ever heard?" After the clips finished rolling, we told readers to watch the full video on thestar.com.
Make exclusive content
On National Haiku Day we invited staff to have a haiku battle. One of our homepage editors wrote a glorious haiku about her love of bats while a fellow social media producer wrote one about the Toronto Raptors. They both recited their haikus on Snapchat and we turned it into a battle. The video wasn't meant to promote anything from the site - it was simply an exclusive treat for our Snapchat followers.
Go behind the scenes
Our intention is never to take away the exclusivity of a video that could bring page views to the website. Instead, we build excitement before a video or article is officially launched. Recently, a chef visited our test kitchen to make tofu pizza. Instead of taking images and videos from the same angle as the photographer, we went one step back (literally) and included the photographer in our shots. An exclusive, behind the scenes look at a photoshoot builds anticipation for the final product.
Go live
When reporter Sarah Joyce Battersby was invited to stay over night at the Pan Am Village(where athletes will stay during the Games) she was on board to share live updates and videos. She recorded herself in the cafeteria, athlete rooms and on the grounds, narrating where she was and including fun facts. This immediacy made our followers feel like they were there.
And quickly - optimize your snaps
Whenever you choose to shoot, make sure your videos are vertical so people aren’t constantly turning their screens. Also, add snaps to your story instead of sending it to individuals. That way, your followers can access your photos and videos for a full 24 hours.
Have tips? Let us know on Twitter @torontostar. Follow us on Snapchat at TorontoStarNews.
-- Brittany Mahaney
