Behind-the-scenes content, what’s the secret?

Behind-the-scenes content. Admired often, very seldom executed in excellence. To start, why do you produce behind-the-scenes? Two reasons. 

And don't forget to check the ‘Please, don’t…' in the last paragraph. 

1.    Humanize the brand

Some research in WARC has taught me that this content is best for humanizing your brand. Why would you want to humanize your brand? With a little help from ChatGPT, the top 3 reasons

1. Humanizing a brand makes it more relatable and helps to build emotional connections with the audience
2. It builds trust and loyalty with customers, who are more likely to engage with brands they can connect with personally
3. It helps differentiate the brand from competitors by showing its unique personality, values, and beliefs

If you reason with no-nonsense, this makes sense. Why would you show the world how you do something, like the production of an event or shooting a video? My guess it’s to share your hard work and fun while you create something for your customers. 

By sharing these behind-the-scenes, you entertain your customers while influencing their opinion of your brand and reputation. If your customers have a more positive outlook on your brand, they are more eager to buy or to stay loyal. Right?

2.    Prolong the storytelling

With behind-the-scenes content, you can continue the story. After the event, you can publish how you created the event, how you shot the commercial, the discussions around the script, the sweat, and tears into the writing and editing, etcetera, etcetera. 

The possibilities are endless, and you can unleash your creativity.

The requirements

Make it transparent, real, and authentic. Show what made you tick and what you’re proud of. Pride and passion are irresistible.

And put your customer first. Behind-the-scenes is not about you; it’s about entertaining and positively influencing their opinion about what the people behind the brand do.

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Leading by example: CrossFit HQ

The sports industry raises the content bar. Again. The behind-the-scenes content is not the objective; showing the people, pride, and passion is. 

CrossFit, in six words, is ‘Constantly varied functional movement at high intensity,’ but it's so much more. 

One of the fun elements is the competition, the ‘Games.’ You could say the Games for CrossFit are like the Olympics for other sports.

To qualify for the Games, you have to participate in ‘The Open.’ A yearly 3-week event in February. In 2023 with some 322k participants. The Games are for the top elite athletes emerging from the Open. Held in August, a four or five-day event with about four workouts per day. Some workouts are announced a few days before the Games, some even 15 minutes before the workout. Intense as f*ck and great fun to watch.

Behind-the-Games-scenes content

Where CrossFit stands out is showing the intense and dedicated work that’s put into the programming, testing, adjusting, and re-testing the workouts. 

And they prolong their Games storytelling by publishing the behind-the-scenes content in late 2022, a few months after the Games and just prior to the 2023 Open.

Their secret 

• Professional production, yet not as polished as the Games or Open content. It’s a bit more real and human; you can see it’s made on the spot without concessions on the quality
• Real people, from the evil mind behind the grueling workouts to the athletes still dripping with all the sweat. No casting, no actors
• High-paced, short, and has no fluff. As if you are at the spot at that moment
• Publication and seeding; socials, www, email, all out. Super short vertical 30-second edits for social, and some longer 7-minutes for YT

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Final words

Behind-the-scenes content can rock. 

It shows who you are and why you do what you do while you display all your pride and passion in doing so. You can give a more human face to your brand, and you can prolong storytelling. 

Above all, you can show you have fun. And fun is the emotion that makes people tick.

Please don’t…

Also, this type of content is all about quality, not quantity. 

Please don’t polish your behind-the-scenes and make it a production by itself. 

It’s a passion project, something on the side. Not an objective by itself. If you do produce it like a pro and are too polished, your audience will notice. You’ll lose your authenticity and credibility, and you’ll achieve the exact opposite as intended.

If it’s not a ‘fuck yes,’ reconsider posting.

Sources

WARC:  Brand strategy: The need to humanise content ,  Why it’s time to humanize the brand – for real this time

ChatGPT (yes, me too, great for research)

Run the Test — Designing the Tests for the CrossFit Games