You are likely to experience many growing pains in the course of your social media life. One of the growing pains you'll hit sooner or later is around tools. You may have many tools you use, some for management and automation, and others for content creation. Today I want to talk about rich media tools. When I say rich media, I mean image and infographic tools, and video tools. We see clients who are starting a new phase of their content evolution by moving into rich media creation, and others who have been doing it for a while, but are no longer satisfied with what they're producing. Today I'll share some signs that indicate you're outgrowing your rich media content tools, and what your options are.
- You're cycling through the same few templates for your visuals, and your visual content looks recycled.
- You try every new entry level tool for visuals and video, but they all disappoint you.
- When you try new tools, you mainly look for templates.
- You see other online videos on competitor sites that have integrated music, sounds, and effects, and you really want that, but can't do it.
- You have great ideas for visuals and videos, but you always have to scale back your vision to something that your current tools or training can produce.
- For larger marketing campaign events, you're considering outsourcing the graphics or videos.
- Get training for your existing staff. While you absolutely need training on how to use these tools, you also need to make sure the people you are training have the creative talent to use them effectively. If they've expressed interest, if they like using creative tools on their off time, or if they've sought out training on their own, it's a good indicator. Having produced some work that looks like it has potential, is also a good indicator.
- Hire talent that is already trained. There are lots of designers, and graphic artists out there looking for jobs. If you're serious about stepping up your content game, investing in someone with these skills may save some training expense, and should help you quickly step up your content game.
- Reach out to your local Art Institute. We've had a great relationship with our local art institute for years. It's a great way to find talent at entry level prices. They are usually young, and less experienced. While they will have the creative skills, they may lack work experience, so you will need to manage them more closely to bring them into your process models. A great way to try out talent from the Art Institute is to offer internships. You get part time help, get to check out their work, and see how well they fit. My personal opinion, If you use interns -- pay them something, they work hard.