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Category: Full-cycle video production turnkey

  • Molson Coors: How to Speed Up Marketing and Quadruple Engagement with Content Creators

    Molson Coors: How to Speed Up Marketing and Quadruple Engagement with Content Creators

    Major beverage producer Molson Coors is radically changing its approach to interacting with content creators, abandoning outdated approval processes characteristic of the television era. The company is now focusing on speed and flexibility, which has led to a fourfold increase in audience engagement. This decision is particularly relevant for companies seeking to optimize their marketing budgets and maximize returns on investment in content marketing.

    Molson Coors’ new approach: “freedom within boundaries” for creativity

    Since March, Molson Coors, in partnership with The Shake Squad consulting group from Movers+Shakers agency, has begun implementing an updated strategy. Justin Stauffer, Senior Director of Creative Effectiveness at Molson Coors, did not disclose commercial figures but noted that the new system has been scaled to 230 marketers working with over 100 brands in the US and Canada, including Miller High Life, Fever Tree, and Zoa energy drinks.

    “We’re moving much faster than we were before because our legal team has been involved in the process from the beginning, they better understand the ecosystem and consumer behavior in this space,” says Stauffer.

    The problem of outdated thinking and its solution

    Evan Horowitz, CEO of Movers+Shakers, emphasizes that Molson Coors’ main problem is typical for many large companies: senior marketers grew up in a “television” world. This mindset was passed down to junior specialists.

    “The world has changed dramatically,” Horowitz notes. “The ecosystem has become much more complex, and brands that still use a television strategy have a broadcast mentality. They talk to customers without understanding that there are hundreds of parallel dialogues. This requires a fundamentally different approach to brand building.”

    To address this problem, Molson Coors introduced a “freedom within boundaries” system with the legal department. It classifies potential solutions into three categories:

    • Fast track: for quick approvals.
    • Requires discussion: for issues needing additional analysis.
    • Categorical refusal: for unacceptable proposals.

    Less is more: abandoning “TV campaigns” on social media

    The second key element of Molson Coors’ strategy is reducing the importance of individual publications and abandoning the treatment of organic social content as a “high-budget TV campaign.”

    Influencers vs. creators: what’s the difference?

    Horowitz notes: “There is no better platform, no better creator; there is only the question: ‘what audience is this brand trying to reach?’”. Stauffer and Horowitz distinguish between influencers and content creators:

    • Influencers: community and reach-oriented.
    • Content creators: focused on craft and creativity.

    This helps in drafting briefs: creators can receive more open-ended assignments, which requires some adaptation from a large company like Molson Coors.

    Measuring effectiveness and trusting new approaches

    For large companies, one of the challenges is the “measurement gap” in creator performance. “Marketing budgets don’t change as fast as consumer attention. Many large companies underfund organic social content and creator work because they can’t prove ROI, while their competitors allocate funds on faith and see results,” comments Horowitz.

    Experimental approach to content

    Horowitz’s team helped Molson Coors rethink its approach to measurement and content itself. “It has to be experimental. It has to be a place where we can test, learn, observe signals, learn about our communities, and build our brands from fans for the feed,” says Stauffer.

    The Shake Squad developed a training system for the entire organization, tailored to each brand and their “consumer cohorts.” This allowed Molson Coors to understand how each brand is represented in these groups’ social feeds. “We could see what was in the feed every day for a core Miller Lite consumer,” Stauffer adds.

    This culture-first approach helped shape briefs and embrace the power of “lo-fi” content, which feels more authentic and less polished.

    “We really had to redefine content quality in this space differently than we were used to doing for other channels,” Stauffer emphasizes.

    Molson Coors: how to accelerate marketing and quadruple engagement with content creators — illustration 2

    Trust as the foundation of success

    The last, and perhaps most crucial, element of a successful new social strategy for a company worth over $7 billion is trust. Trust in The Shake Squad’s advice and belief that a company that has existed for hundreds of years (Molson and Coors merged in 2005) can radically change its marketing strategy, becoming more agile and responsive.

    Molson Coors’ marketing team worked closely with The Shake Squad for several months, applying their research, advice, and expertise to develop a new approach. Horowitz noted that marketing executives approached the collaboration with a humility not common to all large companies, which made the process smoother and more experimental.

    According to Stauffer, this humility led to a complete overhaul: fewer restrictions, less hesitation, more focus on culture-centric content.

    Perhaps the future of Molson Coors’ marketing strategy will be more like e.l.f. — a cosmetics brand that Movers+Shakers helped grow from $220 million to $1.5 billion and become the number one brand among Alpha, Gen Z, and millennial generations in seven years. This “social-first” brand does not have a traditional marketing agency and only occasionally uses TV ads to create buzz.

    “They completely flipped the script,” Horowitz concludes.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Why did Molson Coors change its marketing strategy?

    Molson Coors sought to adapt to the rapidly changing digital landscape, where traditional “TV-first” content alignment methods were outdated. The goal was to accelerate processes, increase flexibility, and boost audience engagement through collaboration with content creators.

    What is the “freedom within a framework” system?

    This is a new content alignment system with Molson Coors’ legal department that categorizes decisions into three categories: fast track, requires discussion, and outright rejection. It significantly speeds up approval processes and increases interaction efficiency.

    What is the difference between an influencer and a content creator?

    According to Molson Coors and Movers+Shakers, influencers are focused on reach and community, while content creators are focused on producing high-quality and creative material. This approach helps to create more precise briefs for different types of collaborations.

    How does Molson Coors measure the effectiveness of the new strategy?

    The company is moving towards an experimental approach where content is seen as an opportunity for testing and learning. The emphasis is on observing signals from communities and building brands “from fans for the feed,” which allows for a better understanding of the audience and the creation of culture-centric content.

    What benefits does a company gain by ordering “turnkey” video production?

    Ordering full-cycle video production allows a business to get all necessary services in one place, which significantly saves time and hassle. This eliminates the need to coordinate multiple contractors, reduces risks, and ensures a unified vision for the project from idea to implementation, which is critical for obtaining high-quality and effective content, as Molson Coors’ experience has shown.

    Conclusion

    Molson Coors’ experience demonstrates that for successful marketing in today’s digital world, it is necessary to abandon outdated approaches and trust new strategies. A comprehensive approach to content production, which includes not only creation but also strategic planning and adaptation to platform specifics, is key to increasing engagement and effectiveness.

    If you strive for the same results and want to optimize your marketing efforts, consider ordering full-cycle video production, which will allow your company to move at the speed of creators and reach new heights.

  • MrBeast and Google: A Multi-Year Partnership to Promote Gemini, Health, and Fitbit

    MrBeast and Google: A Multi-Year Partnership to Promote Gemini, Health, and Fitbit

    The largest YouTube blogger MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, has signed a multi-year agreement with Google. This partnership aims to promote the company’s key products: the Gemini chatbot, the Google Health platform, and Fitbit wearables. For many businesses facing the challenge of choosing a contractor for integrated promotion, this approach demonstrates a “one-stop shop” model, where all services can be ordered in one place.

    According to an official Google statement, Donaldson, as the first creator to reach 500 million YouTube subscribers, constantly pushes the boundaries of what’s possible. Now he will use Gemini to realize his ambitious ideas, showing the audience how artificial intelligence can help bring the most incredible concepts to life. In addition, the blogger will demonstrate how Google Health supports fitness and wellness goals.

    Partnership Details: How MrBeast Will Promote Google

    The partnership kicks off on September 5 with a video in which MrBeast and his team will attempt to survive in the Earth’s most extreme conditions: the Arctic, jungles, and desert. In this challenge, they will rely on Gemini, which will help them identify dangers, cope with sudden weather changes, and stay one step ahead. This is an excellent example of how to use content outsourcing for social media, entrusting the production of large-scale projects to external specialists.

    Gemini as a Tool for Logistics and Survival

    • Danger Identification: The chatbot will provide information about potential threats in extreme conditions.
    • Weather Forecasting: Gemini will help the team adapt to changing weather conditions.
    • Project Logistics: Donaldson will also be the face of a new Gemini campaign, demonstrating how the app helps him organize and execute his large-scale stunts.

    “Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, is always pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. Now he’s using Gemini to realize the boldest concepts, showing his fans how they can use AI to bring incredibly big ideas to life,” Google stated.

    Promoting Fitbit and Google Health

    In an upcoming video on his channel, MrBeast will use a Fitbit Air device, highlighting its functionality in everyday life and during challenging trials. This demonstrates integrated promotion through short videos, where each product is integrated into the natural context of the content.

    Why did Google choose MrBeast?

    The choice of MrBeast as a partner is no accident. He is the most popular content creator on YouTube with over 515 million subscribers and generates 4 to 6 billion views per month on his main channel. His participation in advertising campaigns for brands such as Disney, Lowe’s, and Jack Links, as well as his appearance in a Salesforce Super Bowl commercial, underscores his influence.

    Strategic importance of the partnership for Google

    While Google sometimes collaborates with YouTubers to promote products or events, this level of long-term commitment is unusual. This could be part of YouTube’s strategy to retain leading content creators who might otherwise move to other platforms, such as Netflix, which offer lucrative deals. For businesses, this is a lesson in the importance of long-term relationships with key partners and investing in them.

    MrBeast and Google: multi-year partnership to promote Gemini, Health and Fitbit — illustration 2

    Prospects for cooperation and ROI

    Google promises that this is just the beginning of their collaboration with MrBeast. Such a partnership provides high audience reach and demonstrates the potential of full-cycle short video production for promoting complex technological products. For those wondering what is cheaper – AI or real clipping, or whether uniqueization or new production is worth it, Google’s example shows that investments in high-quality, organically integrated content always pay off.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    How to choose a contractor for video content creation?

    When choosing a contractor for video production, especially for full-cycle short video production, pay attention to their portfolio, experience with similar projects, and their ability to offer comprehensive solutions from idea to posting. It is important that the contractor understands your business goals and can provide a replacement for an SMM team, taking on the entire process.

    What’s better: using AI for content creation or shooting from scratch?

    The choice between AI generation and shooting from scratch depends on your goals and budget. AI can be effective for quickly generating a large volume of content or repurposing, but for unique, high-quality, and emotionally rich stories, like MrBeast’s, shooting from scratch or deep uniqueization remain preferable. It’s important to find a balance between economy and quality so that the content truly captivates the audience.

    How to evaluate the effectiveness of mass posting?

    Evaluating the effectiveness of mass posting involves analyzing metrics such as reach, engagement, click-through rate, and conversions. It is important to track which types of content and platforms yield the best results to optimize the strategy. Content quality, even with mass distribution, plays a key role in achieving high performance.

    Conclusion

    The partnership between Google and MrBeast is a prime example of how large companies leverage the influence of popular personalities to promote their products. For businesses looking for effective solutions to order everything in one place — from video creation to its promotion, this model demonstrates the potential of a comprehensive approach. Remember that investing in quality content and strategic partnerships can significantly increase brand awareness and audience loyalty. If you feel that your current SMM team is not coping with the tasks, consider outsourcing content for social networks to get the maximum return on your marketing efforts.

  • Video Production for Agencies: Build, Partner, or White Label?

    Video Production for Agencies: Build, Partner, or White Label?

    In 2026, as clients continue to demand video content, marketing agencies face a critical choice: how to effectively produce video? This choice often becomes a headache, as not only revenue but also reputation depends on it. You have three main paths: building your own team, collaborating with external production companies, or using white-label subscription services. But which option will be the most profitable and least costly for your business?

    Strategic Video Production Models for Agencies

    Marketing agencies that integrate video into their services can be divided into three main categories, each with its own characteristics and economic models.

    Full-Service Agencies with In-House Production Teams

    These agencies view video production as a full-fledged revenue stream. Their staff can include up to 25 employees, including two full-time editors, a producer, and a videographer, as well as an extensive equipment fleet.

    The cost of a 60-second branded social media video at such agencies ranges from $4,000 to $8,000 USD. Video services here are usually included in larger retainer agreements, making them a profitable center.

    Agencies Using Subcontractors (White Label)

    This model implies that the agency develops the strategy but outsources the execution of all visual aspects of the project to an external contractor. As ALM Corp notes, “white-label video production means the agency retains the client relationship, strategy, positioning, and commercial terms, while the production partner discreetly performs part or all of the implementation process for the client.”

    This allows the agency to offer highly effective digital content without significant overhead costs for equipment.

    Boutique Agencies with Niche Video Offerings

    These agencies specialize in specific verticals (e.g., B2B SaaS, real estate, e-commerce) and offer unique video products. Each product has its own price category and a set of services provided by freelancers.

    This model allows for flexible adaptation to market needs and offers specialized solutions.

    Choosing a Model: Build vs. Partner

    The main question when choosing a model is the identity of your agency. If your strength lies in strategic planning and media buying, then building your own production department might put you in direct competition with something you never intended to compete with in the first place.

    Production companies have decades of experience and streamlined processes, making them formidable competitors.

    “While demand for video content continues to grow, building your own production team is expensive, takes too much time, and is usually an operational mess. Furthermore, hiring an in-house videographer doesn’t solve the problem entirely. One person cannot handle scriptwriting, pre-production, creative direction, lighting, sound, editing, motion graphics, formatting, versioning, quality control, and distribution strategy,” — ALM Corp.

    Most agencies choose to partner because it allows them to scale video capabilities without significant internal investment. This is especially true when it comes to high-margin opportunities, such as integrating video into existing budgets for paid social advertising, content marketing, and sales support.

    When should you hire in-house staff for production?

    Hiring an in-house producer and/or editor is only worthwhile if all four of the following conditions are met:

    1. The volume of video production is high.
    2. The volume of production is predictable.
    3. Video is strategically important to the agency.
    4. You are ready for the largest operational commitments.

    If at least one of these conditions is not met, you risk incurring fixed costs in conditions of variable demand, which will inevitably lead to a loss of profit. An in-house team provides maximum control but requires a stable flow of orders.

    When to use a project-based partnership with a production company?

    Project-based collaboration with a production company is ideal for:

    • Content requiring high creativity.
    • A relatively small amount of material.
    • Creating brand films, key commercials, or main video assets that the client will use for a long time.

    Here you are buying creativity, not bandwidth. According to Viva Media, in 2026, daily rates range from $600 to $1200, reaching up to $2000-3500 per day for high-end specialists. This allows for high-quality content while avoiding constant fixed costs.

    When to apply a White Label subscription for editing?

    The white-label subscription model is an optimal solution for large volumes of repetitive work that requires significant post-production. Examples include weekly short videos for social media, vertical videos, testimonial editing, turning podcasts into shorts.

    Видеопродакшн для агентств: строить, партнерствовать или использовать White Label? — illustration 2

    This is an ideal option when the client has source materials and requires continuous finishing.

    This model offers a fixed monthly fee, unlimited revisions (one material at a time), and turnaround times measured in business days. Vidpros, for example, offers such services, allowing agencies to fill the editing gap without hiring in-house staff. ALM Corp emphasizes: “White-label partners are in the middle. They provide more structure than using freelancers on an ad-hoc basis and more flexibility than hiring an in-house department.”

    How to choose a reliable video production partner?

    Choosing a contractor for full-cycle short video production or social media content outsourcing is no easy task. Here’s what’s really important:

    1. Evaluate full works, not just reels. Reels are just a collection of the best five-second clips. Ask for three complete projects done for clients in the last 12-18 months that are similar to your tasks.
    2. Use a paid sample to test the process. Before signing a long-term contract, order one real piece of content from a potential partner. Track response time, number of revisions, and adaptation to changes in the brief.
    3. Get the pricing structure in writing. Make sure you understand what’s included in the cost, what constitutes an “overrun,” and how the price is calculated (per minute, per material, fixed monthly fee, daily rate). This will help avoid payment misunderstandings in the future.

    What to look for when choosing a partner:

    • Lack of transparency in revisions. If a partner cannot clearly explain the revision process, it can lead to payment conflicts.
    • Reliance on portfolio, not workflow. Talent without a clear workflow leads to low quality.
    • Attempts to contact your client. True white-label partners remain invisible. As Fractional CTO Solutions notes: “90% of agencies selling white label lie about what it is.”
    • Suspiciously low prices. This could indicate offshore production, expensive revisions, or deliberate underpricing to get the order and then raise prices.
    • Monotony of past work. If all projects look the same, the partner may be inflexible in adapting to your client’s unique brand.

    Economic analysis: what is more profitable?

    How to Choose the Right Video Production Model for Your Agency

    Let’s consider an agency that sells 20 video projects per month at an average cost of $2500 per project, generating $50,000 in monthly revenue.

    Option A: In-house Team

    • Fixed Costs: Producer ($9500), Editor ($7500), Equipment/Software ($1200), Studio Rental ($1500) = ~$19,700 per month.
    • Variable Costs (20 projects): Talent/Locations/Music/Stock Footage ($200 per project) = ~$4000.
    • Total Costs: ~$23,700.
    • Margin: $26,300 or 52.6%.

    Problem: With less than 14 projects, fixed costs significantly reduce the margin. Salaries are paid regardless of sales volume.

    Option B: Project-based Partnership

    • Partner Cost (20 projects): $1400 per project = $28,000.
    • Additional Costs: Account Management ($2000).
    • Total Costs: ~$30,000.
    • Margin: $20,000 or 40%.

    Advantage: Lower margin, but significantly less risk from fixed costs. Scaling occurs without hiring new employees.

    Option C: White Label Subscription for Editing

    • Subscription Cost (20 projects): For example, $800 per completed project = $16,000.
    • Additional Costs: Raw footage capture and other variables (music/talent) ($200 per project) = $4000. Account Management ($2000).
    • Total Costs: ~$22,000.
    • Margin: $28,000 or 56%.

    Advantage: Highest margin at this volume and no fixed cost risk if clients churn. This model is ideal for most agencies doing less than 25 projects per month.

    Practical Example

    A 25-person digital marketing firm in 2025 sold video as an add-on to retainers for $2500. For 8 months, they unsuccessfully tried to find an in-house editor, facing constant freelancer turnover.

    By transferring 15 out of 18 monthly tasks to the white-label service Vidpros and leaving 3 creative projects to a boutique production house, they achieved a 58% margin. Video revenue doubled, as the agency could now take on all retainer expansions that were previously declined due to capacity limitations.

    Conclusion: Your Path to Efficient Video Production

    Choosing the right video production model is not just a tactical decision, but a strategic step that determines your agency’s competitiveness. If you are looking for budget and stress savings, as well as the ability to order everything in one place, white-label solutions can be your panacea.

    They allow you to focus on comprehensive promotion through short videos, delegating routine tasks to a reliable partner. Remember that replacing your SMM team or outsourcing content for social networks with white-label services is not just a trend, but a proven business model that provides flexibility and high profitability. Carefully choose a partner, relying on real case studies and transparent pricing, to avoid pitfalls and ensure stable growth for your business.

    Frequently asked questions

    What is “full-cycle short video production”?

    This is a service that covers all stages of creating short videos: from idea and script to shooting, editing, color correction, adding graphics, sound design, and final publication on various platforms. As part of this service, you can order a banner, a cut, and posting, receiving ready-made content on a turnkey basis.

    Is content uniqueization or new filming worth it?

    The choice between repurposing (uniqueization) existing content and shooting from scratch depends on your goals and budget. Repurposing is often cheaper and faster, allowing you to create many short videos from one long piece of material. Shooting new content gives full control over creativity but requires greater investment. White-label services are excellent for repurposing and mass cutting.

    How to choose a contractor for video cutting or AI advertising?

    When choosing a contractor for cutting services or ordering AI advertising, pay attention to the following quality criteria: availability of complete cases (not just reels), transparent pricing policy, willingness to perform a paid test project, clear and well-established workflow, and a guarantee of confidentiality of your client relationships.

    What is cheaper: AI or real editing?

    What is cheaper – AI or real editing, depends on the complexity of the task and the volume. For simple, repetitive tasks with a large volume, AI tools can be more economical. However, for creative, complex projects requiring fine-tuning and a human touch, real editing remains more cost-effective, especially when using a white-label subscription, which offers an optimal price-quality ratio for mass tasks.

  • Mavely is now Later: Enhanced Capabilities for Your Business

    Mavely is now Later: Enhanced Capabilities for Your Business

    Your links, payouts, and team remain the same, but everything else has scaled significantly. Mavely is now fully integrated into the Later platform, providing you with the same familiar experience you’ve built your business on, but with much greater prospects. This merger opens access to Later’s extensive network of corporate partners, including brands like Nike, Wayfair, Unilever, and Southwest Airlines, as well as the ability to directly apply for promotional campaigns.

    Mavely is now Later: Enhanced Opportunities for Your Business

    Why did Mavely become part of Later?

    Later’s acquisition of Mavely in January 2025 was driven by a vision of the unique potential content creators were developing. For a year and a half, we watched you grow and thrive in your endeavors.

    This community has paid out over $300 million, a clear testament to what can be achieved when creators are consistently rewarded for converting content.

    “the creator economy is still young, but it’s evolving faster every day. It’s being built in real-time by creators, marketers, and brands who are striving to create something valuable without disrupting what already works,” notes Paige, CEO of Creator.

    Today marks the next step in our evolution, and it’s not just a name change on the login screen. The platform you’ve grown your business on is now fully integrated into Later, making you part of everything Later has created: a powerful engine for influencer marketing, a social media management platform, an infrastructure for social commerce, and a team of experts working with the world’s largest brands.

    How will the integration of Mavely and Later affect your income?

    • Turn affiliate marketing into sponsored partnerships: Your links now represent you to Later’s entire network of corporate partners, including Nike, Wayfair, Unilever, and Southwest Airlines. This means more opportunities for discovery by leading brands and securing paid partnerships that go beyond a single affiliate link.
    • Expand your earning methods: Instead of waiting to be noticed, you will soon be able to browse and apply for campaigns directly within the platform, at your convenience. These are two new ways to increase your income, and neither requires changing your current content creation process.
  • Track performance in real-time: You’ll maintain full visibility into clicks, conversions, and earnings, always knowing what’s working and directing more energy toward the content and brands that yield the best results, instead of acting on guesswork.

What remains unchanged?

All your previously published links continue to work exactly the same. Your commission structure and payment schedule remain unchanged. If you’re used to receiving payments on the 1st and 15th, that won’t change.

You’ll still get paid faster than most affiliate networks, many of which make creators wait up to 90 days.

The relationships you’ve built with our team also remain. Whether you relied on our team for strategic sessions or just needed a quick answer, the same level of personal attention remains. The logo on the screen has changed, but the people behind it are the same ones who have always been there.

More than just tools: support and growth

Building a content business can feel like a solo effort. Full participation in Later means you get more than just tools. You get a support system that shows up at the most important moments, including strategic coaching, educational resources, in-person meetings, and press opportunities that can elevate your profile beyond your audience.

You also get direct access to Later Social — a platform that helps creators plan, schedule, and publish their content to Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and other social media, using a single organized calendar.

What does this mean for partner brands?

For brands that have already built creator commerce programs through Mavely, this work is fully protected and now connected to a much larger influencer marketing ecosystem. For brands already working with Later, this adds new, measurable ways to run influencer campaigns.

Affiliate marketing, creator activation, and performance-based partnerships are all now available on one platform.

Later is now a unified platform where brands can discover creators, activate them, and see exactly how their content drives real business results, from the first click to the final sale.

Mavely is now Later: enhanced opportunities for your business — illustration 2

What’s next?

The best news is that you don’t need to do anything for this transition. Log in, and everything you’ve created will be in place, but now under the Later name and with many more features. In the coming weeks, you’ll start to see new opportunities from Later’s network of brands in your account, and we’ll keep you constantly informed about what that looks like.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Mavely becoming Later?

Mavely is becoming Later to provide creators with enhanced opportunities, access to a larger network of brands, and an integrated platform for social media management and marketing, combining the best features of both systems.

Has Mavely shut down?

No, Mavely has not shut down. Your account, links, and earnings will remain exactly the same. Everything you’ve built will stay, it’s the same home with a new name.

Will my commission rates change?

No, your commission rates and brand deals will remain the same. Your trusted tools will stay the same, but with stronger support.

Will my payout schedule change?

The payout schedule remains the same: the 1st and 15th of each month, with no interruptions. While other networks might make you wait 60-90 days, we continue to pay faster and more frequently.

What will happen to my mave.ly links?

They will remain active and continue to generate revenue, as every link you’ve already published will work. If anything changes in the future, we will notify you well in advance.

Do I need a new account or password reset?

You don’t need a new account or password reset; you just need to update the app to see the new design. This ensures you have one less thing to worry about, so you can continue to focus on growing your business.

Is my data safe?

Yes, your data is safe, as we maintain the same data protection and privacy measures with no changes. The way your information is stored and processed has not changed.

What’s new for me?

You can expect more brand partnerships, more opportunities to participate in campaigns, and a larger network behind you. Being part of Later means you have access to leading brands and more ways to maximize your earnings.

Am I on my own to figure this out?

No, you are not alone. The same creator success team and support you already know are here to help. You’ll never figure this out alone, that’s the point of being part of a larger team.

Conclusion

The integration of Mavely into Later is not just a rebranding, but a strategic expansion of opportunities for content creators and brands. By combining advanced tools for social media management, influencer marketing, and social commerce, Later offers a single window for all needs. This solution is designed to relieve you of the “headache” of finding and coordinating disparate services, ensuring budget and nerve savings. We are confident that the new platform will be a powerful catalyst for your growth, providing access to unprecedented opportunities and reliable support. Contact us to learn more about how Later can transform your business.

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  • Full-cycle video production: how much it costs and what the service includes

    Full-cycle video production: how much it costs and what the service includes

    In the modern digital world, short videos have become an integral part of a successful marketing strategy. However, understanding exactly what you get when ordering video content for social networks, and how to correctly assess its cost, often becomes a headache for marketers and business owners. This article is your compass in the world of video content production, where we will analyze offers, prices, and key criteria for choosing a contractor so that you can order everything in one place and save budget and nerves. We will discuss in detail what full-cycle video production includes and how much it costs.

    Features of video production for social networks

    Traditional video agencies usually create one film or video, providing the client with a main version and several alternative ones. However, an agency specializing in video content for social networks works differently.

    It focuses on:

    • Vertical video format.
    • “Hooks” to keep the viewer’s attention.
    • Weekly content production.
    • Understanding the specific trends of each platform.

    A typical result of such an agency’s work is 6 to 15 short videos per month, adapted for TikTok, Instagram Reels, Facebook, and YouTube Shorts, as well as separate packages of options for paid creative testing. According to Domo’s Data Never Sleeps, 167 million hours of video are watched on TikTok every minute, which highlights the huge demand for this format.

    Why is a specialized approach needed?

    Theoretically, a traditional video agency can perform all these tasks. In practice, however, very few of them operate at the scale required to meet the demands of social media. According to Wipster, only 7% of companies create videos entirely in-house. This is why there has been a need for specialized agencies to fill this niche.

    How to choose a contractor: a verification question

    To understand whether a potential partner is truly focused on social media content production, ask them one simple question: “How many videos did you release last month?”

    • If the answer is “two campaigns,” you’re dealing with a regular video agency that merely calls itself “social.”
    • If the answer is “180 videos for 12 brands,” then the agency is capable of producing high-volume content for social media.

    Market Offerings Overview: Who Offers What and at What Price

    Below are examples of agencies and services specializing in video content for social media, along with their features and pricing policies. It’s important to note that there are no paid placements or affiliate links here. Comments are based on the real capabilities of each market player.

    Major Players and Specialized Services

    • Casual Films: A global network headquartered in the UK, specializing in working with large brands. Ideal for B2B companies that need internal communication video content and its short versions for social media. Expensive.
    • Superside: A subscription model for design and video production with teams focused on social media. Suitable for internal marketing teams who prefer a fixed monthly fee over project-based calculations.
    • We Are Social: A creative agency offering video production and specializing in social media content. Ideal for brands looking for campaign ideas and production, willing to pay full-service agency rates.
    • Luminous (PR + production hybrid): Suitable for cases where social media video content requires integration with large PR campaigns.
    • PlayPlay: More of a SaaS tool with additional services. Ideal for marketing teams who want to maintain control over internal editing and purchase ready-made templates with expert review.

    Pricing Guidelines and Package Deals

    • Hurricane Images Inc.: Their website states: 3 videos — $2200, 6 videos — $4100, 9 videos — $5900. Includes on-site filming and full post-production. An excellent option for medium-sized businesses that need “one shoot — many cuts” packages.
    • Blare Video: Monthly subscription model. $890/month for 6 videos of 15 seconds with two half-day shoots. $1650/month for 9 videos. Minimum term — three months. Suitable for small and medium-sized businesses needing predictable monthly volume without large investments in individual shooting days.
    • Vidico: A benchmark for short-form pricing. Short videos for social media cost from $1000 to $3000 for 15-30 seconds. Medium-length videos (1-3 minutes) — from $2000 to $7500.

    “Each agency is optimized for its type of purchase: project work, subscription, full-service agency, SaaS with services. Choose the right approach before selecting a service provider.”

    Quality Criteria: What to Look for When Ordering

    A genuine agency specializing in the full cycle of short video production doesn’t just cut the same video for all platforms. It understands the nuances of each one.

    Format and Platform Specifics

    • TikTok and Instagram Reels:
      • Vertical format: 9:16 aspect ratio.
      • Duration: organic — 15-60 seconds. If the TikTok algorithm encourages it — up to 90 seconds.
      • The “hook” must be within the first 1.5 seconds.
      • Built-in subtitles: most views occur without sound.
      • Optimized for viewing with sound, as the TikTok algorithm is audio-based.
      • Reels allow for a bit more “polish” than TikTok, but less of the creator’s “raw” energy.
      • Often include static frames from video shoots for carousel posts.
    • YouTube Shorts:
      • Vertical 9:16 format, up to 60 seconds.
      • Same “hook” rules.
      • Shorts users are more likely to transition to watching long-form videos. Successful agencies use this for cross-promotion.
    • Facebook:
      • Square images (1:1) often outperform vertical content for older audiences.
      • Subtitles are more important here due to autoplay without sound.
      • Genuine agencies create separate packages of variations for Facebook, rather than just importing Reels.
    • Long-form YouTube videos:
      • The “home base” for content development.
      • Weekly episodic series (8-12 minutes) for B2B or longer for entertainment niches.
      • The agency should offer a package of 6-10 vertical cuts for TikTok, Reels, and Shorts from this long video.

    Important: If an agency offers you the same version of a video for all four platforms — immediately cease cooperation. Each video must be unique, and that’s what you’re paying for.

    Pricing Transparency: How Much Does a “One-Stop Shop” Cost?

    Agencies should provide transparency in pricing and services offered. Using publicly available data, one can verify the reasonableness of rates.

    Full-cycle video production: how much it costs and what the service includes — illustration 2

    The Economics of a Single Video

    • Vidico estimates the average cost of a single video at $1000-$3000 for 15-30 seconds (premium).
    • Hurricane Images offers package prices: $656 per video for an order of 9; $733 per video for an order of 3.
    • Blare Video offers $148 per video as part of an introductory subscription (assuming two half-day shoots and 6 edits).

    Hourly Rates and Subscriptions

    • Agencies in the US, Canada, and Australia estimate hourly rates at $100-$149, with projects typically not exceeding $10,000.
    • Freelancers: $600-$1200 per day for an operator; $60-$90 per hour for an editor. Novice freelancers can work for $300-$400 per day.
    • Social media management subscriptions (according to Feedbird): $800-$2500 per month for small and medium businesses; over $10,000 for large companies.
    • Specialized video content subscriptions are usually more expensive: from $7000 to $25,000 per month for a full-service agency (according to The Fresh Content Society).

    Real Costs of Maintaining a Steady Content Flow

    For a brand aiming for a constant flow of video content for social media without additional filming, a reasonable price range is $3500-$8000 per month for 12-20 edited videos. If one half-day shoot per month is added, the price will increase to $5500-$12000. Full studio production with actors can exceed $15000.

    Comparison: In-house Department vs. Agency

    In-house teams win when:

    • Very quick reaction to events is required.
    • Deep immersion in product/brand specifics is necessary.

    Agencies win when:

    • A large volume of content is needed.
    • A fresh perspective and expertise on trends are required.
    • Saving on salaries and equipment is important.

    Hybrid Model: The Future Is Already Here

    By 2026, hybrid models (in-house team + agency) are becoming increasingly popular. Companies with limited in-house staff for daily content or quick task execution outsource large projects to agencies. Examples: Red Bull and Pepsi use in-house teams for everyday content and agencies for campaigns.

    Cost Calculation: What’s Cheaper — AI or Real Editing?

    • In-house teams: According to Fresh Content Society, total costs are $10000-$15000+ per month (salaries, benefits, software, equipment).
    • Agency subscriptions: $7000-$25000+ per month.

    At first glance, agency subscriptions seem cheaper. But this is only true with a constant production volume. If the volume is episodic or variable, the in-house team will be idle, and agency subscriptions will be used inefficiently.

    When to Choose What: Checklist

    • One video per week: hire a freelancer.
    • Two to fifteen videos per week: hire an agency. This volume exceeds the capabilities of an in-house team but does not yet justify hiring a full staff.
    • Fifteen or more videos per week: switch to a hybrid model. A small in-house team for reactive and daily posting, and an agency for volume and campaigns.

    Two-person in-house teams can produce approximately 25-40 videos per month before quality begins to decline. At this point, you will either have to hire a third employee or use external editing resources. This is why many successful in-house teams secretly use agencies in addition to their staff.

    The strongest social media video content agencies in 2026 offer the following services:

    • Repurposing Long-Form Content: Repurposing source material (30-90 minutes: podcast, webinar, meeting) into 8-15 vertical clips with “hooks,” captions, and variations for different platforms. Price: $150-$400 per clip or $2000-$5000 per source video (flat rate).
    • Original Short-Form Video Production: Creating original 15-30 second videos shot on an iPhone Pro or Sony FX3 with full creative direction. Price: $400-$1500 per finished video (editing only) or $1500-$5000 (including shooting costs).
    • User-Generated Content (UGC) Editing and Processing: You don’t shoot the material, but receive raw footage from creators and deliver ready-to-publish videos. Price: $200-$500 per finished edit or $3000-$8000 per month (depending on volume).
    • Paid Ad Management + Video: Combining media buying with editing services. Monthly retainer ranges from $5000 to $25000.
    • Brand Building Campaigns: Long-form “hero” videos or longer productions involving talent. Price: $10000-$50000 per campaign.

    Content Uniqueness: Is it Worth It or New?

    Packaging social media video content offerings is an art. Agencies generating significant revenue in 2026 offer 2-3 package retainers, as well as the option for custom quotes, rather than quoting from scratch every time.

    Recurring Successful Formats (2025-2026)

    • “Before/After” Demos: Visual demonstration of transformation in 15 seconds. Works across many industries (fitness, beauty, software, real estate, B2B SaaS).
    • One-Take Explainer Videos: A presenter speaks continuously to the camera, discussing a topic. Captions and minimal B-roll layers. The presenter’s facial expressions are more important than production quality.
    • Carousel Videos with Animated Text: Animated text appears over a static image or low-motion video. Feels like an Instagram carousel, but works better as a video. Low production cost, high save rate.
    • User-Generated Content (UGC) Edits: Authenticity is achieved by using videos from customer or employee phones, edited with branded captions. Best suited for products under $200.
    • “Day in the Life”: Behind-the-scenes content, edited to 60-90 seconds with chapter cards. Best for Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.

    Common Traits of Successful Videos

    • “Hook” in the first 1.5 seconds.
    • Captions are always present.
  • The editor understands when to cut to the beat and when to cut to the word. This is the most valuable thing a video editor brings to social media, and this is why automated AI editors still can’t handle real campaigns.

    • ROI: When an agency becomes a cost-effective solution

    Calculating ROI depends on the volume of content you produce and what else you could have spent the money on.

    Scenario A: SaaS brand with $2M ARR

    A marketing team of two people. 4 vertical videos are needed per week. This is about 25% of one marketer’s time. Costs

  • Artificial Intelligence in Business: How to Build a Team of AI Employees

    Artificial Intelligence in Business: How to Build a Team of AI Employees

    In today’s business environment, many leaders face the same headache: how to optimize workflows and free up team time for strategic tasks. Instead of just using AI for one-off requests, imagine having a whole staff of AI employees who perform routine operations, following your standards and schedule. This article will explain how to turn AI from a simple tool into a full-fledged member of your team, capable of taking on some of the work and increasing business efficiency.

    Implementing AI: From One-Off Requests to a Systemic Approach

    Many companies claim to actively use AI. However, as Callan Faulkner, founder of The Uncommon Business, notes, this often boils down to one-off requests. For example, a sales manager might spend an hour creating a commercial proposal using Claude or ChatGPT, but the next time a request comes in, the process starts from scratch. This is inefficient and does not allow for the full potential of the technology to be utilized.

    • Lack of reusable instructions.
    • Failure to create a knowledge base (successful proposals, objection handling methods).
    • AI does not become a repeatable system that supports the process.

    Creating an AI employee is a completely different skill. Callan defines it as “a trained, reusable AI system that performs a specific business function as well as or better than a human.”

    Benefits of a Systemic Approach to AI

    Systemic AI implementation brings significant benefits. Callan Faulkner’s company, The Uncommon Business, projects $40 million in revenue with a staff of about 50 people. A few years ago, such a result would have required a much larger team. The goal is not to reduce staff, but to unlock human potential.

    “Callan has never fired a person because of AI. Instead, AI allows employees to focus on strategic and creative work that truly inspires them.”

    However, a gap is already noticeable between employees trained in AI and those who are not. A marketer without AI skills can spend weeks creating landing pages and images, while a trained specialist does 10 times more in a day. The problem is not replacing humans with AI, but the need for humans who can effectively manage AI.

    Three Fundamental Concepts for Creating AI Employees

    Before you start creating an AI employee, you need to master two key concepts and one important asset.

    Concept 1: Finding the shortest path to an “A+” result

    Many professionals, by habit, strive to do everything themselves, proving their worth. Today, this becomes a burden. Callan’s philosophy: the fast track to an outstanding result is a new competitive advantage. This does not mean “cutting corners,” but rather optimizing the process.

    For example, Callan’s team used to spend days developing Instagram carousels. Now, after training Claude Design on examples of their best work, they create a polished carousel in eight minutes, and ten carousels in half an hour. The quality remained the same, but time and energy costs were reduced.

    Concept 2: Training equals quality of result

    Without proper training, AI produces generic and impersonal content. To get a unique and high-quality result, you need to document standards:

    • Publication goal.
    • Brand tone and voice.
    • Examples of successful content.

    If these details are not documented and passed on to the AI, it will have nothing to base itself on. Callan gives an example from her podcast: every step of the process must be described in detail so that AI employees can work at the proper level.

    Asset: Your “business brain”

    A “business brain” is a centralized repository of all important company documentation: prices, processes, standards, brand voice, ideal customer profiles, past successes, etc. If the documentation is insufficient for a new employee, it will be insufficient for AI. AI employees are only as effective as the data they have access to. The time of chaotic files on Google Drive is over.

    How to build an AI employee from scratch

    The process begins with an audit of current tasks. Callan recommends identifying all daily, weekly, or monthly tasks that generate revenue but do not bring satisfaction or are valued at less than $50 per hour. This could be:

    • Content design and editing.
    • Creating presentations.
    • Generating commercial proposals.
    • Writing email newsletters.

    For example, Callan’s copywriter, Nick, spent most of his time writing sales pages. He documented his approach, analyzed the most successful pages, and began creating AI employees to produce content. Now Nick manages a team of AI copywriters and QA specialists, focusing on strategy and creative direction.

    Professional tip: Even tasks in which you feel like an expert are worth analyzing. Callan found that after training AI in processes in which she considered herself the best, the AI’s results sometimes surpassed her own. Transitioning from creator to editor is a more efficient use of time.

    AI Interview Method

    Once you’ve defined the task, open a new chat in Claude and describe the situation in detail:

    • Who you are.
    • What the company does.
    • What specific task the AI should perform.
    • What the ideal outcome looks like.

    Then, ask Claude to conduct an interview by asking five high-impact questions to extract your exact process. Callan prefers voice input as it provides richer context. Tools like Wispr Flow allow you to speak rather than type, which facilitates a more complete and nuanced description.

    “Board of Directors” Technique

    For complex decisions, Callan uses Claude to assemble a team of 3-5 experts in the relevant field to discuss the best approach. For example, when creating executive compensation packages, she asked Claude to draw on frameworks from Mark Cuban and Sara Blakely. This resulted in recommendations based on proven business thinking, rather than generic search results.

    Training and Testing AI Employees for Outstanding Results

    Once you’ve achieved an excellent result in a chat with Claude, the next step is to save it as a “skill.” Within Callan’s framework, a skill is a saved, reusable set of instructions that is available at any time and connected to Claude. It’s like a “prompt on steroids”: one command triggers a complex, trained process. “A skill is an AI employee,” says Callan.

    Managing Skill and Memory Changes

    After creating a skill, Callan asks Claude: “What do I need to do to turn this into a reusable skill?” The answers usually point to creating a Claude Project — a workspace where knowledge files, instructions, and skills are stored. For example, for a sales proposal skill, the project might include past successful and unsuccessful proposals, all pricing information, and 15 key objections with detailed descriptions of how to handle them.

    Artificial intelligence in business: how to create a team of AI employees — illustration 2

    The final layer is connectors. If a workflow involves external tools (e.g., saving a proposal to a CRM or sending it via Salesforce), Claude connectors allow the skill to interact directly with these platforms. A fully built AI employee works as a skill, based on a knowledge base, with activated connectors, and the entire team is trained to use it.

    Testing and Refinement

    After creating a skill, the real work begins. Callan advises: test each skill to exhaustion. Most people are content with mediocre results from AI. Callan recommends persistently demanding better. If Claude produces something mediocre, she explicitly states that it can do better and asks it to try again. Often, it is after such a “push” that the desired result is achieved.

    Her skill as a voice copywriter, one of the most valuable AI employees, required fifteen hours of work. This investment is justified when compared to human training. It took three months of weekly work for her copywriter to start writing in her style. Many, however, give up on AI training after 45 minutes, believing it cannot grasp their style.

    The testing process follows a specific pattern:

    1. Launch the skill.
    2. Check the result.
    3. Manually correct parts that do not meet the standard.
    4. Return corrections to Claude with a specific request: “I made the following changes to your output to meet my standards. Please update your skill to incorporate these changes and use them in future outputs.”

    A useful trick: during the conversation, ask Claude: “What have you learned from our interactions?” and ask it to update the skill so that these lessons are reinforced. An important technical detail: skills and memory in Claude Projects can become out of sync. Claude can update its memory based on the conversation but not update the underlying skill. Callan recommends explicitly telling Claude to update the skill itself, and then manually clicking the save button.

    Projects also have their own invisible project-level skills that can conflict with workspace-level skills. When creating a skill that should work across all projects, specify “workspace skill” or “core skill” so that it is available everywhere, not just in one project.

    Pro Tip: For teams building skills at scale, Callan’s company copies each skill into a Notion database, tracking who created it, when, the version, and its purpose. They even have a skill that checks their skill database for duplicates. Each department manages its skill repository, and skill management is a standard part of every quarterly review.

    Scheduling AI Employees for Autonomous Execution

    Once a skill has been thoroughly tested and refined to a high standard, it can be scheduled for autonomous work without human intervention.

    Current limitation: the computer running Claude must be turned on for scheduled tasks to execute. Callan uses a dedicated office computer logged into the corporate Claude account. Any employee wishing to schedule a skill logs into this account on that machine.

    Callan uses Claude’s scheduled task feature via the Claude Cowork desktop application. There are options to select the day, time, and frequency of skill execution. There is no limit to the number of active scheduled tasks.

    One of Callan’s scheduled skills is the “Instagram Researcher.” Every Monday morning at 6:00 AM, it visits competitor Instagram accounts, identifies viral content in the AI education sphere, analyzes the approaches and “hooks” used, extracts content transcripts from the previous week, and adds content ideas directly to the Notion database. Her social team logs in on Monday morning and manually approves the ideas they want to implement. What used to be a routine task for the social team on Monday morning is now performed autonomously.

    Another scheduled skill runs hourly, extracting meeting transcripts from Granola and archiving them into a Notion database that powers her “second brain.”

    Conclusion: Invest in AI Employees for Business Scaling

    Creating AI employees is not just automation; it’s an investment in the strategic scaling of your business. Shifting from routine operations to managing efficient AI systems allows your team to focus on creativity and innovation, addressing “customer pain points” related to lack of time and resources. If you are looking for full-cycle short video production or comprehensive promotion through short videos, consider how AI employees can take on some of the work. This allows you to order everything in one place, effectively replacing part of the team with a service. Are you ready to rethink your business processes and build a team where AI and people work in harmony? Start with a task audit and document your standards today. Learn more about how to choose a contractor for social media content outsourcing, and what mass posting quality criteria are truly important to avoid wasting your budget.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What is an AI employee and how does it differ from regular AI use?

    An AI employee is a trained, reusable AI system that performs a specific business function as well as or better than a human. Unlike one-time AI requests, an AI employee is part of a systematic approach that automates repetitive tasks, following defined standards and schedules.

    How do I start creating my first AI employee?

    Start with a self-audit: identify tasks that are time-consuming, revenue-generating, but unfulfilling or undervalued. Then document each step of performing that task, its purpose, quality standards, and examples of successful outcomes. Use the AI interview method in Claude to describe the process in detail.

    Do I need to be a technical specialist to create AI employees?

    For 90% of business operations, creating AI employees does not require technical skills. The key is communication (the ability to clearly articulate needs) and creativity (resourcefulness to bring AI to an outstanding result).

    How to ensure high-quality results from an AI employee?

    The key to quality is thorough training and testing. Document all standards, tone of voice, examples of ideal results. After creating a skill in Claude, test it exhaustively, demanding improvements from the AI until the result meets your “A+” standards. Don’t forget to regularly update the AI’s skills and memory.

    Can AI employee work be automated on a schedule?

    Yes, once a skill is debugged, it can be scheduled for autonomous execution. Use scheduling features in tools like Claude Cowork to set the day, time, and frequency for the skill to run. This allows for the automation of routine tasks such as data collection, competitor analysis, or content generation.

  • Full-Cycle Video Production: How AI Tools Are Changing Content Creation by 2026

    Full-Cycle Video Production: How AI Tools Are Changing Content Creation by 2026

    In the field of full-cycle short video production and integrated promotion, artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming not just an assistant, but a key element capable of saving time and resources. However, to gain real benefits, it is important to choose the right tools. We will look at 11 proven solutions for creating texts, images, videos, and optimizing workflows, as well as their pricing policies.

    AI-powered content creation tools use algorithms to generate text, visual, audio, or video content based on given prompts. This allows teams to create materials faster and in larger volumes. The generative AI market is growing rapidly, with its volume projected to reach $394.66 billion by 2026, and AI-driven content will become one of the defining trends in social media.

    While AI primarily generated text in the past, by 2026, most tools have become multimodal and workflow-oriented. They can create drafts, develop designs, edit videos, and integrate into existing systems. These solutions can be divided into five categories:

    • Text writing and copywriting
    • Image generation
    • Video and audio
    • Presentations and design
    • Workflow management platforms

    Notable examples include ChatGPT, Midjourney, Jasper, Canva, and Hootsuite’s AI tools, which are now part of Perch in Hootsuite Social OS.

    Why does business need AI in content production?

    AI tools help marketers create, optimize, and scale content with less effort. They are indispensable for brainstorming, drafting, and performing routine tasks. Let’s look at four key benefits that should be integrated into your workflow:

    Time savings: from routine to strategy

    The most obvious advantage is time savings. 51% of content specialists already use AI to speed up production. AI takes on small, routine tasks, allowing your team to focus on strategic goals. For example:

    “I use AI to group tweets from my company’s blog articles,” shares Chelsea Hensley, Social Media Strategist at Visme. “For platforms like X/Twitter or Threads, this is extremely useful for repurposing already written (and approved by our team!) content into short tweets and threads.”

    Formatting is another easy win. “I can input my existing content or ideas and ask AI to format it into a bulleted list or even a neat table, which would take hours to do myself,” Hensley says. “Formatting is a great way for an SMM specialist to use AI.”

    Idea Generation: Breaking Through Creative Blocks

    Even the best brainstormers sometimes hit a wall. AI can kickstart the process to keep your team from slowing down. You still bring the strategy and creativity, but AI provides a starting point by generating prompts, angles, or post ideas that you can refine. Sometimes, the first batch of suggestions is all it takes to spark an idea you wouldn’t have otherwise reached.

    Content Scaling: More Reach with Less Effort

    AI helps teams produce more content without significantly increasing the workload. Instead of starting from scratch every time, marketers can repurpose existing content into multiple formats. One blog post can quickly become an X thread or a video script for Snapchat.

    For large companies, this opens up opportunities to enter new markets. AI tools can translate content in minutes, simplifying the adaptation of campaigns for different languages and regions without a separate production cycle for each. Small teams feel this no less.

    Полный цикл видеопродакшн: как ИИ-инструменты меняют создание контента к 2026 году — illustration 2

    When asked how AI helps her do more as a “one-person team,” Hensley replies: “THAT is the right question. Since many social media managers work alone, having AI to help with drafting and repurposing content is crucial… With AI, I can turn tedious, time-consuming tasks into quick solutions.”

    Platform Optimization: Improving Visibility

    Similar to Google and other search engines, social platforms have their own SEO rules. If you’re just learning to optimize content, AI tools can help. They suggest keywords, hashtags, and caption structures that improve the display of your content in feeds and search results. The result is posts that are easier for the right people to find.

    AI Tools for Content Creation: A Detailed Overview

    The best AI tools for content creation help social media specialists brainstorm, generate text, develop visuals, and edit videos in minutes. We’ve grouped them by category so you can jump to the one that matches your needs.

    AI for Text Writing and Copywriting

    These tools handle drafting, editing, repurposing, and maintaining brand tone. They are the foundation of most content creation workflows.

    Hootsuite: AI Assistant for Social Media

    • Features: Hootsuite’s AI capabilities are now integrated into Perch – the content, planning, and publishing app within Hootsuite Social OS. You input a prompt, and it transforms it into social media captions, post ideas, and content variations that can be scheduled without leaving the platform. What sets it apart from regular chatbots is context: the AI is trained on Hootsuite’s social media methodology, combining a powerful language model with content formulas based on over a decade of social marketing experience.
    • Best for: Teams that need to replace an SMM team or outsource social media content, and connect AI content creation with planning, publishing, analytics, and approvals in a single window.
    • Limitations: Designed specifically for social content, so it’s not suitable for creating long blog articles or technical documentation.
    • Pricing: Standard – $99/user/month, Advanced – $249/user/month. Enterprise – custom pricing. A free trial is available.

    ChatGPT: A Versatile Assistant

    • Features: Can create human-style content, including social media posts, blog articles, plans, and scripts. The latest models also generate images and support custom GPTs, allowing teams to create versions tailored to their brand’s context.
    • Best for: General drafting, brainstorming, and research support.
    • Limitations: Full drafts from scratch often sound generic, and factual or historical data always require verification against primary sources.
    • Pricing: There is a free tier. Plus – $20/month, Business – $20/user/month (when paid annually).

    Claude: For Working with Large Documents

    • Features: Helps generate ideas and create content using conversational prompts. It operates on a Constitutional AI system, designed to provide safer and more reliable responses.
    • Best for: Working with long documents, synthesizing research, and technical content.
    • Limitations: Not designed for end-to-end content production, and summaries still need human review before publication.
    • Pricing: There is a free tier. Pro – $20/month, Team – $25/user/month (when paid annually).

    • Jasper: for a consistent brand tone

    Copy.ai: for sales and marketing

    AI for image generation

    These tools work with visuals, from stylized concept art to ready-made templates.

    Midjourney: for stylized visuals

    Canva: for quick branded designs

    AI for video and audio

    Video remains the most resource-intensive format on social media. These two tools significantly reduce production time.

    Descript: for editing long videos

    InVideo: for creating short videos from text

    AI for presentations and design

    Compiling reports and presentations takes up a significant part of a marketer’s week. Beautiful.ai helps create polished slides quickly.

    Beautiful.ai: for creating presentations

    Free AI tools for content from Hootsuite

    Not every task justifies a subscription. Hootsuite offers free AI content creation tools that you can use right now, without signing up. Here are three of them worth bookmarking.

    Hootsuite also offers a range of other free generators, each with its own free plan and no sign-up required: Instagram Post Idea Generator, TikTok Post Idea Generator, Facebook Post Idea Generator, LinkedIn Post Idea Generator.

    Limitations of AI in Content Creation: What You Need to Know

    The main limitation of AI in content creation is that these tools work with existing information. This means they cannot reliably produce up-to-date research, original ideas, or genuine creative judgment. Knowing the boundaries of AI makes it useful, not risky. Here are five limitations to consider:

    1. Lack of up-to-date research: AI cannot always provide the latest data.
    2. Lack of expert opinions: AI is not an expert and cannot offer personal insights.
    3. Limited understanding of current trends: AI may lag behind the freshest trends and demographics.
    4. Lack of fresh case studies: AI is not always capable of providing current industry examples.
    5. Lack of creative judgment: AI cannot offer genuine creative judgment.
  • ChatGPT chooses brands on its own before the search: how to get on the list

    ChatGPT chooses brands on its own before the search: how to get on the list

    ChatGPT chooses brands before searching: how to get on the list

    ChatGPT inserts brand names into its search queries before it even loads pages. I read 60 conversations to understand when this happens and what helps a brand get mentioned. This is a key insight for anyone working on AI visibility: the decision on whether to recommend your brand is made long before ChatGPT touches your site.

    I asked ChatGPT to name the best AI note-taking app. Seven words, no brand mentions. Before loading anything, it wrote itself a search query like this: Granola, Notion AI, Otter, Fireflies, Fathom, Mem, Limitless — seven products in one search. I didn’t name any of them, and nothing came from web search, so those names came from the model itself.

    Then it ran nine more searches — that’s the “fan” of queries I wrote about in the first two parts. One search forms a shortlist, then one search per brand, each leading directly to the company’s website. The fan was never a candidate search — it’s ChatGPT going through a list it already has, one name at a time.

    In the first two parts, I wrote that you need to survive the site:yourdomain.com check because ChatGPT runs such checks. But it only runs that check if you made it into the first search query. If you’re not on the shortlist, your site won’t be viewed at all, no matter how good it is. The decision is made before anything touches your server.

    I spent two months reading this traffic for the first and second parts. This is the first thing that changes my recommendations to clients. Before reading further: all of this comes from a single account, so every percentage is a direction, not a measurement. The mechanism is another matter. You can reproduce it on your account in two minutes, and I’ll show you how at the end.

    How it works

    When you ask a question, ChatGPT rewrites it into its own search queries, runs them, reads the results, and then writes a response. These queries are in the response your browser loads, under the key search_queries. OpenAI renamed it from search_model_queries in early August 2026.

    This isn’t a leak: your browser needs this JSON to render the page, and you can read it in DevTools on your account in about two minutes. Here’s an example from a question about chat software: I asked “best AI software for support chat,” and it added the year, “official,” “pricing,” and three names.

    Everything below is based on reading several hundred such queries. Start with this: open ChatGPT, ask the question “best [your category]” that your customers ask, and read the query it writes. This line will show whether ChatGPT knows your brand exists—this is exactly what is usually sold as an AI visibility audit. The rest of the article is about what to do with what you find.

    The Causality Test

    The obvious objection to my note-taking apps example: perhaps ChatGPT first performed a search, saw those brands, and then wrote a smarter second query. That would make the names a result of the search, not a cause.

    So I ran a test: for each dialogue, I took the first user message and the first search query, sorted by time. At that moment, nothing had been loaded, so there was nothing to learn from. In 21 out of 27 dialogues, the first query contained brands the user had not entered. Look at rows 2 and 3: the same question, slightly different wording—and the list grew from three to seven names. The list grows depending on the wording, not from a fixed table.

    Then I ran 12 categories, completely unrelated to each other, to check that this was not a software quirk. 11 out of 13 showed the same thing. The robot vacuum row struck me: recalling that Roborock exists would be ordinary, but it recalled Saros, Dreame X50, and Eufy S1 Pro—current model numbers in the first query, without any prompt. This knowledge extends down to the product line.

    The electric SUV row behaves differently. For accounting, therapy, and hosting, it named vendors and went to their pricing pages. For cars, it named magazines: Car and Driver, Edmunds, Top Gear. In one category, its instinct is to go to manufacturers; in another, to reviewers.

    I was pleased with this and reran three categories to check stability. Language learning barely changed: five out of six names matched. Accounting shrank from six vendors to a single targeted query for QuickBooks. Web hosting completely switched sides: it dropped all vendors and went to a review site. So “vendors versus magazines” is a trend that can shift between runs, not a fixed property of the category.

    Two things persist: the injection happened every time, and the category with the most obvious market leaders kept its names. I suspect that established categories have stable shortlists, while contested ones fluctuate, but three repetitions are not enough to assert this. Do not judge AI visibility by a single response. Run the question five times, because the list changes between runs.

    What Influences Brand Injection

    All queries up to this point had the word “best,” so I tried to break it. I ran 24 additional queries without that word in seven different forms. It turned out that “best” has nothing to do with it. What matters is whether ChatGPT has to come up with products on its own.

    When it doesn’t search at all, it doesn’t work. Ask how noise cancellation works or what a vector database is—it will answer from training without web search. The same goes for open complaints: “We spend too much on customer support tools”—also without search. Seven of my twenty-four queries didn’t touch the web at all, so there was no shortlist to get into.

    If you name brands yourself, it accepts them. “Xero or QuickBooks for small business” immediately went to site:xero.com/uk. “Should I use HubSpot for a small agency”—to site:hubspot.com. If you leave candidates to its discretion, it turns to memory. This happened in ten out of eleven cases when I asked for a recommendation without naming names.

    The third line is my favorite: I deliberately avoided the words “robot vacuum” and didn’t name anyone, and it went to the site of a specific Roborock model in the first search. Line 2 should worry you if you sell software: a complaint about meeting notes turned into “Granola official pricing” before the page even loaded.

    ChatGPT сам выбирает бренды до поиска: как попасть в список — illustration 2

    There’s a version aimed at your competitors. All three of my queries about replacements led to new names: “Zendesk alternatives”—Help Scout; “what can I use instead of QuickBooks”—Zoho Books; “something like Duolingo but better for grammar”—Kwiziq and Babbel. When your customer is looking for a way out from your competitor, ChatGPT suggests those it already knows. That could be you, and on that day, you can’t influence it.

    If ChatGPT searches for a product and you haven’t named any, it brings its own. Do this: run your category question five times and write down the names that appear in the query each time. The names that appear in every run are your real competitive set in ChatGPT’s mind. What appears and disappears is contested territory where you can shift things. If your brand doesn’t appear once in five runs, you have your answer, and it’s not technical.

    Citation: a 3.1% chance

    I divided all brands into two groups: those that appeared in the query ChatGPT wrote and those that were only loaded during search but not named. Then I checked how often each group made it into the final answer. The difference is about 33 times. I also found 86 cases where a brand was recommended but its site wasn’t loaded at all in that conversation. A mention doesn’t require a crawl.

    This is uncomfortable for my own industry. Much of what is currently sold as GEO is extraction work, i.e., the 2.1% column. The 68.9% column is decided before all of this even runs. Split your budget according to the two columns.

    If you’re not in the query, money should go toward getting written about, reviewed, compared, and included in lists: digital PR, category content, placements on review sites, analyst coverage, participation in roundups your buyers read. If you’re already in the query, those expenses are mostly done, and the technical work below remains.

    If it all stopped there, the advice would be “build brand equity,” and we could all go home. But after the query, a second filter kicks in, and it’s ruthless. I created a labeled dataset of 57 dialogues: each loaded page as a row, with a label indicating whether it received a citation. 3,554 pages, 110 received citations—3.1%. ChatGPT reads about 600 pages to write a single answer and cites about 30. Almost everything gets read. The gap between reading and citing is where the work lies.

    Three factors influencing citations

    Position. ChatGPT groups results by domain, and your position within that group predicts almost everything. Below the top 2, citations are a rounding error. Being in the set isn’t a win if you’re ninth.

    Cannibalization. Adding pages hurts. When multiple pages from the same domain appear in one group, per-page conversion drops sharply. Two closely related pages is optimal. More than six—you’re mostly competing with yourself. For a year, I’ve been telling clients to consolidate based on intuition. This is the first time I’ve seen it in data.

    Relevance. Relevance qualifies but doesn’t select. I rated the cited page against all other pages retrieved for the same claim, based on how well its text matched the supported sentence. The cited page landed in the top 5% of the pool. But it was the single best match only 20% of the time, and its average overlap was significantly below the best available.

    So, claim relevance shapes the shortlist, and something else picks the winner. Get into the top 10% for a specific claim—and you’re in the conversation. That part you control through text. The final selection involves things I can’t see.

    Here’s what to do: take the questions your buyers ask and find all your pages answering the same question. Choose the page that best matches the intent, make it the answer, and consolidate or redirect the others to it. Ensure the sentence that actually answers the question is at the top of the page as plain HTML text with numbers.

    Finding these overlaps manually on a real site is the most painful part. Cannibalization is usually assessed by keyword overlap, but that’s the wrong unit because ChatGPT groups by claims, not keywords. That’s exactly what Keyword Insights is built for: it clusters keywords by search intent, not string matching, so pages competing for one intent are visible as a group, even if they share no keywords. This grouping precisely matches what I see when ChatGPT compresses a domain to a single cited page. Full disclosure: it’s my company, so I know it handles this task.

    The results divide AI visibility into two games that are often confused. If ChatGPT doesn’t associate your brand with your category, it won’t mention you in a query, and you have a 2% chance of being cited. A schema won’t fix this, nor will page speed. The llms.txt file has even less chance because your server isn’t contacted before the decision is made.

    What seems to build the association is slow, unglamorous work: being written about, reviewed, compared, and debated across the open web for years until the association appears in training data. This is digital PR and category-defining content, which is inconvenient for those selling technical audits as an AI strategy.

    The technical part is 3.1%, and it’s real: one precisely targeted page per intent, a proposition with a key claim at the top, facts and figures in plain HTML text, no cluster of near-duplicate pages competing with each other. Here’s the full sequence you can execute this week:

    1. Check if ChatGPT knows your brand: ask a category question five times and see if your brand appears in the search results.
    2. Check which pages are cited: use FanoutFox to track citations and view queries.
    3. Eliminate cannibalization: find pages answering the same question and merge them.
    4. Optimize content: ensure the key claim and figures are at the top of the page.

    In my data, one brand was loaded 66 times and never cited. That’s not an awareness problem. The engine kept returning and decided there was nothing to cite. Step 4 exists to catch this.

    Steps 1 and 4 are what I built FanoutFox for, because doing them manually for every response quickly becomes tedious. It’s a free Chrome extension; everything stays in your browser, and it reads your own

  • Full Cycle of Short Video Production: How to Order Everything in One Place and Replace Your SMM Team

    Full Cycle of Short Video Production: How to Order Everything in One Place and Replace Your SMM Team

    Have you ever wondered why your short videos don’t bring results, even if you ordered them from professionals? Perhaps the problem isn’t the quality of the videos, but that your target audience simply doesn’t see them. In the era of artificial intelligence and algorithms that decide what to show users, it’s important not only to create content but also to ensure its visibility. This is where comprehensive promotion through short videos comes to the rescue, which includes not only production but also clipping, posting, and analysis. In this article, we’ll break down how to order everything in one place, save your budget and nerves, and why replacing your SMM team with a service could become your competitive advantage.

    Why Short Videos Require a Comprehensive Approach

    Short videos have become the main tool for capturing attention on social media. But simply shooting a video isn’t enough. You need to think through a strategy: how often to post, at what time, which formats to use, and how to adapt content for different platforms. That’s why outsourcing content for social media is becoming increasingly popular. You delegate not only shooting but also all the routine: editing, clipping, music selection, subtitles, publishing, and analytics.

    What’s Included in the Full Production Cycle

    How to Order Everything in One Place: Saving Budget and Nerves

    Many entrepreneurs make the same mistake: they hire a separate operator, editor, targeting specialist, and SMM expert. The result is a headache from coordination, missed deadlines, and unexpected expenses. Ordering everything in one place means handing your project to a unified team that handles all stages. This not only saves your budget but also frees you from the need to control each contractor.

    Replacing a Team with a Service: When It’s Beneficial

    Replacing an SMM team with a service is justified when you need a steady stream of content without hiring in-house staff. Services offer a fixed price for service packages, allowing you to plan expenses. Additionally, you get access to analytics tools that show the effectiveness of each video.

    AI or Real Clipping: What’s Cheaper and More Effective

    With the development of technology, many wonder: what’s cheaper—AI or real clipping? Artificial intelligence can quickly cut videos, but it doesn’t understand context and emotions. A real editor sees details that AI misses. Therefore, the best option is to combine: use AI for rough cuts and a human for final processing.

    Comparison of Repurposing and Shooting from Scratch

    Repurposing is the processing of existing content (e.g., a webinar) into short videos. This is significantly cheaper than shooting from scratch but requires high-quality source material. If you have recordings of streams, webinars, or interviews—repurposing will be an excellent solution. If not, you’ll need to invest in shooting.

    How to Choose a Contractor for Video Clipping

    Choosing a contractor is a responsible step. Pay attention to their portfolio, reviews, timelines, and cost. Ask how they work with algorithms and promotion. A good contractor doesn’t just do clipping but also considers trends and the specifics of each platform.

    What to Pay Attention to When Ordering AI Advertising

    If you decide to use AI for creating ads, make sure the service provides a full cycle: from idea generation to publication. It’s important that the AI is tuned to your niche and target audience. Request examples of their work and clarify what metrics you’ll receive in reports.

    Full Cycle of Short Video Production: How to Order Everything in One Place and Replace Your SMM Team

    Quality Criteria for Mass Posting

    Mass posting is publishing content on multiple platforms simultaneously. A quality service should ensure stability, consider time zones, and provide reports. Make sure it supports all the social networks you need and allows you to schedule posts.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What’s Cheaper: AI or Real Clipping?

    AI is faster and cheaper at the rough-cut stage, but for a quality result, you need a human. The optimal approach is a combination of AI and manual refinement.

    How to Order Everything in One Place?

    Find a service that offers a full cycle: from strategy to analytics. Usually, these are agencies or studios specializing in short videos.

    Should You Use Repurposing or Create New Content?

    If you have high-quality source material—use repurposing. If not, it’s better to order new shooting so the content is unique and aligns with your goals.

    How to Choose a Contractor for Video Clipping?

    Look at portfolios, read reviews, and clarify how they work with promotion. Request a test assignment.

    Conclusion

    A comprehensive approach to short video production is not just a trend but a necessity in modern marketing. Ordering everything in one place means saving time, money, and nerves while getting a quality result. Remember that visibility in search and social media depends not only on content but also on technical setup. Use the checklists and tips from this article to choose a reliable contractor and achieve success. If you’d like to discuss your project, contact us—we’ll help you create an effective promotion strategy.

  • AI Overviews embed Top Stories: what this means for publishers and brands

    AI Overviews embed Top Stories: what this means for publishers and brands

    AI Overviews embed Top Stories: what this means for publishers and brands

    Google has started embedding Top Stories blocks directly into AI Overviews on 15.5% of trending news queries in the US. This integration is a game-changer for publishers and brands that rely on organic search traffic. At the same time, blocking Google-Extended does not remove publishers from these blocks. John Shehata, CEO of NewzDash, discovered this in July, and many publishers threatening to block Google’s AI do not realize this is already happening.

    Shehata published data on LinkedIn showing that nearly one in six trending news queries in the US now displays Top Stories inside AI Overviews. The full data analysis is available on the NewzDash SEO for News blog. This trend is not new in essence, but it is new in mechanism: in 2006, John and I discussed on the panel “Vertical Creep Into Regular Search Results” at the Search Engine Strategies conference in New York how Google quietly integrated Google News into main search results. Danny Sullivan called this launch in May 2007 the most radical change in Google’s history, combining video, images, books, and news into a single ranked list.

    Nineteen years later, Google is repeating this, but now instead of a mixed results page — an AI-generated answer. According to NewzDash, among trending news queries where Top Stories are displayed at all, 15.5% in the US and 17.46% in the UK show the carousel inside the AI Overview, rather than as a separate module below. Entertainment queries lead: over 35% in the US and 31.5% in the UK. World news reaches nearly 32% in the US. Health and science queries are almost unaffected.

    Shehata’s data also shows that the two placements are mutually exclusive: if Top Stories are inside the AI Overview, a separate carousel below for the same query is not shown. This distinction matters because it changes the entire conversation about opting out that publishers have been having since the launch of AI Overviews. Most publishers wishing to opt out specify Google-Extended in robots.txt and consider the matter resolved. But that is not the case. Google’s own documentation states that Google-Extended controls the use of AI for training and grounding, for example, for future Gemini models, and explicitly does not affect a site’s inclusion in Google Search or is not a ranking signal. Blocking does not remove a publisher from AI Overviews, AI Mode, standard Top Stories, or Top Stories embedded in AI Overview.

    What NewzDash shows

    Shehata is right to keep insisting on this, because the confusion is not a marginal misunderstanding but a standard assumption across the industry. Google began testing generative AI exclusion in Search Console in June, currently limited to a subset of site owners in the UK. This allows an eligible publisher to exclude their links and content from AI Overviews, AI Mode, and generative Discover features without affecting their eligibility for traditional search. Google’s documentation says that excluded content will not appear in these features and will not even be used as input for generating a response.

    Choosing this parameter, according to Shehata, will almost certainly cost you your spot in the embedded Top Stories carousel, since it is simply a collection of publisher links within one of the covered surfaces. Google has not confirmed what will happen at the layout level: whether AI Overview will continue to show the embedded carousel from the remaining publishers, or whether Google will revert to a separate Top Stories module. No one outside Mountain View knows, and Shehata cautiously calls this a high-confidence interpretation rather than a documented outcome.

    AI Overviews embed Top Stories: what this means for publishers and brands

    Google-Extended is not an AI Overviews opt-out

    This restraint is rare in AI SEO commentary, and that is why I trust his data more than loud claims. The bigger story here is not the mechanics of Google-Extended versus Search Console controls, although publishers really do need to understand that difference before touching settings. The main story is that the central problem with AI Overviews has always been trust, not visibility. Users have no reliable way to know whether an AI answer is based on real reporting from authoritative newsrooms or on something more subtle.

    Embedding Top Stories with named publishers, real authors, and direct links into the body of the AI Overview instead of placing them below a wall of generated text is a real, albeit incomplete, response to that problem. I have watched Google shuffle the placement of news in results since the days of “vertical penetration” in 2006. This is the first step in the AI Overviews era aimed at rebuilding trust, not just reducing clicks to the open web. However, it is a step in the right direction but not a finished solution, and Google’s refusal to document what happens to publishers who opt out is precisely the ambiguity that undermines the trust this move is supposed to build.

    Control that reaches AI Overviews is quite different

    For SEO professionals managing news clients or newsroom sites, three things are worth doing this week rather than waiting for Google to clarify the layout question. First, separate your controls before touching any of them. Check whether your site blocks Google-Extended, uses the new generative AI exclusion in Search Console, or neither, and document which surfaces each one actually controls. Treating them as interchangeable is a way to accidentally lose visibility in AI Overviews while thinking you only opted out of training data.

    Three actions for this week

    Second, if you have access to the exclusion in Search Console, test it on a URL prefix property or a separate section before applying it sitewide. Google’s control supports inheritance between parent and child properties, allowing a news publisher to try the exclusion, for example, on a separate vertical and see what happens to Top Stories eligibility in that section before deciding whether the trade-off is worth it for the entire domain.

    Third, start exporting generative AI performance reports from Search Console now and combine them with a tool like NewzDash, which tracks how often your URLs appear in Top Stories carousels compared to inline placements in AI Overviews. You cannot make an informed decision about opting out without a baseline of how much visibility is at stake, and that baseline must exist before you flip the setting, not after.

    Twenty years ago, “vertical penetration” meant publishers needed to figure out how a blended results page would treat their headlines. Today, it means figuring out how a generated answer treats them. The mechanism has changed, but the need for publishers to understand what they are getting into and what they are giving up has not. John Shehata is doing the unglamorous work of documenting this shift in real time, and until Google says otherwise, his data is the closest thing to ground truth the industry has.

    AI Overviews embed Top Stories: what this means for publishers and brands

    Frequently Asked Questions

    How does Google-Extended affect Top Stories in AI Overviews?

    Blocking Google-Extended does not remove your site from AI Overviews, including inline Top Stories. This setting only controls the use of content for AI training and grounding, not search visibility.

    What is the generative AI exclusion in Search Console?

    This is a new control that allows publishers to exclude their links from AI Overviews, AI Mode, and generative Discover features without affecting traditional search. It has been tested since June and is available to a limited number of site owners in the UK.

    Can I test the exclusion before applying it to the entire site?

    Yes, the control supports inheritance between properties, so you can apply it to a specific section and observe the impact on Top Stories visibility before deciding whether to apply it to the entire domain.

    What should I do if I don’t want to opt out of AI Overviews?

    You don’t need to do anything. If you don’t change the settings, your site will continue to appear in AI Overviews and Top Stories. But it’s important to understand what data you are sharing and how it affects traffic.

    For publishers and brands working with video production, this trend underscores the importance of adapting content to new formats. If you want to remain visible in AI Overviews, focus on creating high-quality, structured content that is easy for AI to interpret. And if you need help producing video that will work effectively in these formats, reach out to us—we offer a full-cycle video production service, from idea to publication, saving your budget and nerves.