Sixteen.

That’s the number of times your team has shared the same year-old brand video in the past two months. Between your social publishing platform and emails to your audience, your video marketing has been getting progressively staler over the past year, and you’re concerned it’s becoming a bit too obvious.

But your team’s hands are tied. You don’t have the equipment to produce high-quality photo or video, and you don’t have the budget to outsource that kind of production to an external team. This leaves your team making use of what they have, using the occasional cell phone photo or in-house graphic. You bide your time until the end of the quarter in hopes of juggling the budget to make a new round of video content—only to release it into a marketplace totally oversaturated with video content.

It’s not difficult to see why some content teams find themselves in a video marketing rut. Whether it’s out of habit or a lack of resources, brands sometimes find themselves falling behind the competition, but can’t seem to find a way to break out of the pattern without investing large portions of their budget or time. The good news is that with the increasing popularity of visual content, there are more ways than ever for marketers to take advantage of fresh new tactics and quality equipment, without disrupting spending and workflows.

Fresh Approaches

When it comes to cleaning up a brand’s video presence, it’s easy to get caught up in thinking about the video itself. How should it look? How long should it be? How intense of a production are we signing up for here? But if you’re just planning on producing content and posting it to your YouTube channel, then your team is likely missing out on a number of opportunities in terms of your video format.

One of the more popular contenders in this space right now is live video, and it’s not difficult to see why. Live video offers marketers an easy way to make timely, relevant content without the expectation of studio level production values (though if you’re lucky enough to have a team equipped to pull this off, it can help you stand out from the competition). What’s more, the relatively new nature of live video means that users find it interesting, and the platforms investing in it tend to give live content a free boost.

Using live video can be an easy way to get your team’s feet wet with impromptu video production, while more formal projects can provide a lot of value later. For instance, your team could produce an informative live webcast that addresses some of your audience’s consistent problems, and then turn the recording of that webcast into gated content down the road. Just like that, you have two lead-generating video projects for the price of one livestream.

For teams that aren’t ready to dive right into new production, however, there might be fresh opportunities in creating micro content. Over the past few years, the popularity of GIFs has skyrocketed across the web, making them a powerful marketing tool. Consider combing through some of your older video content and creating informative clips that highlight specific tips or insights, which can then be used to drive interest across your social media publishing platforms. Using GIFs isn’t difficult and can double your team’s visual content inventory—so long as you know how to implement them in a way that fits for your brand.

Image attribution: NeoNBRAND

New Toys

Even with some new formats under your team’s belt, every marketer would love to have a budgeted way to improve their visual quality. As long as you know where to look, you don’t have to spend a fortune to make dramatic improvements to your video production.

The Camera in Your Pocket

Often the best place to start improving your team’s visual quality is your cellphones. From social updates to live video, phones tend to be the most convenient equipment at your team’s disposal, but often produce the lowest quality of work. Small investments in cell phone tripods, unlocked photo and video apps, or, for the most ambitious teams, cell phone lens kits, can help you make huge strides towards improving video quality.

Cinema Equipment, But Smaller

One of the most common techniques for making studio grade video so excellent is advanced stabilization. Gimballed devices help filmmakers keep their video looking smooth even while running, jumping, or simply panning across a nice vista. For a small bump in price, it’s now possible for your team to take advantage of this same tech for your video content. Whether you just want a system that will stabilize your cell phone video or an entry-level camera with built in stabilization, your team can now have all the tools necessary to produce cinema-style content—for the price of a video freelancer’s daily rate.

Widen Your Scope

Not many brands have taken advantage of 360-degree content, though it’s been available for several years. But producing 360-degree video and photography isn’t as daunting or expensive as you might think. Consumer grade 360-degree cameras can provide your brand with a relatively cheap way to see if this format might work for you. For a slightly higher price point, your brand could be one of the first to produce 360-degree video by using a multi-GoPro rig— a system not necessarily for the faint of heart, but also not impossible for mid-size content teams.

Image attribution: Jakob Owens

It’s not hard to see why so many mid-size marketing teams end up with stale video marketing. The marketplace moves fast, audiences have short attention spans, and finding the time or budget to produce even one video can seem like an overwhelming task alongside your already breakneck publishing schedule. By thinking carefully about what might interest your audience, taking advantage of opportunities afforded by new video formats, and by making a handful of relatively cheap purchases to equip your team, it’s possible for savvy marketers to turn their otherwise stale video marketing scheme into a well-oiled machine producing cinema-quality content.

Featured image attribution: pixabay

Jurors at Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial have heard excerpts from the comedian’s lurid, decade-old deposition, but explosive sections about him obtaining quaaludes and giving them to women before sex are yet to come.

Prosecutors on Friday are expected to continue focusing on Cosby’s testimony, giving jurors a look at his view of women, sex and the night in January 2004 that Andrea Constand says he drugged and violated her at his suburban Philadelphia home.

The 79-year-old Cosby has said he will not testify, giving his deposition from Constand’s civil lawsuit and a prior police interview added weight as jurors consider charges that could put him in prison for the rest of his life.

A detective on Thursday read portions of the deposition covering what Cosby described as several sexual encounters with Constand, including one before the alleged assault where he said he found himself « somewhere between permission and rejection. »

Friday’s excerpts are expected to include an exchange where Cosby, once known as America’s Dad, acknowledges using quaaludes in his pursuit of women for sex.

« When you got the quaaludes, was it in your mind that you were going to use these quaaludes for young women that you wanted to have sex with? » Cosby was asked.

« Yes, » he replied.

Cosby testified in 2005 and 2006 as part of a lawsuit brought against him by Constand, the former director of women’s basketball operations at his alma mater, Temple University.

Constand testified this week she rejected Cosby’s advances and would have fought him off again had the pills not left her paralyzed and semi-conscious.

He has said the sexual encounter was consensual.

Cosby eventually settled with Constand for an undisclosed sum, and his deposition was sealed for years, until a judge released parts of it in 2015 at the request of The Associated Press.

A detective said Thursday the investigation was reopened just seven days after the deposition excerpts were unsealed.

Constand, 44, testified that Cosby penetrated her with his fingers against her will after giving her pills that left her so limp that she was unable to push him away or tell him to stop.

In the deposition, Cosby said he gave Constand three half-tablets of the cold and allergy medicine Benadryl before the « petting » began.

Prosecutors have suggested he drugged her with something stronger, perhaps the quaaludes he admitted obtaining decades ago.

Also Thursday, a detective testified that Bruce Castor, the district attorney who decided more than a decade ago not to bring charges against Cosby, shut the investigation down in 2005 while police were still working the case.

Cheltenham police Sgt. Richard Schaffer’s testimony could blunt efforts by Cosby’s lawyers to exploit the fact that Castor saw no case. Castor, who has long been out of office, is on the list of potential witnesses at the trial.

Castor ended the investigation after four weeks.

He testified last year that he had talked with Cosby’s lawyer before making his decision and that it was intended to let Cosby speak freely at a potential civil deposition — the same deposition that prosecutors are now relying on at his trial.

Some 60 women have come forward to say Cosby sexually violated them, but the statute of limitations for prosecution had run out in nearly every case. Constand’s case is the only one in which Cosby has been charged.

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.

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For more on Cosby, including trial updates, historical photos, videos and an audio series exploring the case, visit: http://www.apnews.com/tag/CosbyonTrial

The general election has ended in a hung Parliament, meaning no party can reach an overall majority. So what happens now?

Will the party with the most MPs form the next government?

Not necessarily. The party with the most MPs, when the votes have been counted in all 650 constituencies, is normally described as the winner and its leader nearly always goes on to become the next prime minister.

But that might not happen this time with an inconclusive result. It is possible for the party that came second to form a government with the help of other parties.

How does someone win the election?

The easiest way to become prime minister is to win what is called a majority in the House of Commons – a majority is where your party has more MPs than all the other parties put together.

The finishing line is 326. That would be enough for a government to vote through new laws without being defeated by their opponents. If they don’t reach that number we have got what is called a hung Parliament.

What is a hung Parliament?

When no single party can get enough MPs to form a majority on its own the Parliament is said to be « hung ». This happened at the 2010 general election.

What happens now?

In a hung parliament, the Conservative government will remain in office – and Theresa May can live in Downing Street – until it is decided who will attempt to form a new government or unless she decides to resign.

There will be another frenzied round of talks between the party leaders and their negotiating teams, as they try to put together another coalition government or a looser deal to put either Mrs May or Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (the only two people with a realistic chance) into power as prime minister.

Or one of the two party leaders could opt to go it alone and try to run a minority government, relying on the support of smaller parties when needed to get their laws passed.

Who gets the first go at putting together a deal?

Theresa May can stay on as prime minister while she tries to put a majority together.

If it becomes clear that she can’t and Jeremy Corbyn can then she will be expected to resign. Mr Corbyn would then become the prime minister.

But the Labour leader does not have to wait until Mrs May has exhausted all her options before he starts trying to put a deal of his own together. He can hold talks with potential partners at the same time as Mrs May. They may even be talking to the same people.

How long will it take?

There is no official time limit. It took five days to put the coalition together in 2010 but it is generally expected to take longer than that.

Negotiations can’t go on indefinitely, surely?

At the moment the first deadline is Tuesday 13 June, when the new Parliament meets for the first time. Mrs May has until this date to put together a deal to keep herself in power or resign, according to official guidance issued by the Cabinet Office.

But Mrs May must be clear that Jeremy Corbyn can form a government and that she can’t. She is entitled to wait until the new Parliament to see if she has the confidence of the House of Commons.

What if it is still not clear a new government can be formed?

The government needs to see if it can assemble the votes it needs to get its programme of proposed new laws passed in the Queen’s Speech, which is scheduled for Monday 19 June.

Theresa May may opt to remain in power and gamble on getting enough votes from other parties to get her programme passed. If she has already resigned and handed over to Mr Corbyn, this will be the key test of whether the Labour leader can form a government.

What will happen to the Brexit talks?

They could be delayed if there is a hung Parliament or Jeremy Corbyn becomes PM. The talks are currently due to begin on 19 June but if it takes a while to form a government it could ask the EU for a delay.

What role does the Queen play?

The leader of the party that can tell the Queen they have a workable Commons majority is the one Her Majesty will authorise to form a government.

By convention, the Queen does not get involved in party politics, so there are no circumstances in which she would choose the prime minister.

There have been suggestions that she may not deliver the Queen’s Speech in person if there’s a question mark over whether it will get voted through.

• Election results live updates
• Election night at-a-glance
• Tories set to be largest party – exit poll
• Full UK results breakdown

What is a coalition?

A coalition is when two or more parties join forces to govern as a single unit. The junior partners are given ministerial jobs and a joint programme for government is set out.

Will there be another coalition this time?

It seems less likely than in 2010. It depends on four factors:

• Whether the potential coalition partners have enough MPs between them to command a workable majority.
• Whether the biggest party wants to do it or would prefer to try governing alone as a minority government.
• Whether the potential partners can convince their respective parties that it is a good idea.
• Whether they can find enough common ground on policy – the junior partners will inevitably have to ditch some of their policies but they will insist on keeping others.

Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party has suggested it could back the Tories and would be vital in helping form a government in a hung parliament.

Jeremy Corbyn could lead a coalition with the SNP and the Lib Dems – although this is something he has so far said he would not do.

But his shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said the party would attempt to force through a Queen’s Speech and ask the SNP, Lib Dems and Greens to back it.

The Lib Dems have said that there will be « no coalition » and « no deals » from them while SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said she « would look to be part of a progressive alliance that pursued progressive policies ».

But she also criticised Mr Corbyn, saying he was not « credible as an alternative prime minister ».

The Green Party, which currently has one MP, said it would never back a Tory government but could support Labour on a vote-by-vote basis.

What is a minority government?

If the Conservatives or Labour are unable to put together a coalition or decide to go it alone, they can form a minority government, filling all the ministerial positions themselves.

This party would be unable to pass laws and legislation without the votes of other parties that are not part of the government.

For example, Labour could be a minority government with Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister – but would likely require the votes of the Scottish National Party and Liberal Democrat MPs to get things done.

How many MPs would a minority government need for it to be a feasible option?

A party could fall well short of an outright majority and still run a minority government.

A new Conservative or Labour government would also face a fractured opposition. For it to be defeated, the Lib Dems, SNP, UKIP, Plaid Cymru, the Greens and the DUP would all have to gang up together to vote against it. This would not happen very much in practice. It is not enough for the losing parties to have more MPs than the « winner ». They have to be able to form a coherent alternative.

So the party that finishes second in the election could form a government?

Yes. Although there is a question mark over whether the public would accept it.

How stable would a minority government be?

Britain has had minority governments before, although they have rarely lasted long.

The SNP governed in Scotland as a minority government between 2007 and 2011. It means the government has to form alliances and deals with smaller parties to secure their support in Commons votes – but they can achieve some stability by entering into a « confidence and supply » agreement with another party.

Will there be another election?

Possibly. In the past, when minority governments have been formed at Westminster, the prime minister has held another election at the earliest opportunity to try and gain a working majority. Or the opposition has forced another election by tabling a « confidence » motion.

The Fixed-Term Parliament Act – passed by the Lib Dems and Conservatives to make their 2010 coalition less likely to collapse – means an election can only be held if:

• Two-thirds of MPs vote for it. In practice, it would need to be supported by both Labour and the Conservatives
• If MPs pass a motion of no confidence in the government AND an existing or new government cannot win a confidence vote in the Commons within 14 days of the no-confidence vote

After Parliament is dissolved there are 25 working days until an election is held.

Is there any way round this?

We are in uncharted waters here. Britain does not have a written constitution and experts are divided over what may happen if no one can form a government.

Here are some alternative scenarios:

• If a « no confidence » motion is passed in the Commons, the prime minister could hand the party leadership to a colleague, who could have another try at winning a confidence vote before the 14 day grace period is up
• The prime minister could resign, after being defeated on the Queen’s Speech for example, and hand power to the leader of the opposition, who would then attempt to govern. This raises the prospect of a change of governing party without an election – something that has never happened in Britain and would be likely to trigger a constitutional crisis

Dive Brief:

• Animoto today released its The State of Social Video 2017: Marketing in a Video-First World report with the key takeaway that marketers should focus on social media channels and mobile in their video marketing strategies, per a press release made available to Marketing Dive.
• Illustrating the importance of the social media and mobile combination, 84% of consumers reported watching social video content on mobile devices, and 81% of marketers reported optimizing social videos for mobile including using tactics like planning for views with the sound off.
• The report also found that social media video drives brand engagement and sales with 83% of marketers reporting they are confident Facebook video content will drive purchases and 64% of consumers reporting making a purchase after watching a marketing video on Facebook in the last month.

Dive Insight:

Video has become an integral part of content marketing and digital advertising. As a result, marketers have to learn to “speak video fluently” in order to connect with consumers on social media, said Brad Jefferson, CEO of Animoto, in the press release.

As consumption of branded video increases, marketers are ramping up production. Animoto found 47% of marketers are publishing four or more marketing videos in an average month, with 92% repurposing assets they already have.

Facebook and YouTube were the top two platforms cited by marketers in the Animoto report across a range of criteria including views, purchases, engagement, and both current and future investment for marketing video, echoing results from last year’s report.

On the consumer side, Facebook and YouTube also led the engagement category. However, when it came to actually watching videos daily, Facebook made a sweep of the entire report in the top spot. Instagram Stories took the second spot followed by Snapchat with YouTube in fourth place.

One interesting finding from the report was the popularity of live video. Even though live streaming video on social media is a relatively new feature, 47.8% of consumers reported preferring live video compared to 52.2% for pre-recorded video.