Video is a great marketing tool. It’s a fresh way to reach new audiences—or even established ones—with your story or message.

But making a quality, attention-grabbing video can be costly and time-consuming—two things associations might be short on.

That’s why the National Confectioners Association decided to do something different at its 2016 Sweets & Snacks Expo.

“We asked attendees to use their smartphones [to shoot video] because the power of the camera in a smartphone is almost as good as an actual camera—most shoot in 4K or 1080p high definition,” said VJ Mayor, CAE, senior director of communications at NCA.

After taking the video of their experience, attendees were asked to upload it to either a software program or app. So, it was a relatively easy ask of attendees: Take some video and upload it, especially because some were already taking videos and uploading them to their personal Facebook or Instagram accounts. Next, NCA worked with a couple of companies (Seenit, and 5:00 films) to edit them and turn them into several videos, which the association used for marketing purposes in 2017.

Mayor said that what’s also great about crowdsourcing videos is that associations can do it on their own. Although NCA hired some companies to edit and produce their videos, there’s free software out there that allows association to complete these tasks internally.

When I asked Mayor how NCA got people to participate, he said that attendees enjoyed taking the video because they were excited about seeing their clip in NCA’s finished video products. It’s similar to seeing posts on social media, Mayor explained. “You want people to view where you were and what you were doing and be able to say, ‘They used my clip in their promo video; that’s pretty cool,’” he said.

If associations are worried their attendees won’t participate, Mayor suggested using some of the money they saved from not hiring a professional film crew on incentives or prizes for members who do submit videos.

Ultimately, the crowdsourced videos  (shown above) got NCA some great and relatively inexpensive marketing material, better engagement with their tradeshow attendees, and a unique vantage point into their event. “We’re getting to experience the event through the actual lens of an attendee, so it gives us a different perspective,” Mayor said.

How have you successfully used crowdsourced video? Please leave your comments below.

(rzoze19/iStock/Getty Images Plus)