How to Get Staff Picked on Vimeo

If you’re into video content, you’ve probably heard of Vimeo’s ‘staff picks’. Getting selected by Vimeo’s staff is an incredible promotion opportunity. Giving exposure that sometimes even reaches as far as Hollywood and can help put you up there among some of the largest brands.

But how, exactly, does one get ‘staff picked’? We’ve done some digging, evaluating videos that have made the cut. Through these efforts, we’ve uncovered five tactics that can help get your video content noticed by the right people.

Before we take off

Here’s what you’re missing out on if you don’t feature your videos online. Being ‘staff picked’ is about much more than a simple validation that your video content is good. It can instantly get your brand in front of a massive audience, increasing your reach and hopefully bringing in more valuable leads for your business.

If you compare the results of uploading your video to Vimeo and getting ‘staff picked’, as opposed to sending in your material to a festival, you end up with the following stats.

Create eye-catching thumbnails

Think of the thumbnail of your video as the wrapping on a gift: the shinier and more eye-catching it is, the more it makes you want to open it and see what’s inside. This is how you should approach making your video thumbnails, because it’s the first part of your video people will encounter.

You want it to catch their attention and entice them to watch. So, make it dynamic, interesting or bold. The right thumbnail can generate more engagement, which is one of the factors that gets videos ‘staff picked’. For some great examples, take a look here.

There’s actually a lot more to thumbnails than meets the eye. Netflix is a big fan of constant optimisation in every aspect of their service. As a part of their optimisation, they’ve tested various thumbnails on different audiences. The result: personalised thumbnails based on user behaviour. So take care to keep in mind who you’re designing your thumbnail for. If you’re interested you can read Netflix’s full statement on thumbnails here.

Include powerful descriptions.

We recently shared a post on how to craft the perfect elevator pitch. Did you know that some of this can also be applied to your Vimeo efforts as well? We’re talking about your video descriptions which are, in a sense, the pitch to get viewers excited about your video.

As such, you should aim to keep them short and sweet but intriguing enough to make people want to learn more. You can include ancillary information below, such as: cast and crew, links to your other content, or more detailed information about the video. Whatever you lead with though should be succinct and powerful.

Don’t be overly “preachy”

It’s OK to take a stand or convey your passion about your video’s subject matter, but keep in mind that if your content strongly preaches a particular message, it could knock it out of the running for a ‘staff pick’.

When producing content, you should be mindful of the target audience as a whole. If your stance could be considered exclusive, it could potentially alienate a portion of your audience, which means it probably won’t be picked.

Take steps to boost your views.

When producing content, you should be mindful of the target audience as a whole. If your stance could be considered exclusive, it could potentially alienate a portion of your audience, which means it probably won’t be picked.

The more views your videos have, the more likely you’ll be to get ‘staff picked’. It stands to reason then that focusing your efforts on generating more traction for your videos is a wise allocation of your time and resources.

To that end, be sure you’re doing enough to promote your Vimeo content on your other social networks. Include relevant links within your blog posts and redirect people to your videos in your email communications.

You may even want to reach out to other relevant blogs and sites to see if they’d be willing to embed your videos and share them with their audiences.

Start with a good concept

This one’s obvious, but extremely important. Your video won’t get the attention of the powers that be if it doesn’t stand out in the sea of other content. This starts with a solid concept that is unique and engaging. Preferably one that hasn’t been seen before, or one that adds unique elements that really sets your production apart.

An interesting character, a fascinating storyline, a captivating or intriguing theory… all of these things can help set your video content apart. So, before you invest any time or money into production and marketing, make sure you’ve got a solid concept upon which to build.

Here are some previous picks to get the creative juices flowing:

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