Captivating stories sometimes come out of the most surprising places. For Scott Emalfarb, that place was an armwrestling competition.
Emalfarb, who is president of Fresh Content Society, was providing social media support for the World Armwestling League (WAL) this past July when he captured a short cell phone video of a match he felt captured the essence of the event and upstart league. He quickly came up with a snappy caption and identified a photo that matched the intensity of the video. Then, he shared it on Facebook.
Before he knew it, the video was a viral sensation. Within five days, it was viewed more than 50 million times. To date, it has been viewed almost 96 million times, reached 192 million people and led to more than 465,000 interactions.
This type of virality was new for Emalfarb, but providing compelling storytelling through social media is what he’s done for years. He launched Fresh Content Society in 2013 to provide community management and social media strategy, and his clients range from nationally recognized brands like KFC and True Value to more niche clientele like Peak Auto and Manny’s Cafeteria & Delicatessen.
I caught up with Emalfarb recently to talk about his viral post, misconceptions about social media strategy and how storytelling plays a role in everything his company does.
What was the assignment you were working on when you shot that video?
When I was shooting this video, I was providing live event social media support. My goal for the event coverage is to bring the event to the fans across the world who can’t make it there. So I need to capture the essence and energy of the event so the fans can be part of it even though they aren’t physically there.
We do much more than just capturing moments at events, though. We also provide live streaming, community engagement, answering fan questions (including technical ones), and even customer service issues.
What do you think were the contributing factors to this becoming a viral post?
The contributing factors to this post going viral are:
- The World Armwrestling League (WAL) has a niche audience. Niche audiences have engaged communities.
- The timing of the post was most important. I got this post out minutes after the action happened.
- The optimization, such as making sure the caption was engaging, the thumbnail was engaging, and most importantly, the content delivered.
The video was short, to the point, and engaging enough to go viral. Once it caught wind, it hasn’t stopped. It’s been rolling in the social media vortex for months at this point.
What did you learn from the success of the post?
I learned that a post can go viral at any moment. The aftermath of the post is the most exciting. The WAL community fan base is growing daily at a larger rate than ever before and the reach has been worldwide. It’s also set a new benchmark of success for the WAL Facebook page. The expectation of delivering posts at this level is now top of mind. It will be hard to replicate, but I’m confident we will leverage this as far as possible
What role does storytelling play when it comes to crafting a post for social media?
Social media is all about sharing compelling stories in micro-moments. Every post tells a short story. The caption is the title of the story that is meant to draw viewers in, and the content, that is the heart of your story.
How have you seen the importance of storytelling within social media evolve — if at all — in the past few years?
Your timeline is clogged with posts. Over the past few years, algorithms have changed, specifically on Facebook. Facebook’s organic reach has been down, but Facebook is now rewarding posts that have longer-form videos. Facebook is also now allowing you to monetize as a creator for videos that are more than three minutes. So, storytelling has evolved tremendously over the years and the importance of compelling posts that are longer form will stand out more and earn better organic reach.
What led you to want to create Fresh Content Society (FCS)?
FCS launched out of necessity. In the agency world, it’s not uncommon for a client to leave and the agency needs to restructure. Six years ago, I started FCS to offer freelance services to anyone who needed social media help. Fast forward to today, and we now have three employees, an office, and manage over 40 channels for clients.
What does a “normal” workday look like for you?
I love that you say “normal’ in quotes. If someone shadowed me, they would be shocked by two things:
- How much they don’t truly understand social media
- How hard I work
I start my day by ensuring all the channels we manage have been tended to in terms of monitoring and responding. I then get into my text messages and then my emails. Then I get my daily coffee and get my kids ready for their day (admittedly, I sometimes am looking at my phone or on a call). Then I go into seeing what’s happening in the world that day and if any of my clients can create a post out of that event.
For example, this past July, Chicago was caught up in the “Chance the Snapper” saga as an alligator settled in a lagoon at Humboldt Park. It spent four days in the lagoon before being caught. Afterward, our team found a fun way to have our client Manny’s Cafeteria & Delicatessen join in the conversation.
Once I check what’s going on in the world, I then ensure all of my scheduled posts have been published and all my ad campaigns are running smoothly. I am looking at channel analytics and community managing all day long. I talk to my employees 100 times per day. I create reports or share community insights with clients and handle a lot of customer service issues for clients. I think the amount of communication between us is incredible. I’m also looking ahead to create content and posts for the next month for clients and seeing how I can add more value to my clients.
If I ever get a minute to breathe, I will try and do some business development or thought leadership. I could keep going, but honestly, it makes me a little sick thinking about how much I do in a day.
What is one of your favorite projects you’ve worked on for one of your clients?
I love being creative. I just worked on an internal recap video from one of our big influencer events with PEAK Auto. I think it turned out really well.
How does the way you approach a story differ by social channel?
I approach each channel differently. Twitter is different than Insta, different than Facebook, and different than YouTube. Content themes and length will be different on each channel and the style and format are different, too. For example, I want a vertical video on IG and a horizontal on Twitter to optimize space on each platform. All those little details matter. And then each channel has different energy so you need to cater to that. You can’t have a video longer than a minute on Instagram (unless it gets pushed to IGTV) and 2:40 on Twitter, so edits are different, too.
What do you think is the biggest misconception about social media strategy and community management?
The biggest misconception about social media, in general, is that everyone thinks they can do it. Anyone that has under five years of dedicated social media experience will be shocked by how much is involved.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
The thing I enjoy most about my job is seeing posts that we create generate tons of engagement and love for our clients.