Satellite Media Tours (SMT’s) have become fully modern. And though they’ve always been entirely valuable, gone are the days where an SMT represents one piece, intended for use across one channel.
At 4media group, we value the modern Satellite Media Tour – and we believe that it can, and should, be a cross-platform, omni-channel activation with intense value and great staying power.
Here are 4media group’s four ways you can turn your SMT fully modern:
1. Online Sponsored Content
The thing about an SMT nowadays is that it has a ton of options to live on well beyond the four or five hour stretch in which it’s performed. If you get a great hit, or a spokesperson presents your brand perfectly, then that’s yours – and you should use it.
One of the best ways to do that is by sponsoring or recommending content online. Using a native media tool, you can drive people from across the web to a landing page of your choice, hosting a blog, a quick video edit, and myriad additional opportunities to teach people about your brand.
2. Social Media Amplification
Again, when you pay for an SMT, you’re paying for a lot more. Amplifying social media posts before and after the tour is doable via a modest budget with a little creativity.
And as a bonus, social media amplification can have massive returns if your spokesperson is well known, like an athlete or even a social influencer inside a certain space – think gaming, travel or food. You can leverage their social media platforms to generate even more positive coverage and organic content.
3. Social Media Live-Streaming
Social media live-streaming is another powerful tool, which pairs especially well with the above recommended tactics. It allows an SMT to live indefinitely online, but it does one thing even more valuable: welcomes live interaction.
At an SMT for a national tax brand, 4media group hosted a live-stream at the end of the tour. It’s convenient because you already have cameras, brand managers, and everyone needed on site. Then, using a moderator and Facebook Live, our clients did a live stream, answering difficult tax questions as they came in. The result was great interaction, increased brand loyalty, and an opportunity to prove a brand’s value in ‘the real world.’
4. LiveU and the Ease of Going Remote
With an increase in technologies like LiveU, which allow for live broadcasting with a setup resembling a backpack, it’s now easier than ever to up-link live news hits into stations across the country from, well, pretty much wherever.
For clients wanting to try something new or novel, going with a remote SMT from an unexpected venue can have a huge return, increasing bookings and viewings, ultimately helping break into bigger and better markets or meet target audiences with a little more ease.
To wrap this up plainly, SMT’s have come quite a long way. Clients and brands with an interest in extending something they’ve already paid for have easy options to create additional content that keeps racking up the views well beyond the initial activation. For those who want to take advantage of it, the next step is an easy one: give us a call.