What's the Buzz on Buzzfeed?

WHATS THE BUZZ ON BUZZFEED?

An Inside Look at Buzzfeed's Branded Content

2

BUZZFEED CONTENT TYPES THAT HAVE STOOD OUT.

INSIDE A review of Buzzfeed's content strategy including their choice of message, audience, values, tone, and more.

WHO AND WHAT IS BUZZFEED? If you haven’t heard of Buzzfeed, you’ve probably have been living somewhere without internet for some time. For those who are quite unfamiliar with the company, Buzzfeed is an American Internet and media company that focuses on news, entertainment, and digital media. Founded in 2006 and based out of New York, BuzzFeed was created in order to track viral content. Jonathan Perelman, VP of Motion Pictures at BuzzFeed, works a lot with other companies and branded content. While explaining how BuzzFeed work, Perelman says that they start with the brand at the center and then they focus everything else around them.

Everything they produce, however, is completely original- everything from their writers, producers, directors, and ideas all based on the brief. He mentions that branded content should be beneficial to both sides.

With this in mind the company has to focus on their own audience but also know what the brand wants to achieve. .

With so many branded content and advertising out in the media, companies now have to be strategic in order to stand out. BuzzFeed has completely changed the concept of branded content and sponsorships. They have come up with a way in which instead of “interrupting” the audience they have them fully engaged with their created content in a format they enjoy and many times done in a way that is inconspicuous. On BuzzFeed’s main advertisement homepage, they mention that they “help brands connect with their digital audiences by making & publishing content they will watch and act on.”

While the message of each branded content differs, either because of the brand itself of the choice of social platform, the tone of voice always follows BuzzFeed’s usual light and playful tone. Because BuzzFeed has a good grasp on its audience and because if its expansive reach, it is an exceptional choice to partner up with in terms of branded content. Specifically to branded content, BuzzFeed creates about 600 pieces across all The website also platforms per day. Not mentions that they to mention, with a create customized global audience of over branded content for 650 million, 9 billion + brands based on what content views, and a social platform they use reach of about 3 out of and both adapt and extend the brand’s assets every 5 millennials, it’s to improve engagement almost hard not to see some sort of BuzzFeed and attract the right online daily. audience.

BUZZFEED REACHES 3 OUT OF 5 MILLENIALS

EXAMPLE #1 GAME OF THRONES

BuzzFeed has branded content on their quizzes, videos and even articles. Just BuzzFeed quizzes alone have a traction and reach of over 169 million people according to Quantcast and over 200 million monthly visits. BuzzFeed creates about 7.8 quizzes per day, more and more having connections to other brands. A study done in 2015, cited Buzzfeed as the third most shared platform on Facebook. Even notable talk show host Ellen Degeneres went to say that BuzzFeed quizzes is “a serious addiction that’s sweeping the nation”. Summer Anne Burton and Ryan Hynes, creative brand strategists at BuzzFeed says that they target specific readers and they try to have a personable tone of voice for all their content. One of their most popular sponsored BuzzFeed quizzes was an HBO-sponsored one called “How Would You Die In ‘Game Of Thrones?’” which received more than 1 million views and more than 75,000 Facebook shares. This content became so popular that BuzzFeed decided to increase its content for this HBO hit show, creating charts, articles and more quizzes for Game of Thrones.

Branded content such as these are are not only an advantage to bring more traction to BuzzFeed but a great way for advertisers to get trends and habits of people who engage with that content. According to Buzzfeed, 96% of participants finish BuzzFeed sponsored quizzes.

EXAMPLE #2 HIDDEN VALLEY RANCH

Another one of BuzzFeed’s successful branded content pieces was an article created by the salad dressing company Hidden Valley Ranch for BuzzFeed. BuzzFeed created an article titled “8 Exotic Foods We'd Try If We Had Some Hidden Valley Ranch”. In the article, BuzzFeed encourages the readers to try different cuisines and jokes about how one would only try the food if they had Hidden Valley Ranch to accompany the food with.

They also include a link for a chance to win some coupons and a “Team Ranch” t-shirt. This sponsored content resulted in a 400% social uplift. The popularity of this article led to other articles on Hidden Valley Ranch and even an article posing a debate between Ranch vs. Ketchup. With BuzzFeed’s creative content and integration methods, Hidden Valley was able to experience a brand lift of an incredible 99.8%.

BUZZFEED QUIZZES HAVE A

95%

TAKING OVER THE WORLD

COMPLETION RATES

VIEWS ACROSS ALL CONTENTS

7B

BuzzFeed is a powerhouse of a media company that has a huge influence on the generation of today. BuzzFeed content always makes sure its unique, compelling, and in some way brings value to their readers. By following this strategy BuzzFeed has been able to maintain it’s 95% completion rate of quizzes and 7 billion views across all its content.

BuzzFeed has also been increasing its branded content via video.

According to them, three of the companies 15 videos on YouTube are branded content. What makes BuzzFeed so attractive is their tone of voice and easy readability, which has been tested at a 4th-grade reading level.

They also have an attractive communication strategy in which they get straight to the point and an average word count of 155 words. Most importantly, BuzzFeed’s branded content is not obvious- even on their website it is hard to distinguish between real ads and their branded content. The company’s goal is to offer as an authentic experience as possible while also profiting from partnerships. BuzzFeed’s advertisement strategic plan for their website manages to pull of merging branded content and editorial content without losing consumer engagement.

Overall, BuzzFeed is killing it at the branded content game and they seem to be doing it effortlessly.

References Kimberley, Sara. “Buzzfeed Set to Use Branded Content on TV for First Time.” Campaign: Marketing, Advertising and Media News & Analysis, 18 Oct. 2016, www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/buzzfeedset-use-branded-content-tv-first-time/1412500.

Ragell, Shawn. “The Strategy Behind BuzzFeed's Insanely Successful Branded Videos.”Pressboard, 2 Mar. 2018, www.pressboardmedia.com/the-strategy-behind-buzzfeeds-insanely-successfulbranded-videos/.

“How Brands Can Use Buzzfeed | Magnafi Digital Agency.” Magnafi, 25 Jan. 2017, magnafi.com/blog/masters-content-marketing-buzzfeed-powerful-brands/.

Hoven, Matt Van. “96 Percent of Users Who Start BuzzFeed Sponsor Quizzes Finish Them.”Digiday, 14 Apr. 2014, digiday.com/media/buzzfeed-quizes/.