Steve Harvey's daytime talk show shifted the focus of digital and social media this season to creating the best and most engaging experience for viewers both online and on air. The goal for Instagram this season is engagement and audience growth, and our content seeks to complement the show experience and drive loyalty to the STEVE TV show brand.
The team's Instagram strategy includes posting unique, behind-the-scenes content that users can't get from the broadcast, combined with formats that Steve Harvey fans seem to love to share: his hilarious and exaggerated reactions.
Video is isolated from individual shots from the talk show and re-purposed to create hilarious and relatable original "video meme" reaction posts, with comedic copy that sparks a response.
Backstage moments with guests are captured in the form of Instagram Stories, offering audiences a peek at what's happening behind-the-scenes - including hilarious moments like Howie Mandel wandering around backstage and guests like Kevin Hart and Arsenio Hall sharing personal stories about their experiences with Steve. The team also seeks to capitalize upon "social moments" such as a gift-wrapping competition between Martha Stewart and Steve. The team leverages Stories features daily, like stickers, gifs, polls, questions and more to pull in the audience. For example, when our popular Straight Talk debate segment airs, we deploy video of our panelists asking audiences to weigh in. Combined with the poll and questions features, this gives them an opportunity to share their views on the topics - and they certainly do!
Show clips are specifically re-edited from the 16:9 aspect ratio to a 1:1 square format to best optimize mobile viewing on Instagram. Specific clips are selected to ensure the content is most engaging within the one minute limit. Clips are posted to reflect what audiences love about Steve: comedy pieces, heartfelt advice, and powerful human interest stories. Posting is strategically timed based on the windows of maximum engagement for our fans. For example, when our popular Straight Talk debate segment airs, we deploy video of our panelists, asking audiences to weigh in. Combined with the poll and questions features, this gives them an opportunity to share their views on the topics - and they certainly do!
Quote cards are also designed from many of Steve's impactful sayings. These inspiring and relatable "virtual gifts" from Uncle Steve can easily be shared or solicit quick response from the user.
Additionally, original user-created videos that match the themes of the show are carefully sourced by social producers and re-posted with permission. From cute kids to inspiring or funny moments, user-created content is always a strong hit with our Instagram followers.
Our approach to Instagram also goes beyond our owned accounts. Instagram-optimized clips are cut and distributed to all guests to post on their own social accounts, further exposing the brand to new audiences.
The new approach to Instagram was an immediate success. Engagement skyrocketed and followers were added exponentially in a very short period of time. From a start of 90k followers, the count was more than tripled to 310k, a net addition of 220k in just five months. When comparing year over year, we saw a 464% increase in video views - from 2.64 million to 12.26 million - a 310% increase in photo interactions - 60k to 246k - and a whopping 456% increase in video interactions - from 223k to 1.24 million! The Steve TV Show Instagram account has quickly become a strong complement to the show.
