Better #42

Kia ora,

Two quick things to kick off with…

1. The future of comms in an AI world
I recently ran a LinkedIn poll (120 responses) asking how people feel about the future of comms, marketing, and social as AI reshapes our work.

The results? Surprisingly upbeat:

• 15% were excited by the opportunities

• 50% were cautiously optimistic

• 15% were worried

• The rest were unsure what it all means (and I don’t blame them 😅)

Encouraging, right? But it also raises a big question for me: even if we’re optimistic about the work, will there still be the same need for as many of us to do it? I hope so - but time will tell.

2. Social Media for the Public Sector is back
I last ran the course in June, and taking a term off was great, but I’ve genuinely missed the weekly sessions and the people. Over five weeks, the group gets to know each other, wrestle with tricky comms challenges, and leave sharper (and more confident) than when we started.

If you want to carve out time for dedicated learning, thinking, and discussion - with a bit of fun along the way - check out the course. Due to demand, I’ll likely run an extra class at 11am each Friday.

Oh, and the Net Promoter Score is 88 💪

Details are here: www.seamus.nz/course

Cheers,
Seamus Boyer 👋

Today I’m chatting with Bradley Saunders-Garner, Digital Channels Advisor at New Zealand Defence Force.

I’ve written about Defence Force socials before (you can find Better #5 here), but this interview is different. It’s all about a reel that went proper viral - not just “big-for-us” viral. We’re talking 50,000 new followers and still climbing.

Most of us won’t ever hit numbers like this - but the lessons Bradley shares here are universal. It’s a sharp reminder of what makes content resonate, why quantity matters, and how to build lasting momentum by doubling down on what’s working.

I really hope you enjoy it.

👇👇👇

Firstly, Bradley, where do you work, and what do you do?

I’m a Digital Channels Advisor at the New Zealand Defence Force, within Defence Public Affairs (DPA). DPA is a team of communications, media, design, photo, video, and digital specialists.

We’re lucky to have uniformed photographers who capture the action as it happens. It’s my job to turn those moments into digital content across the NZDF, Navy, Army, and Air Force channels.

I also work as a freelance photographer, videographer and content creator for artists and brands.

Let’s jump straight into ‘that post’. I saw you mentioned it recently on LinkedIn as gaining 50 million views, which is mind-blowing really. Describe it to us, and how many views has it had now?

It was an 11-second reel captured by one of our photographers of New Zealand Army soldiers firing a Grenade Machine Gun in Tekapo Military Training Area. The sound, pace and captions hooked people in, and then the comments kept it alive. As of 22 August, it’s sitting at just over 70 million views across platforms.

What platforms did you publish it on?

LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. For me, if you make a reel, it can’t just go on one channel because each platform responds differently to that reel. We might put something on YouTube Shorts and it will absolutely flop, but then it gets millions of views on Facebook, and more than 120k views on Instagram. 

So, while you might not necessarily get a clear answer from that, if you don't shoot your shot, you won't know. That's a really key learning for me - put the same thing everywhere. You might have to adapt it for channels slightly and adapt the copy to suit the audience you're talking to, but test the video across multiple platforms.

Did you think there was anything different about this reel before you published it?

Honestly, we've been a small team for a while, and it was more about the need to pump out a reel [laughs]. I had a folder of clips from our photographer, and I picked that one clip, chucked it into Premiere Pro and went from there. Did I think it was different? I thought it was good shooting, and I thought it was a strong clip, but I wasn’t like, ‘This is going to blow up’. There was no indication of that beforehand.

Did it take off quickly?

Interestingly, it was staggered. There was an initial virality to it, but we posted it in May, and literally a month ago, it got another 2 million views on Instagram over a weekend. So it's a real staggered approach in how it was working with the algorithms and how it’s reaching audiences.

Content that resonates has a much longer shelf life now, right?

The tail can be long. For us, anything that gets over the 200k-view mark then starts building momentum, that usually has the longer tail. And anything below that mark is ‘two weeks and done’ as far as the bulk of the views and engagement. A great example is that this particular viral video has gone up by 16 million views since I posted about it on LinkedIn four weeks ago, and it was originally posted on the 14 May. We’re now over three months in and it’s still putting in the mahi.

Looking back, do you have any better indications of why that particular video performed so well?

Yeah, there's a few elements that help. There’s the fact that it was talking in a Kiwi accent and soldiers firing a weapon where you could see the rounds all the way to the target, and the call and response in how they were shooting - people really enjoyed that. And there's also been lots of conversations around the name of the weapon. We call it a Grenade Machine Gun, and people, especially in America, call it a Mk 19. So that was part of it, too.

That’s interesting. So, layers of engagement based on interest - people like me who just think it looks cool, but then also more knowledgeable people who keep it going with technical discussions?

Absolutely. Military experts always have something to say [laughs]. Ultimately, I think that's a big part of it, we hit the audience of military enthusiasts and current and ex-personnel internationally who thought it looked cool. Ultimately, it was really well received and did wonders for our reputation.

How many extra followers did it bring in?

Over 50,000 followers. With government channels that’s the dream. But it wasn’t the only viral piece of content over that time, so we can’t claim it was all from this one video.

A lot of that audience won't be our domestic audience, but as we work so closely with other allied and partner militaries, having global reach matters.

On 27 August we hit the one-million-follower mark across channels, so that was a pretty sweet day. This and other short-form video has been a big growth driver for us.

Going back to that 200k threshold you talked about, what has worked well in getting you over that hump in the past?

The best performing posts either have a unique perspective, or elicit some sort of emotion. And there always needs to be a good hook, right? Another post that performed well was a reel shot by an Air Force photographer from his POV of a day on board a Navy ship during a deployment to the Pacific Islands. He was embedded as part of the Navy crew, capturing imagery, but the video showed what life was like on ship - going out and taking photos, drinking coffee, doing cleaning duties, watching dolphins, and going to the gym. While showing off his key taskings - it looked like a great time.

Internationally military folk were surprised at the quality of the food, the quantity of coffee the photographer drank, and the lifestyle on board. Of course, there were people who called it out for not being realistic, but it wasn’t a day of a sailor on the ship, but an aviator - and that makes a difference, or at least starts a conversation.

You publish a lot, right?

Yeah, we're doing five to 10 posts a day across our channels, and one to two reels per week. So we really get to see what works and what doesn't.

That’s so important, eh. If you put in the reps, you start to understand almost instinctively what might work with your audiences, even if you can't articulate it…

100%, that's exactly it. I can't tell you any exact theme because I don't know if there is one, but I do know the audience, and I know if we post something that's got explosions in it and war-y stuff, it's gonna pop off with personnel, because they're like, ‘This is what we're here for, that's badass, that's us’.

Do you have an informal threshold of what makes video a success in terms of views?

I'd want to see at least 30,000 views, that's like my minimum threshold. If I hit that, I'm like, ‘Cool, that's performing normally’. But it's really interesting looking back over the last 18 months to two years, when we would very rarely get over 100,000 views on a reel on Instagram. And I set a goal to make a 100,000-view reel to sort of justify my own existence or whatever [laughs]. And when you hit that, it feels really good and you get all the positive endorphins for achieving your own goal. 

But then I was like, I'm going to double that. So, not a small jump, but 200k. And then I did that, and then I was like, ‘Oh, okay, how far can I take it?’ Then it was 500k, and then I did that, and then a million, and I did that, and I was like, ‘Okay, this is crazy’. And then it literally went to over 50 million and I'm like, ‘I’m done’ [laughs].

Do you feed back to your photographers how the content performs, or, what you want more of etc?

Yes, we’ll go back and say, ‘That did really well, if you get the opportunity, let's do something really similar to that again’. Our process is as simple as that. We know that POV, vlog-style stuff performs really well, but that's higher effort for them, as their main job is to take photos, so the video is secondary. But we have good working relationships with the photography team, and some of the best content in recent times has been a collaboration with one of them, a Comunications Advisor, and us - a good little team of people that come together to make something that maybe none of us thought would go this crazy.

The photographers are military themselves, right? Is there a concern that sometimes they might overlook stuff which is interesting to your everyday person, because it’s just a regular part of military life?

I think that's a big part of it, so that's where a brief from us will really help out, from a civilian perspective. On channels we really try to break the military language down for everybody to understand. And I think that's a testament to our comms advisors and the teams that are writing content. Being a small military has its perks, and while we have a pretty decent clearance process to release content, it’s much simpler than other militaries. We punch well above our weight, as a military in the battlefield, and on social media. 

Do you find that success seems to snowball?

Big time. If you get on a roll, the algorithm helps you roll. It helps you snowball. It's wild to see how the algorithm has shifted in our favour.

For the longest time, the New Zealand Defence Force Facebook page has been chasing the Army Facebook page in terms of followers, and now they’re absolutely neck and neck, and a lot of that is down to short-form video content. I made a reel recently which got 1.4 million views, before that a reel got 2.1 million views. In the last 90 days, we’ve probably had five or six videos hit over a million views, which is just absolutely wild. 

People reading this might be like, ‘That’s cool, but you don't have to put out posts about a footpath consultation…’

You can't always have 50 million views on a reel or footage of stuff blowing up, but you do have an opportunity to make content that will keep you afloat, content that’s algorithm friendly, while you're putting out the less-engaging footpath consultation CTAs. 

A lot of the most engaging content that you'll put out won't necessarily be key messages or the strategic stuff, but that's how social works, and has worked for a hell of a long time. So it’s about balancing your content. 

The algorithm ain't going to keep you afloat. You’ve got to keep yourself afloat. Try, fail, learn, and try again. It’s the only way, and maybe you’ll strike gold on content that resonates with your audience or an audience sub-group. 

Take your win, learn, adapt your strategy, and keep on grinding. 

Quick 6 with Bradley Saunders-Garner…

1. Strategy or tactics?
Absolute L to start question one, but both. Tactics day-to-day, strategy long-term. Without a clear strategy you’re just throwing content at a wall, but without solid tactical execution, even the best strategy won’t land.

2. Favourite platform?

Instagram, I’m here for the aesthetics, ya know.

3. Least favourite platform?
X.

4. One public sector account to follow?
Antarctica New Zealand – so many interesting things happen in Antarctica -science, wildlife and it’s just so beautiful. Also spot the collabs with NZDF.

 
5. One non-public sector account to follow?
DozeFace, it’s a new Wellington animation studio. They make wholesome and aesthetic YouTube videos to help people slow down and fall asleep. My brother and his team are new to the social media journey but they’re doing something really special, wholesome and positive.

6. Something you wish you’d known earlier in your career?
To look after yourself, especially if you work in social media or content creation because it can get relentless, and the only person with a clear grasp on how you’re feeling is you. Take a break if you need to, you probably deserve it.

That’s it for today - so many lessons in this one.

Know anyone you think I should talk to? Got any favourite channels I should analyse? I’d love to hear from you - hit reply to this email and let me know.

Otherwise, stay warm, stay safe, and I’ll see you in two weeks.

Bye 👋