Latest / Social Media Marketing with Fexingo: Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Platform Strategy / How Brands Use Social Media for Behind-the-Scenes Content
Transcript
- Lucas: Luna, I saw something last night that perfectly captures the shift we're seeing in social media. Patagonia posted a forty-five-second clip of a seamstress literally patching a hole in a fleece jacket. No music, no script, just her hands and her voice saying, 'this is how we keep it out of the landfill.' Luna: That's pure behind the scenes content. No polish, no product shot, just the process. And it probably performed way better than a catalog photo. Lucas: Exactly. That clip has over two million views on Instagram as of yesterday. And it's part of a bigger strategy brands are using now: letting the curtain backstage become the main act. Luna: So what's driving this shift? Why are brands suddenly so eager to show the messy stuff? Lucas: Partly fatigue with polished perfection. Consumers have been bombarded with high-production ads for years. Now they want something that feels real, unscripted, even a little rough. There's research from Stackla that says seventy-nine percent of consumers say user-generated content highly impacts their purchasing decisions. behind the scenes is essentially the brand creating its own UGC. Luna: That makes sense. If a brand shows the factory floor or the team brainstorming, it signals transparency. And transparency builds trust. Lucas: Right. And trust is particularly valuable right now. We're halfway through 2026, and social platforms are flooded with ai generated content. Consumers are skeptical. When Patagonia shows an actual person repairing a jacket, that's a proof point you can't fake. Luna: I want to talk about Glossier. They've been doing behind the scenes since almost day one, right? Showing product development meetings, even failed prototypes. Lucas: They've made it a core part of their identity. Their 'Into the Gloss' blog originally gave readers a look at beauty editors' routines. Then when they launched products, they showed the iteration process. There's a great example: when they developed their Pro Tip eyeliner, they shared a dozen different tip designs that didn't work before the final version. Luna: And that made customers feel like insiders. Like they were part of the journey, not just the target. Lucas: Exactly. That's the psychological hook. It's called the 'IKEA effect' — people value something more when they feel they've contributed to its creation. Even if their contribution is just watching the process. Luna: Okay, so what about platforms? behind the scenes works on Instagram, but what about TikTok or LinkedIn? Lucas: TikTok is arguably the best platform for it. The format rewards raw, in-the-moment content. A brand like Wendy's does BTS of their social team writing tweets. It's deliberately low-fi. On LinkedIn, BTS works differently — more documentary-style. Microsoft, for example, posts videos of engineers explaining how they're optimizing Azure. It's still behind the scenes, but it's professional. Luna: So the tone shifts by platform, but the principle stays the same: show the work. Lucas: Correct. And it's not just for consumer brands. B2B companies can do it too. A logistics firm could show how they route packages through a warehouse. The key is to pick one specific aspect of the operation and film it without excessive editing. Luna: What about the risks? If you show the behind the scenes, you might reveal too much or have something go wrong on camera. Lucas: That's a real concern. But most brands overestimate the risk. Consumers are surprisingly forgiving of minor bloopers — in fact, those often humanize the brand. The bigger risk is overproducing the BTS content. If it starts to look scripted and polished, it defeats the purpose. Luna: So the mantra is: authentic, not perfect. Lucas: Exactly. And there's a nice parallel here to what we're doing with this podcast. We deliberately don't run ads. There's no commercial break interrupting the conversation. That's a deliberate choice to keep the experience clean and listener-focused. Luna: Right. And if listeners find value in that approach, they can support the show at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a simple way to keep this ad-free. Lucas: Yeah. No pressure, no perks, just a way for people who get something out of these episodes to help sustain them. So back to behind the scenes — I want to give a concrete example of a brand that did this exceptionally well. Luna: Please do. Lucas: Dyson. They have a whole series called 'Dyson Behind the Scenes' where they show engineers testing vacuum cleaners with different types of dust. They'll show the lab, the technicians, the failures. It's not glamorous, but it's fascinating. And it reinforces their core value proposition: engineering excellence. Luna: And it's much more convincing than a spec sheet. Because you see the effort. Lucas: Exactly. The spec sheet says 'strong suction'. The BTS video shows a team spending six months refining a motor to increase suction by five percent. That story is memorable. Luna: So what's the takeaway for our listeners? If they're a small brand with limited resources, how do they start? Lucas: Start small. Pick one aspect of your process that you're proud of. Film it on a smartphone. No extra lighting, no script. Post it on the platform where your audience already is. See how they react. Then iterate. Luna: And don't be afraid to show what goes wrong. Lucas: That's actually where the magic often is. A bakery posting a video of a cake that collapsed in the oven got more engagement than their perfect finished cakes. Because it's relatable. Luna: So the lesson is: let your audience see the work, not just the result. Lucas: Exactly. And that's a strategy that scales whether you're a solo creator or a Fortune 500 company.