BigOven Content Strategy & App Launch

Background: BigOven is a recipe creator and sharing platform that has been downloaded over 13 million times and over 5 million active, registered users. In 2020, the BigOven Kitchen was launched and provided the opportunity to create highly produced video recipes. BigOven became not just an app to find popular recipes from the cooking community, but the creators of unique and original recipes themselves.

Challenge: As Media Coordinator, I was hired and took immediate lead in production of a series of short-form cooking videos for social media and the BigOven platform, showcasing a wide variety of recipes across cultures and food groups. To support the launch of the new BigOven app and drive user engagement, we were tasked with creating a library of 20 videos that were more heavily produced and to serve as content that users could interact with day one. 15 of these videos would be live at the time of launch, with the remaining 5 releasing over the course of the following week. Even for an experience videographer and content producer, 20 highly produced videos (even in short form of 2 to 3 minutes) with a delivery date in 3 months was ambitious.

Strategy: Leveraging my extensive skills in videography, editing, and digital content production, I transformed hundreds of hours of raw footage shot over the course of 2 months into 1 to 3 minute educational yet cinematic styled videos. Sound design and music selection were paramount in establishing a rhythm to edit around. Additionally, these videos were designed to capture the viewer’s attention while delivering content that was both informative and easy to follow and replicate, tailored to meet the demands of a fast-paced, mobile-first audience.

Another key component of my role was digital asset management and archiving. I maintained an organized repository of all video assets, ensuring quick and reliable access for marketing, distribution, and repurposing across platforms. This included managing video metadata, tags, descriptions, thumbnails, and more.

Production & Distribution: With strict adherence to our content calendar and tight turnaround for the launch, we spent an intensive 2 months in production capturing recipe after recipe. While we adopted a multi-platform strategy to maximize our reach to audiences, our priority was filming and formatting for mobile, with the BigOven app, Instagram, and Facebook (and later TikTok) being our priority. These platforms were the pillars in building the new and supporting the existing BigOven community.

Results: One highlight of my role was the immediate traction the content gained upon release and just 3 months after my initial hiring. The initial series achieved 39,000 views in the first month, with a steadily increasing average of approximately 10,000 views per month thereafter. My collaboration with the Director of Marketing and Communications Director was key to this success, as we formulated a multi-channel content strategy to maximize viewership, engagement, and overall brand growth.

In addition to video production, my responsibilities expanded into content strategy, audience analysis, and engagement optimization. I conducted weekly market research to identify trending food topics and videos, dietary trends, and cultural holidays and traditions, ensuring that our content was both timely and relevant to a global audience. By tracking performance metrics like watch times, completion rates, and social media engagement, I was able to continuously refine our approach to content creation and enhance SEO performance.