Why video is paving the social media trail

The invention of the moving image created a revolution in entertainment and communications 100 years ago, which continues to evolve and thrill to this day. So it's hardly surprising that video is becoming the major mover in online and social media communications.

Recently FRESCO launched a new video for the Confidential Listening and Assistance Service (see the video here, and read more at Memories Never Fade). It's a public service message which we are using as an online viral message and as a conventional television commercial.  Even at this early stage, the video is starting to attract plenty of attention, which shows how the medium can be used for almost any kind of communication.

Another FRESCO produced video with very different objectives is this politically loade d viral video produced for the Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA). Here simple cartoon techniques were employed to make a point.

Video for new media covers a huge field, and I show a few of my favourites at the bottom of this post. My examples include a video from the expensive Old Spice series, a wonderful example of typographic animation to promote a social message (The Girl Effect), through to the immediacy of news video posted by ordinary people (Japanese Tsunami). And don't forget how easy it is to provide instruction with a talking head (How to use Facebook).

Why use video?

'Content marketing' is a buzz word in online and social media. Of course we've always had 'content' in communications marketing but it has generally been about the traditional considerations of how a message, such as an ad or poster 'sells' something.

The new opportunity comes with the ability to offer something to people on their terms, and then seek to engage them in an ongoing relationship through interactions. So while the written word is still the mainstay of online communications, the ability of the moving image to hook people with easily digested content, and compelling sight-and-sound is hard to beat.

A major point to consider is the fact that YouTube is the second largest search engine behind Google. A video posted to YouTube, where it might receive a high number of views through the viral effect of search and pass-on, will obviously multiply the numbers of people receiving the message.

Many videos are extremely cheap to produce and they can be produced almost as immediately as still images. But in some cases the production techniques can be high and the cost can be almost limitless.

So if you're not using video in your online communications, I suspect you soon will be. There is certainly no reason to believe that it will not continue to grow and increasingly become even more ubiquitous as a communications method.

Old Spice

The Girl Effect

Japanese Tsunami

How to use Facebook

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