Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The Video Impact: Social Beyond the Written Word

To date, the written word has defined the impact and influence of social media.  Traditional blog posts...Facebook updates...tweets...we tend to interact with social via letters on a screen. 

Yet, its power pales in comparison to the ability video has to invoke emotion and empathy, to educate and to entertain.  This is why two billion YouTube videos are watched each day.

I was reminded of this video impact when I re-discovered a blog post I had bookmarked four years ago.  The story is touching:  through the use of technology a group of fourth graders remain connected with a classmate stricken with Leukemia.

How to best relay this story?  Narrative would have sufficed, yet a video presentation becomes memorable.

Video maintains its potency in a business-to-business or public sector setting.  Just this week software vendor Metaswitch Networks introduced a series of informative videos as part of its presence at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona.


At more than nine minutes in length, the video runs long.  Yet, I suspect that's because is delivery medium is the company's booth at the conference.

Correction:  from Metaswitch's Dan Marcus - "Appreciate the publicity. Of course, the video is also available in 12 individual segments, so 9 minutes is only required for the true believer ;)"

Regardless, the video creative engages, educates and entertains.  And that is the content mission of any social media marketing program.

At Strategic Communications Group (Strategic), we typically employ a multi-media approach when developing a client's social media program.  By integrating blog posts and microblogging, with video and podcasts we're able to present a present our audiences with a better experience.


(Disclosure:  while Metaswitch is not a client, I maintain a good relationship with Steve Gleave and Dan Marcus on the company's marketing team.)

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