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Socializing Video: The Most Fun Your Brand’s Ever Had

Posted by Andrea Keating on March 31, 2011

Whether your organization is a lanyard wholesaler or the largest commercial insurer on the planet, your customer/client base as a whole reflects a fraction of your potential viewership audience for socialized video. When organizations align with their audience through interactive media, the results are optimal engagement and branded influence. No content delivery is more apt to deliver these results than mobile-formatted high quality video. Socializing brand messaging with video cultivates engagement, awareness, and relationships.

Social media has revolutionized how information is shared, communities are built, and how companies cultivate relationship-based audiences both internally and to their market. Internet and mobile platforms are tenaciously replacing traditional mediums used by corporations to connect with, deliver messaging to and grow target audiences. While online video is still a relative novelty to ‘marcom’ [marketing communications], the benefits for producing are obvious.

Statistics have shown that web video viewers are highly more engaged and receptive to the content they are viewing in comparison to broadcast or published content. In 2010, video generated more peer-to-peer sharing than file sharing. By 2012, eMarketer estimates that the U.S. online video alone will reach 190 million viewers, almost 88% of the country’s Internet user population. By 2015, video will be the most widely used online application. Video is becoming more than the norm, but a standard for relevancy. The time has never been better for organizations to align marcom initiatives with the viral dynamism of socialized video.

Here are some ways corporations are using socialized video:

Branded film series.

The online platform creates a new realm of space to visualize a commercial brand message. The traditional ‘commercial’ limits messaging to a fraction of a minute and online media breaks through that boundary for robust creativity and audience captivating content to exist. BMW and Royal Caribbean Cruises are two companies who’ve taken marketing in a new direction by producing a film series that tell their brands story– without the subtext of a direct sales pitch.

Candidly Scripted Camera.

Housing TV broadcast commercials on Youtube and making the content searchable is convenient for fans to ‘socialize’ your brand. Some companies are taking it a step further and putting their company mascot or appointed brand ambassador in front of a camera crew to engage their audience with “unscripted” brand fun. Progressive does an entertaining job of both on their youtube channel along with making resources clickable on the spot for policy holders and new quote requests. Direct TV recently added a twist to their commercial messaging by capitalizing on the intrigue viewers had with a star featured in their ad series. That star, a miniature giraffe, now with his own website and video content, is a fun spinoff of the viral video campaign. There is no such thing as a miniature giraffe, but a well-produced video can be the best fan builder your brand has ever had.

A Look Behind the Scenes.

Whether or not you sell a consumer product– living, breathing, web-surfing beings work for the companies you do business with. Build an audience by producing a video that gives insight your organization’s operations, corporate culture, best practices and transitions with current events. Pixar gave video viewers a behind the scenes tour about what it’s like to work at an Oscar-winning studio. The video wasn’t done in animation to appeal to their core audience but formatted to fortify their brand awareness with a broader audience of viewers.

Giving insiders a behind-the-scenes look at your day-to-day operation can make a positive direct and indirect impact on your bottom line. Zappos is one of many outlets for buying footwear but what distinguishes them from the others is their sales model which employs company employees, not models in video promotions. They tested product sales using video descriptions and found a 10% increase for video featured products.

There are many creative ways to build and meaningfully engage an audience through video but there is only one right way to produce that content; professionally. For more on professional gear and industry trends like camera formats, shooting styles, and workflows [connect] – [watch] – and [follow] Crews Control.