Friday, April 9, 2010

The video generation cometh

I've been speaking to a lot of people these days about the continued modern use of multimedia communication. It's a subject I've posted about for years now and one that I firmly believe is increasingly relevant for all companies regardless of size or market sector.
(Just take a look at my post This time the revolution WILL be televised from 2 years ago)

But one media still continues to captivate more than any other, video (and with this I include television, on demand stuff and any audio/visual streaming combo).

But why use it for online corporate communication? Why not leave it to the swanky marketing types with their dedicated agencies, post production effects and obvious big budgets?

'cos your audience and customers are coming to expect it, that's why!

With every mobile phone now a video recorder, with nearly everyone under the age of 25 having their own YouTube channel (or at least an account) and with Windows PC's & Macs having free video editing software included... there's a new generation of online video producers, and therefore consumers, out there.

Sure, they may not be your current target audience right now.... But for how long can you keep saying that?

It's also not enough to claim you need a huge (but non-existent) video fund to produce top quality stuff. Some of the most popular, genuine and relevant video content has been created on a shoestring.

And don't forget that those teen and 20-something millenials may be consumers now, but they are the next workers and managers in our economy. They will have grown up using cost-effective online video and will consider it just another communication tool to use.

So isn't it therefore time your organisation started using it or at least asking your PR & Marcomms company to use video?