We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Steve Rubel, executive VP for Global Strategy and Insights with Edelman. Edelman is a global public relations firm, well known for being on the forefront of technological change. Click here for more info on Steve and Edelman. In these clips, Steve discusses online video as a method of communication. He explains why it provokes greater engagement, and gives examples of best practice. With the increasing democratisation of online space, it is easier than ever for anybody to have their voice heard on the web. The side effect of this is that it’s increasingly cluttered, and those seeking information online have less and less time to devote to each individual source. As a business, you want your website to draw people in, to pique the interest of casual browsers and make them actively seek more information. Steve suggests that words alone are no longer the optimal way to do this. Today’s time-poor web browser will read as little as 20% of a page before moving on, devoting between 10-20 seconds. Obviously, this is not enough time to communicate in an accurate and engaging way. Video, as opposed to text, is capable of much stronger and more ‘human’ communication. There are many visual and emotional cues that come from listening to and looking at another human being, which text misses. If the content is relevant, it has been shown to be far more engaging with viewers, with greater retention and more follow-ups. This is not to say that you need to hire Spielberg to do your website. Video can be unpolished, provided that the content and presentation fills a need of the target audience, be that information, entertainment or a service. When asked what an example of effective video communication looked like, Steve pointed to The White House official website. The US government uploaded a regular video series named The Explainer, in which a presenter used a white board to draw and explain a dry or complicated topic. If this had been presented in text form, most site viewers would fall asleep, however as a relatively low tech video it carried enough presence that these ideas were successfully communicated. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF2CqqG37v8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaUpRDbco6E
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