With all the twitter about Twitter and big social media channels like Facebook, it’s easy to overlook what is probably the greatest innovation in new media communications: online video.
According to media measurement companies Comscore and Nielson, YouTube currently streams 225 million videos per day – and is one of the hottest destinations on the net. The actual figures may be much higher. According to a source in Google, the total number of streams per day tops 1.2 billion.
Videos are springing up on many websites as companies look for ways to draw in more visitors. In fact, every single website that Pier 8 Group has designed in the last year incorporates streaming video.
Pier 8 Group uses video on this blog to showcase our discussions on branding and marketing. We also post videos on the facebook groups we’ve created. It’s so easy to do and it’s a favorite feature for people visiting our sites.
We’re seeing a lot more video these days on the web. I love how Canadian provinces are using it in their destination marketing. Newfoundland and Labrador, for example, have produced a series of slick commercials that showcase the incredible beauty of the land. Many people have viewed these on TV, but many more have enjoyed them on YouTube or the province’s tourism website.
I am even more impressed with the videos from B.C. Produced by the province’s tourism marketing agency, they feature the experiential side of west-coast life – everything from mountain biking to kayaking, visits to the local apple orchard or shopping at the farmers’ market. What is so compelling is the authentic character of the videos themselves. Shot with hand-held cameras and nicely edited, they are the epitome of peer-to-peer marketing. They work well because they are completely believable, unlike a lot of tourism marketing that seems so fake!
There’s something about video as a communications tool. Video connects you with real people, speaking in real voices, in a way that is much more engaging and compelling than the highly-polished prose of text-based marketing. With affordable production costs and a worldwide free video channel – the Internet – it is a wonder that every business isn’t already doing it.
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