Posted In: Business Development
Video messaging: A powerful example from the “ice bucket challenge”
We’ve all seen it. It’s everywhere. But how did it happen? Convincing friends, family or colleagues to pour a bucket of ice water over their heads is no easy task. So let’s look at just one of the several reasons that the ice bucket challenge was such an overwhelming success for the ALS Association.
The Power of Video
According to Lauren Ingram, Media Relations Specialist at Clarity PR:
“For the first time my social media feeds are filled with videos of people I know – the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has made everyone a broadcaster. For better or worse, I think we’ll see a lot more videos of our friends, families and colleagues than we ever did before. The ice bucket challenge has proven the long-held hypothesis that video will be the dominant online medium of the future. The proliferation of connected smartphones has made the creation and sharing of video incredibly easy. As a result, marketers need to put video at the very core of their digital strategies and find creative ways to engage with consumers via the medium.”
Audience Engagement
Perhaps due to the proliferation of video on mainstream media websites as well as content on social networking sites, the overall acceptance of video as a means of communication is widespread. The trend is not just millennials and the Gen X crowd. Even my generation, the 50+ baby boomers, are embracing video content. In Jeff Sexton’s 2012 article “Effective Content Marketing Requires Videos”, he mentions the following “eye-opening statistics quoted from Engage, a blog.”
- “According to Emarketer.com, a majority of businesspeople surveyed by Forbes in October 2010 said they watched more video currently compared to last year.
- Nearly sixty percent of respondents said they would watch video before reading text on the same webpage, and 22 percent said they generally liked watching video more than browsing text for examining business information.
- Seventy-five percent of all executives said they watched work-related videos on business websites at least once a week, and more than 50 percent use YouTube to watch those videos.
- Sixty-five percent of U.S. executives surveyed by Forbes in October 2010 visit a vendor’s website after viewing a work-related online video.
- Fifty-three percent conducted a search for a vendor, product, or service for more information.
- Forty-two percent made a business related purchase [using video].”
The Power of Video for Law Firms
Video messaging tells a story. An interesting or thought provoking story gets viewership and viewership adds to the search engine optimization of a firm’s website. Law firms will continue to embrace the use of video as a marketing tool. Are you ready to videotape the “ice bucket challenge”?
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