Why Online Video is good for your Corporate Executives and How to Deploy

Sharing Social Media Strategy
This morning, I forwarded an email to a client showing them how Sun’s CEO Johnathan Schwartz has embedded his video interview on my colleague Robert’s ScobleShow. I encouraged them to get their CEO on the Scobleshow, here’s some of the reasons why I listed why Online Video is good for your CEO. (or any other executive).

It makes sense I share this info not only with that client I emailed but with the rest of the good folks that are deploying Social Media. Having evangelized and built a program at Hitachi Data Systems, I know what it’s like.

Who am I writing for?
This knowledge is best suite for your CEO, other Executives, Corporate Communications, PR, Multi Media, Interactive Marketing, Integrated Marketing, Web Marketing, and Executive Communications, please forward this to the appropriate person.

Why Online Video is good for your Corporate Executives and Strategies to Deploy:

1) Time Efficient
For many CEOs, committing and writing a blog is not going to happen. This was evident in this video where Michael Dell is asked point blank “why don’t you blog?” . Video is a happy middle point as it takes about double the time (prep time and recording time) to get recorded.

2) Talk directly to the ‘people’
Frankly, I’m sick of press releases talking about CEOs in the third person, or corporate bios talking about an executive. With online video the executive comes to the ‘edge’ of the company to have a real conversation with the marketplace. It’s real, with real emotion, nuances, and body language that can’t be expressed over text.

3) Take advantage of the Network Effects
The term Network can be interchanged with “Viral”. By placing your video online, it should be put into viral players that encourage bloggers, and other website manager to embed the video and sharing it with others. Google Video, YouTube, Blip, and if you create content with PodTech you’ll have the benefits needed to share.

4) Reuse Opportunities
These videos can be displayed on your corporate website, the extranet, intranet, embedded or linked to from a press release, email newsletter, sent to investors, and encouraged to spread on other websites. For those in Integrated Marketing, you’ll love this.

5) Speaking in person to the whole world across time
Since the web is global (and the top medium in the workplace in North America) it can be easily found and shared across distances and is saved in the internet for access over time. Some theories suggest that the content over the long term is more effective than big media buys. How many people does your CEO reach by giving a speech? 10? 100? 1000? . On the web it can reach mass audiences.

6) What a Online Video Conversation is:

A) Your Executive having a real life conversation, not scripted, no cue cards

B) Your Executive engaged in a real conversation with another human being

C) Tough questions and Real Answers, if your Exec doesn’t know, they will earn more respect from the community by saying “I don’t know, but I’ll find out and tell you”

7) What a Online Video Conversation is NOT
The type of conversational real life videos I’m talking about are NOT:

A) Your CEO speaking to a bunch of people and simply recording it, unless they are a truely a gifted orator it’s not personal enough nor engaging.

B) Your CEO reading a primed script

C) Canned questions without improv or authenticity

How to quickly get started:
I’ve experience here, as I’ve been through this in a corporate setting.

A) Build your own internal video team
I recommend building a small internal team that can quickly record video and publish. It’s not supposed to be hard (there are vlogs appearing everyday where people are doing this). Here’s what I recommend:

A) Find some internal folks that are already interested or creating video (look at your web team first)

B) Allocate about $1000 for consumer grade cameras, mics and a tripod. They may need some video software.

C) Learn up on the trade, get some training in. This is not supposed to be film quality video but at the same grade as what’s being produced on the web.

D) Record internal presentations by execs and put on Intranet, you’ll get more mileage for this program.

E) It’s better to have an internal team that can do this (with some consumer grade camera kits) rather than outsourcing to a video company that will over charge you and over produce something so simple.

B) Find an existing video show that welcomes guests
There are many video blog shows that are emerging, and they’re vying for content. This is a quick and easy way to get going. Below

9) What to look for in an Online Video Show
If you decide that the first step is to get on an Online Video show before creating your own I recommend the following criteria:

A) Find a show that has a pre-built network around it

B) The show is already speaking to your market

C) Post-production skills to make it turn out appropriate

D) The interviewer should be experienced in conversational arts and familiar with dealing with execs.

E) There should be NO cost to this video

For the show and the company this exclusive video conversation should be win/win

10) Integrate with other Social Media Strategies
Here’s some other related thoughts I’ve shared, hope this helps.

10 Social Media Strategies for the Fortune 1000 Corporations

Corporate Podcasting Strategies for 2007

Web Strategy: Overlaying Social Media for your Corporate Events

Transparency
If it’s not apparent already, it should be known that I’m a PodTech employee, I serve as a Social Media consultant to our Fortune 1000 clients. My expertise is based upon my experience in deploying Social Media, as well as discussions with our clients. Learn more about me on my profile page.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 20th, 2007 at 9:33 am and is filed under Community Marketing, Podtech, Social Media, Video, Web Strategy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.