I keep getting more and more interested in online video as a corporate application. Let me tell you why.
Go up to a CEO or other senior official. Tell him or her that they need to blog, to post at least three times a week and a few will take you on. Some will hit home runs with blogging, using them to change perceptions of themselves and their companies at amazing low cost, but with a significant time investment tied to it. Even CEOs who understand the power of social media tell me they just do not have the time. And if they do blog, but find themselves forcing or rushing their posts posts. If they are sending messages out without joining other conversations, without listening to Comments on their post, with spouses as well as employees begrudging their loss of available time, the CEO is just not going to dive into the blogosphere and start swimming.
But here's Option B. Go to the same CEO and say, "we'd like to video interview you a few times every month. We will lightly edit the results and then post it for people to see. Over time, we will interview all the key players here. We will use digital video to announce new milestones, answer investor questions, show the humanity and brilliance of our key players and create a permanent record of what the people here have done.
I'll bet you a whole mess of C-level executives will now be very willing to participate. If you happen to be the inhouse evangelist in your organization, and you are tired of the bosses shuffling papers and looking at their watches when you mention corporate blogging, you might try discussing online video and see if you get a better result.
I'll bet video is about to dramatically increase the companies in social media. Video today is taking baby steps in terms of corporate adoption, but the baby is wearing running shoes. It s not yet truly conversation, but there is abundant evidence that it is headed that way. It is not clear yet how the videoscape will lay out or which startup is the one that will endure.
But I will wager you that corporate online video is going to be very big.
