There are many trends in media, many of which revolve around social media and the incredible amount of data it creates. But social media marketing blogs are not informing their publics about the one trend they cannot afford to miss: The incredible power video holds on the marketplace.
Let’s be clear, we are not talking about broadcast TV, which is in a continuing slow decline. However, the minutes lost by traditional programs are not getting reallocated to social media. Rather, shorter mobile video spots and on demand streamed video are picking up the reinvested minutes.
Video remains a primary medium that all communicators should address.
In fact, one could argue much of today’s social media revolves around video. Specifically, conversations about it. Whether it is the weekly showing of Game of Thrones, the horrible ISIL executions, or Lincoln’s new Matthew McConaughey ads, people are talking about video. Marketers have figured this out, and CMOs are going to invest more dollars in two primary trends next year: Social media advertising and online video. 71 percent of CMO Survey respondents said they will be increasing their video spend. Now PR pros need to turn their eyes toward creating more earned impressions in video content.
What Should PR Pros Do?
Be smart, and look at video like any other medium. Which videos are your stakeholders watching, and how do they relate to your business? When it makes sense to impact both organization and stakeholders positively, PR pros should seek placement in videos. This includes video podcasts, YouTube/online video series, and of course, continuing to seek placement in TV news and talk shows.
Whenever possible, make sure your spokesperson, company name and URL are mentioned in the video’s supporting text and tags. You need this for search optimization. You can also create your own content. There are many tips to market self-produced video content, but don’t kid yourself, amateur video is still low quality and is less likely to be watched. Because pro video is so costly and views are low (particularly for B2B companies), many communicators elect to go the amateur route or forgo producing video communications altogether.
If you do produce your own video, consider the PR value. You can augment media coverage with your own video content, and offer it to reporters (B-Roll). You can also use content to literally serve customers directly with entertaining or useful content. One very easy way to approach video content is to answer frequently asked questions. After all, it is a safe bet that your customers are literally searching for these answers.
Just like earned video, make sure you are using accompanying text to ensure the best search ranking possible. Tag, link, and answer questions in the text.
What do you think of video PR?