Online Video and Social Media: Help Consumers Make Better Decisions
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,..."
As first lines of novels go, that one from “A Tale of Two Cities” is probably the finest in literature. That Charles Dickens gem also helps make my point about how effective video can be for companies trying to improve messaging about their products and services.
Indeed, lets start with the Two Cities as a metaphor for the primary types of material found on the Web - print and video. As I've previously written, the Internet was, and to a large extent, still is, a text-driven encyclopedia of information. Though companies were slow to adopt video as a tool for branding, for selling, for information - many now "get it."
I am fortunate to be on the leading edge of the corporate use of video and interactive sites. I've traveled around the country producing videos for hospitals and medical device companies which sought to accomplish several goals.
For hospitals, I broadcast interactive live and on-demand leading-edge surgeries; heart, knee, hip, eye and back surgeries were among those we marketed to both consumers and doctors.
Those hospitals sought to increase the number of people who made use of its services. That was paramount, of course. However, we also helped client hospitals expand their foot-print to areas outside their traditional areas of influence. Non-profits also should pay particular attention to this model: it's cost-effective and the ROI potential is high.
My clients now saw patients who had crossed county and state lines to have the surgery we presented so well online. The videos not only showed the surgery with fine, closeup images, but also gave viewers a sense of the institution itself - its professionalism, its continuum of care, its excellent doctors. At their core those videos helped people make better decisions about their healthcare.
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