Power of Video & Social Media in 2009. What 2010 Holds in Store.

A guest post by Larry Kless, president and founder of OnlineVideoPublishing.com, a new-media resource firm for sharing strategies and best practices for online video publishers. He is a 20-year veteran of the enterprise video space, and an award-winning producer of corporate and educational videos.

If 2009 proved anything, it showed us that the power of video and social media can change the world.

From how we experience Presidential Inaugurations with millions of friends on Facebook, to seeing breaking news stories from citizen journalists on Twitter and YouTube before they reach the television news agencies. More than any other year, 2009 saw the rise of video one of the most effective communication mediums.

Virtually every aspect of video has become a business. From concept to scripting to storyboards to production to editing to encoding to storing, managing, distributing, syndicating, tracking, analyzing and so on. Content producers, media companies, small and medium-sized business to major corporations all have the same opportunities to build their business and become online video publishers.

2009 saw a shift in how we do business from the personal to the virtual. From the boardroom to the living room, to mobile devices that will soon be able to do everything we imagine — it’s no surprise that video became the vehicle for our conversation. Videoconferencing saw a resurgence becoming “the next big thing” after more than 20 years. Mainly by businesses cutting their travel budgets and TelePresence became a household word powered by Cisco’s marketing efforts. IP video chat, Web conferencing, collaboration and live video streaming moved to the forefront as businesses and media companies looked for ways to connect people and teams and to broader consumer markets.

What is important for video publishers is the value that video brings to ROI.

So in 2010, analytics will be be big. It’s how we measure and track performance, but it’s not going to be just about numbers. It’s going to be about engagement and reach. We’ll see some standardization of metrics and what is defined as a “view” since that ultimately drives revenue. We’ll also see an increase in social media metrics more focus on search, discovery and optimization. It won’t be enough for companies to just deploy video solutions. They will need to engage in the communities where their audience are through a variety social networks. Conversation tools like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube will help marketers extend their reach and promote their brands.

Video is really becoming part of people’s strategy and becoming part of the ecosystem of their marketing, not just part of their online marketing but part of their overall marketing plan. In 2010 we’ll see a lot more focus on high quality content and storytelling, and business models will emerge to foster help that growth.

by Larry Kless

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