Video Communication
Digital media has the ability to include interactive features. These are “rich” multimedia contents such as infographics, videos, animations, voice recordings and sound effects.
Video is the Present and the Future
O video is one of the fastest growing media content formats in communication, as digitization has drastically reduced the previously high cost of film production. For example, YouTube has more than a billion users who watch hundreds of millions of hours of videos every month and this number has been increasing over the years. In addition, other social networks and internet platforms have been expanding their video features and capabilities.
In the PR industry, there is a classic example that illustrates this change. A large company, with 250,000 employees worldwide and consolidated revenues of hundreds of millions of dollars, faced a challenge when it came to its internal communications. Many employees didn't read the company magazine and various internal newsletters.
After conducting an internal survey, the conclusion was that employees prefer video textual information. In a bold move, they discontinued the expensive printed magazine and newsletters, reducing costs considerably. In their place, they launched a series of video programs. But then the question arose of how effective video programs could be produced at less cost than printed communication.
Simpler can be better
The answer lay in the collaborative nature of social media, and in the company's existing but often overlooked capabilities. Employees were already generating a considerable amount of video content for internal use. They used their own camera phones, small video cameras and GoPros to record events and interview colleagues about interesting issues. So the practice wasn't completely new, it just needed a little push.
Many interviews and reports were in low resolution, with clear signs of having been filmed with a hand-held camera. But these qualities, rather than being detrimental, gave the reports authenticity. Employees saw their colleagues, agents they could trust, recording these videos, rather than professional camera crews, in a highly staged scenario. Based on these findings, the company commissioned and edited a video campaign, using the professional experiences of its employees. This resulted in a series of videos that contained highly credible content with lots of relevant information.
The evaluation has seen a great improvement in the field of internal communication through video. More and more companies are realizing that their employees need more information, but not boring, formal newsletters.