In your efforts to generate leads via new media (or via any other media), it’s getting harder and harder to not consider the potential behind online video. At least it is for me.
Creating compelling content for your target market and posting it on YouTube just might be the lead generation tactic of the year decade.
At the end of last year there were some attention grabbing online video viewing stats:
86% of Internet users say they view video at least once per month
- The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) quoted a recent report from Horowitz Associates, titled “Broadband Content and Services 2007,” stating that six out of ten Internet users download or watch video content on a weekly basis.
- The survey said news and user-generated videos top the lists of what Internet users are watching.
48% of Internet users have been to video-sharing sites such as YouTube
- Daily traffic to video-sharing sites on a typical day has doubled in the past year.
- The Pew Internet & American Life Project reported (January 9, 2008) that these findings were the result of a national phone survey conducted by the organization that ended in December (2007).
Last week, BizReport published this statistic:
According to recently released comScore figures, “the number of videos watched online in the U.S. rose to the highest number ever recorded during December 2007”.
The BizReport article goes on to say that more than 10 billion videos were watched by 141 million unique U.S. viewers in December, 2007. The article attributes the online video viewing spike to the television writers’ strike and election news. But it is still a record.
Small business presidents, owners, marketers, and customer service teams, that are on the fence about new media/online video, make me think of the mid-1990s when businesses of all sizes asked:
Do I really need a web site? What would I do with a web site? Okay, let’s put up a web site, load up our product brochures and call it a day…
Well we know how that story ends.
Fast forward to today: Businesses (of all sizes) are asking: Do I really need a business blog? What would I do with a blog? What would I do with an online community of my prospects and customers? (My previous online community posts here and here.)
Okay, maybe the jury is still out on that one in your business-mind. So I will try to change that in the coming weeks.
I think all small businesses need to get ready for (more) video: Internet video, video sharing, viral videos, marketing videos, educational videos, e-learning videos, user generated videos. You name it.
Could online videos, produced by your company, be the next big thing when it comes to starting an online conversation with your customers? In my next post, I’ll show you what a couple of small businesses are doing with online video to get the word out and connect with their customers.
The complete BizReport article is here.
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