Features
You may dismiss it as a website for attention-deprived teenagers with an interest in strange cats, but YouTube, and other video sharing services like it, have the potential to change the way you communicate.
As well as opening up a new and exciting channel for corporate communicators, these sites are part of an online revolution that will place great demands on organisations over the coming years and will, for some, threaten their very existence. Think I’m exaggerating? Read on…
YouTube, the king of the video sharing websites, is a phenomenon. Just look at the numbers - every day 100 million videos are viewed and 65,000 new clips are added to the website. It boasts 20million unique users every month and is estimated to account for 60% of all videos watched online. And before you dismiss it as a site for American kids, note that more than a third of the site’s users are over 35 and upwards of 3.5million of them are British.
Those statistics are reason enough for communicators to sit up and pay attention.
Another reason is its enormous impact. The site has been around for just 22 months and, during that time, has shown millions of people what to do with a packet of Mentos and a bottle of Diet Coke, turned a lonely teenager into a global celebrity, been used by unions to attack big business, embarrassed the Scottish First Minister and claimed the scalp of a US senator. Whilst much of its content may be pure titillation, some of it is very serious indeed.
In less than two years YouTube has gone from being a bright idea at a Silicon Valley dinner party, to being named Time Magazine’s Invention of the Year for 2006. And although the business has yet to make a profit, it has already made two twentysomething guys very rich indeed - in October YouTube was sold to Google for a staggering $1.65bn. Not bad for a new media toddler.
It’s a viral thing
So what has made YouTube such a runaway success?
For many, the answer is its viral nature – people discover obscure videos they like, alert their friends by email and these messages are then forwarded again and again, driving impressive viewing figures. It is this ‘virtual chatter’ between contacts that keeps the internet buzzing.
YouTube is part of a phenomenon that has become known collectively as the social media or ‘Web2.0’. The buzzwords are used to describe the current generation of web-based services that emphasise online collaboration, user-generated content and file sharing. In contrast to the static, brochure-ware web of the past, the new style ‘conversational web’ is being created and driven by ordinary people. As such, video sharing is an extension of the same trend that has seen an explosion in the number of blogs (written word) and podcasts (spoken word) that are being produced.
The popularity of online video has been fuelled by the rapid growth in broadband internet access (about a third of UK households currently have broadband access, with that figure set to double by the end of 2008) and the availability of increasingly sophisticated mobile devices (video-ready iPods and mobile phones are now becoming commonplace).
These developments show no signs of slowing down and it won’t be long before web-based content begins to threaten the traditional/mainstream media (one of the reasons Rupert Murdoch recently forked out $580m for the social networking site MySpace). Make no mistakes – online video is here to stay and it will quickly become a core communication channel for all sorts of organisations.
Home grown
Another factor in the site’s success is its raw, home grown feel. Although YouTube contains commercial clips, it is really all about what has now been dubbed ‘User Generated Content’ – videos shot and posted by ordinary people.
In the world of YouTube high production values – the type of visual experience we’re used to on TV - matter very little. Some of the most popular clips have been short on mobile phones and basic handheld video cameras. Indeed, for many YouTube users the more amateurish the content, the more authentic it is.
And here lies the dilemma for YouTube – and for businesses that want to exploit its potential. The site recently launched ‘brand channels’ which companies can pay to use. One of the early users of these channels - rapper P Diddy and Burger King - felt the wrath of YouTubers during their launch week, when they were bombarded with more than 2000 negative comments, some of which were picked up in the mainstream press. Commercial organisations will, it seems, have to tread very carefully to avoid a backlash.
Some brands have pulled it off though – Sony’s bouncing balls ad for Bravia has been one of the most viewed commercial clips on YouTube, and a spoof version of it produced for Tango Clear (it features fruit instead of balls) has proved incredibly popular.
But it’s not just big businesses that are benefiting. A recent Ragan teleseminar showcased the experience of Capstrat, a small US-based marketing and PR firm which used viral video to showcase its talents and drive hits to its website. Creatives at the agency created a video of staff members jazzing up a dull conference room – by creating a giant mural of Elvis made entirely out of Post-It notes. The clip proved such a big hit on YouTube that agency representatives ended up telling their story on the David Letterman Show.
According to the campaign’s creators, Capstrat’s Todd Coats and David Chatham, the keys to success on YouTube are to ensure your content feels ‘home grown’ and to create something that is quirky, entertaining, useful and topical. Humour certainly helps, but authenticity is paramount – anything that smacks of stealth marketing will be quickly discovered and ridiculed. They also highlight the importance of integration and point out that both the mainstream media and bloggers can help fuel interest in your content.
A third factor in YouTube’s success is the fact that videos are rated entirely by viewers – so whatever captures the public mood or gets discussed the most, quickly rises to the top of the video charts, regardless of where it originated.
Some stars of YouTube – like former Republican Senator George Allen – have paid a high price for that viral exposure. Allen lost his Senate seat (paving the way for the Democrats to take control) after being caught on camera making what many saw as an overtly racist jibe about a supporter of his main competitor. The response was swift –the video clip was posted on YouTube and the story was quickly picked up by the main networks. The result? Allen went from having a comfortable 16 point lead in the polls, to losing the election. For many that marked a fundamental shift in political campaigning.
YouTube on the inside
But the YouTube factor is about much more than generating publicity. As impressive – and destructive - as viral video can be, it is its impact on internal communicators, and the way organisations operate, that really interests me.
For communicators with deep enough pockets, video has been a much loved channel since the mid 1990s. Those organisations lucky enough to have the technological infrastructure, and with a big enough team and budget, have used video as an integral part of their communication mix - to bring corporate messages to life, to broadcast time-sensitive news to all employees, to reach people in far flung locations, and to generally increase the impact of their communications.
Whilst its power as a communication tool cannot be denied, video has remained out of reach for many of us– a medium that is simply too costly and too time consuming for the majority of internal communicators to consider using as a core channel.
But all that has changed.
The barriers to video production and broadcast have now all but disappeared. Businesses of all sizes now possess the technology to stream video direct to employee’s desktops via their intranets. No longer do we have to rely on expensive business TV satellite networks or on distributing content on VHS cassette or DVD in the vague hope that employees will make the effort to view them.
Furthermore, the YouTube factor means that your video production no longer has to be of Scorsese standard – as long as it’s interesting, relevant and authentic, ‘home grown’ will do. As many podcasters have already found out, content is more important than presentation – if you have something to say that is relevant and genuinely interesting then listeners will tune in. The same goes for internal communications.
When it comes to capturing content, decent quality digital video cameras can now be bought for a few hundred quid, making them cheap enough for even the most budget-restricted teams. You may well want to use a video production house to shoot additional content and to edit your video, but remember that in the world of YouTube, it is authenticity that counts. As marketers are now finding out to their peril, content that is over produced is increasingly greeted with caution.
The same principle applies internally - employees will respond much more favourably to a CEO’s honest unscripted assessment of an organisation’s performance shot by a member of the comms team on a handicam, than to a glitzy professionally-filmed and heavily scripted TV-standard video. The same rationale underlines the role of face-to-face inside organisations – the more ‘real’ and ‘unfiltered’ communication is, the more credible it generally is.
With trust inside many organisations at rock-bottom, it is those leaders and communicators who learn how to apply social media techniques internally that will be rewarded with higher levels of trust and, ultimately, improved performance.
Southwest Airlines, an organisation that is often singled out for its great communications, has already embraced the social media. Its excellent blog, entitled ‘Nuts about Southwest’, includes YouTube video clips and Flickr photographs. Some of the clips feature moving interviews with Southwest employees which were filmed shortly after 9/11. Though professionally produced they show, very powerfully, the human side of the business – the emotion, the warmth, the friendships and the pride that permeates the organisation and that underlines the Southwest brand.
It is the voices of real employees like this – and like the hundreds who post comments on the blog each month - that have helped Southwest thrive in the highly competitive low cost marketplace and create a truly differentiated brand. It is no coincidence that the airline is perceived as a great employer (though it advertised less than 3,000 vacancies in 2005, it received more than a quarter of a million CVs) and has an enviable reputation (it has featured in Fortune magazine’s Most Admired Corporations list for ten consecutive years).
The dark side?
There is one final way that I believe YouTube and sites like it will impact organisations and, for those who encounter it, it will be a far from positive experience. I’m talking about viral whistleblowing.
Social media empowers ordinary people, and ordinary employees. It gives them a voice. It connects them with likeminded people and with a host of external stakeholders. It creates a level playing field in which any employee has access to the same powerful PR channels as big business.
All that is, for me, a generally positive thing. It keeps organisations on their toes. It deters unethical behaviour. It encourages leaders and managers to think before they speak – and to walk their talk. If an employee’s complaints are falling on deaf ears internally, it gives them way to voice their concerns – to blow the whistle on their employers and call them to account for their actions (or lack of).
US defence contractor Lockheed Martin recently experienced this new use of YouTube when a former employee posted a video in which he alleges a catalogue of security flaws in a fleet of recently refurbished Coast Guard patrol boats.
The whistleblower, Michael de Kort, says he turned to YouTube because he failed to get a satisfactory response from his bosses, from government investigators and from congressmen he had already contacted.
YouTube changed all that. Within weeks of posting his video, the story had been picked up by mainstream news channels and a number of investigations had been launched to look into his allegations.
Whether de Kort’s claims are legitimate or not (both Lockheed Martin and the US Coast Guard say the ships are safe and that his claims are without merit) this case demonstrates just what an impact a single employee – or former employee – can now have.
I’m predicting that YouTube, and sites like it, will be used increasingly for whistleblowing. In some cases viral video will expose real failings inside organisations – safety flaws, fraud and other dodgy dealings – and, in doing so, will help make the world a better place.
But at the same time we will no doubt see examples of corporate terrorism – where organisational insiders wage war on their employers by going direct to the public with their fictitious stories and staged clips. Thanks to YouTube, anyone with a handicam and a viewpoint can now make news.
Either way, the world will never be quite the same for communicators. Whether your focus is internal or external, I believe the social media will change the way you work over the coming years.
Viral video, as part of that trend, can help or hinder your communication efforts. If you are willing to let go a little, it can be used to engage employees – to give them a voice, to involve them and to capture real life stories of how they are living your values and delighting your customers. Equipped with a handicam and a sense of pride, employees can be powerful advocates for your organisation – helping build its reputation better than any PR campaign. If, on the other hand, you choose to stifle the conversation, to ignore your employees and to spin your messages, it’s only a matter of time before you’re exposed….
Copyright (c) Lee Smith, Gatehouse Consulting Limited. First published on Simply-Communicate.com, December 2006.
