Smart companies continue to jump on the bandwagon of social media today the way businesses clamoured for webites in the Mid-Ninties. Can you blame them?

Social media sites and services such as Twitter and Facebook are wildly popular, easy to use by everyone from ten-year old kids to grandmothers, and the interactive engagement factor makes them quite a bit of fun while contributing to the “15 minutes of fame” factor that artist Andy Warhol famously predicted in the Sixties.

An article from ClickZ penned by Liana Evans addresses how Internet video can contribute to the success of social media online. Ms. Evans posits that the “craze” to create a viral video that racks-up tens of thousands of views is rather fruitless in the long run unless it has some form of branding basis, since once a video has been watched and shared, that’s about it in terms of action. Viral videos rarely make someone buy anything!

On the other hand, there are 4 uses of online videos that can be effective and influential with viewers/buyers and these video types can be tied into social media campaigns as well for additional impact. In a nutshell, those video types are:

• How-To videos – Easy to watch and to learn from, How-to videos show viewers that the product they’re thinking about buying can be used by them successfully. And since a picture is worth a thousand words, viewers can learn quickly how to operate or execute certain maneuvers instead of combing through laborious (and often badly written) manuals and written instructions.
• Product videos – Once considered the main stumbling block of online purchasing (the lack of 3-D viewing and tactility, that is), consumers can now watch videos that show a product item from many angles, as well as see it at work. This takes the fear of a rip-off as well as doubts about a product’s performance out of the minds of potential customers. The product video answers questions viewers haven’t even thought to ask as of yet!
• Audience participation videos – Consider these snappy little darlings to be the ‘action testimonials’ of the website world. When viewers get to watch other real-world people using products they themselves wish to purchase, it allays theirs fears about performance anxiety from the product, and unconsciously convinces them that “they can do it too.” Participation videos are very compelling and convincing, because one cannot argue with the validity of seeing a product being used by someone just like themselves.
• Brand perception videos – No one comes to a company in a vacuum; that is, most folks have some preconceptions about companies, true or false. Online branding videos enable you the producer to control what message and what angle about your company you want consumers to absorb. Benevolent propaganda? Maybe, but if you’re out to get people to think about your brand or products in a new way, there’s not much better than fun, humorous, enlightening or stimulating videos that shed new light or show a new side to your brand or product.

You can read the entire ClickZ artilce about video uses for social media here. And feel free to reach out to Fathom’s video department as well – we’ll answer any questions you may have about video uses for your products and services as well as explain to you why online video is the affordable, highyl-effective solution for Internet marketing today. We look forward to hearing from you.