The Copywriting & Design Blog

It’s a fair question, and one I should have addressed in the previous post: Web video is a lot like TV, so why not make your videos highly promotional, like TV commercials?

1. Because the Internet has always been, and still is, primarily an information tool—much more than TV is.  A study released May 18, 2008 by the Pew Internet & American Life Project (see summary) emphasizes that consumers use the web to learn about products and services, and then combine that learning with information from offline sources, before buying.

Jeffrey Grau, Senior Analyst at eMarketer and author of the report, “Multi-Channel Retailing” (http://www.emarketer.com/Report.aspx?code=emarketer_2000476), explained in February, “Online consumers are becoming precision shoppers. They are availing themselves of the wealth of information resources online to discover and evaluate products, compare them and find where they can be purchased.”

2. Because the web is an increasingly social place, given the rise of Facebook, YouTube, MySpace and other social-networking sites.  More than ever before, it’s about conversation and relationship-building.  On these sites and across the web in general, users are unlikely to “talk up” any company’s video if it’s blatantly self-promotional (more likely they will comment negatively on it).

3. Because your site’s content probably isn’t, um, compelling enough to justify TV-commercial style video.  No offense . . . just don’t be misled by the fact that slick TV commercials are turning up more and more beside online entertainment.  Viewers tolerate those promotional spots in order to get the premium entertainment they want, on demand and for free.  In contrast, your web site (mine too) is already one big ad for your company, so why would a visitor want to see a highly self-promotional video for it?

Given these and other realities of today\’s online environment, what should be your company’s approach to using web video?

Be useful: create videos that give your audience information they can use to solve real challenges.  If you’re a furniture store, for example, why not make a video explaining how to determine if a couch is truly well made?  It’s something most people don’t know, but presumably would like to know if they are shopping for furniture.

Yes, in the previous post I said that your video need not be directly related to your business.  That’s still true.  In general, I recommend featuring a mix of videos on your site, some directly related to (but not heavily promotional of) your business, and others that simply make visiting your site more enjoyable and/or interesting.