You know video is important, treat it that way

A fun diversion is checking out old company websites from back when most businesses were just starting to test the waters of the web (you can too, courtesy of the Wayback Machine!). The terrible graphics, strange copy and general indication that some companies just had no idea what they were doing can be a trip.  But this blast from the past is good for more than just a laugh. It's a lesson in the importance of understanding "new" media, taking it seriously and allocating the appropriate resources to do it right. You're reading this article on FierceOnlineVideo so you can probably tell where I'm going with this. As video continues to become an increasingly popular, important and demanded communication tool, it deserves your full, professional attention. Otherwise, you're missing out on key opportunities to make strong connections with your target audiences. (Not to mention potentially becoming a future victim of the Wayback Machine!)

To be fair, some of the websites of yore found in the above link are from quite a long time ago. But if this is how major corporations presented themselves on the web, you can probably guess what your average company website looked like as businesses started to realize that the web is a tool they should be utilizing. I can recall tech-savvy employees of companies using basic tools like FrontPage to just "get something up," usually with no clear direction, theme or understanding of the intended audience.

Most companies wouldn't dream about not putting the appropriate resources into their corporate homepages today. That means hiring professional web production agencies, pulling in team members across departments to provide input and allocating the budget needed to get the job done right. As consumers, we've come to expect it. But it seems as though video, especially when created for online consumption, hasn't earned that same respect yet. And now, businesses are at risk of falling into exactly the same trap with video as they stumbled into it like the web not too long ago. The difference this time, is that they should know better.

Interestingly enough, one of the companies most responsible for making video so ubiquitous and important these days is also responsible for some companies' cavalier attitude toward the medium. I remember when YouTube's Chad and Steve "officially" announced Google's acquisition of their company in a manner unbefitting of the king of video (watch the clip for the reference). Don't get me wrong--they absolutely should have made this announcement with video. And the freehand style with which the clip was produced was in some ways appropriate given the personas on-screen. But in attempting to address their audience, which ranged from users to investors and beyond, about the news, they completely missed an opportunity to discuss its impact and what it meant for all stakeholders. Rather than hear about concrete ways the future of video will come to life, or how the site will continue to evolve or how Google's guidance could take YouTube to the next level and far beyond, we get a couple of guys with no script, barely no message and a video that falls short of demonstrating just how useful the medium could be. (Though, in their defense, it's probably really hard to concentrate on what you're saying when the sound of cash registers is ringing loudly in your head!)

This laissez-fair approach to video persists today. With Flip cameras, iMovie software and cool sites like xtranormal making it possible to create video quickly and cheaply, these are becoming the de facto production tools of companies that should be producing more professional video. I do think all of these tools and others like them are extremely important, innovative and all have their place in the world of video--but when it comes to video in the enterprise, they can't be the only tools at your disposal. (See "A Viral Humdinger," created quickly by us using xtranormal as a tongue-in-cheek approach to discussing the issue.)

At Market7, an online video collaboration company, we use video to communicate quite a bit. Sometimes that means breaking out a Flipcam to provide some quick visuals to accompany a blog post. But when we produce video to show the power of our product, or walk new users through its features and functionality, it's absolutely scripted, financed properly, shot in high quality--and most importantly, a finished product that 100 percent serves its intended purpose. (A great example of the power of well-produced video--as well as how far Google has come in leveraging the medium since that YouTube video I referenced earlier--is exemplified by the company's recent Chrome browser speed test production that emerged from a serious professional collaboration.)

Most companies tend to put marketing in charge of producing video. This is usually completely new territory for these execs, who probably mostly have experience managing the production of print and web page materials. Because managing video is such a completely different experience, requiring different planning, budgeting, collaboration techniques, timelines and more, their first step needs to be getting up to speed on the medium. And working with an outside video production agency is often key to producing a top-quality video that meets the overall vision for the project, maximizes impact for target audiences, stays on time and on budget, and effectively utilizes video assets throughout the enterprise. Finally, end-to-end video production management software can help guide you through the entire video production process--from conception to final approval.

The bottom line here is that you have an infinite number of tools and resources at your disposal to help you maximize your video efforts--and you should use them to make sure you're doing video right. After all, people are watching!

Seth Kenvin is CEO of Market7, an online video collaboration company that provides a flexible, browser-based environment that can be used for collaborative efforts around video production project management, conceptualization, script development and footage review. This addresses the needs of independent producers, production houses, agencies, corporations and other organizations, as they expand use of video and rich media, but face production processes that are often complicated, time-consuming, expensive, and technologically primitive compared to other collaborative efforts.