Video: Yahoo Shows the Media IS the Message
Did you get a chance to see the Yahoo! quarterly conference call? Yes, I wrote “see,” not listen. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and CFO Ken Goldman took to digital video to host their call instead of relying on the tried and true speakerphone of conference calls past. How refreshing for a company to recognize and then embrace the power of video.
It’s no secret that I have a sweet spot for all things video. Before my turn to PR, I was a TV reporter for more than 20 years. And through those two decades, it was always – always – a challenge to explain to companies the benefits of video. There seemed to be a kind of safety in print, and companies always seemed to like to have the “clip” when a story published. I always believed, however, that if a picture is worth a thousand words, then 30 frames a second would be exponentially more valuable to help a company illustrate and not just “tell” its story.
Since my move to PR, I still have quite a bit of explaining to do, justifying to to, selling to do when it comes to video. Once companies see the potential, and adjust the way they tell their stories to accommodate for video, they get it. I spend a lot of my time training executives how to communicate on video. Zeno Group gets it; some other agencies do too. But it’s still not as prevalent as you might think. It needs to be.
And it’s not just Yahoo!, by the way, that is beginning to incorporate video in some unexpected places. Reporters, whether they’re in TV or print or digital, are all incorporating video in some way or another. So for companies that think they’re sitting down for a print interview, and just a print interview, or doing an interview over the phone where visuals don’t matter so much, think again.
It’s not uncommon for print reporters to show up to stories with their iPhones, conduct an interview in the traditional sense, and then ask to re-do some questions “on camera” so they can embed the video on their web posts of the same story. More and more reporters are using Skype or OoVoo (full disclosure, Zeno reps OoVoo) so they can see who they’re talking to and not just listen to them. Video. It personalizes, it adds dimension, it can be oh so powerful.
In the case of Yahoo and its conference call, this wasn’t lost on its audience. As the Wall Street Journal pointed out, Barclays analyst Anthony DiClemente announced that he would be watching Ken Goldman’s expression on the video stream to discern what he wouldn’t answer out loud. So now visual reactions and cues will be parsed just as much as the spoken answers themselves.
All of this follows by a few months the Securities and Exchange Commission broadening the way companies can use social media to communicate material information to the public. Remember the hot water Elon Musk got into when he tweeted financial news about Tesla? Now, companies are increasingly likely to use Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and digital video to get the news out as they are that tired phone in the office. Netflix has announced it will live stream its earnings call next week, and my old colleague Julia Boorstin and BTIG LLC analyst Rich Greenfield will be handling the moderating duties where analysts and investors can submit questions via email and Twitter. (I’ll leave the conflict of interest questions over that arrangement for another post or for others watching these developments, for now.)
The world is changing, companies are changing, and in this case, the media truly is the message. The sooner companies can adapt, the better served their various constituencies will be: Investors, employees, customers and clients. And it’s not just for media. No reason in the world why an executive posting a blog can’t also post a VLOG, or video blog, of the same content. Video can create such a deeper connection.
Companies need to be prepared by training how best to use video. Communicating on camera is infinitely more complex and different than talking on the phone. Appearance and expression matter more than mere intonation. Understanding what goes into good video, when to use it, how to produce it, is incredibly valuable. The ROI for a robust and effective video strategy can be a slam dunk. Video shouldn’t be an also-ran when it comes to a communications strategy. It ought to be up there with a fully integrated traditional and digital plan. Video matters. Great to see Yahoo using it.