How
Video can be used Effectively Online
A powerful way to convey your communication messages
to your audience is to be able to have your promotional
video available on your website.
Yet, we have probably all experienced visiting
a website and clicking on a video only to have
to been irritated that the content is not viewable
or that the sound is inaudible. The result is
we leave the website in frustration.
So how do you make sure the video content on
your website can be watched by your audience?
It all boils down to how you want your viewers
to access your video file and the level of video
quality you want your movie to be played at.
There are two different ways of sharing your
video file on the web:
1. Streamable Video
This is where the viewer is able to download
sections of your video (otherwise known as "streaming"),
while the video is playing. The main benefit of
this method is that the user does not have to
spend time downloading the complete video before
viewing.
There are three major streaming video formats
? RealVideo (RM), QuickTime (MOV) and Windows
Media (WMV). These are playable on Real Player,
QuickTime Player and Windows Media Player respectively.
Windows Media Player is widely available on most
PC's, as it is part of Windows Operating System.
The other players need to be installed.
The only negative with streamable video is that
the quality of the video is dependent upon Internet
connection. In addition, it has the annoying habit
of dropping video frames because the streaming
software has to adjust the data rate based on
the speed of your Internet connection, in order
to keep playing the video.
2. Download and Play
This is where the viewer needs to download the
entire video first, then play it on their video
player application. The main advantage is that
the video quality is not affected by Internet
connection speed.
However, it can take some time for the video
to download if the file is large.
So which format do you choose?
In a world where first impressions always count,
it is extremely important for companies to appear
professional and trustworthy at all times. Marketing
videos with poor picture quality are likely to
reflect a poor quality company in the mind of
the viewer. Consequently, we always recommend
the download and play option. This is because
it allows for high quality video content to be
viewed.
However, as you don't want viewers to give up
on downloading your video, we only recommend that
short video clips are inserted onto your website.
This means your website users will be able to
download a short video at a high quality picture
resolution that will portray your company in the
best possible way.
(c) Marie-Claire Ross 2004. All rights reserved.
Marie-Claire Ross is one of the partners of Digicast.
Digicast works with organisations who are not
satisfied that their marketing and training materials
are helping their business grow. She can be contacted
on 0500 800 234 (Australia wide) or at
mc@digicast.com.au. The website is at
http://www.digicast.com.au. |
