Now that you've got your Web site up, you may be thinking about enhancing its appeal and value for key audiences. One approach that an increasing number of companies are taking is the use of video.
"It's one of the hot trends among Web sites," says Bennett Kleinberg, vice president of the new media group in Edelman Public Relations Worldwide's New York office. "I think you're going to see it more and more," agrees Mary Carlisle, an account supervisor at high-tech PR firm Miller/Shandwick Technologies, Mountain View, Calif.
Not only is video an effective way of communicating, it also helps position companies using it on their Web sites as leaders. "They're communicating the image that they're using advanced technologies," says Ron Solberg, president of communications technology consulting firm EasyCom Inc., Downers Grove, Ill.
What are the downsides of putting video on a site? "It can be tremendously [expensive] to digitize a video and make it available," says Kleinberg. Even more important, much of your audience may not have the capability to view the video--either because their connections are too slow, or they lack proper viewing software.
According to Solberg, video--say, to show a product in use or soundbites by a CEO--will be used and appreciated by sophisticated users such as engineers and other heavy Internet users. "For general consumers, I think it's still probably state-of-the-art, and [won't] reach a wide group."
Even when video cannot be viewed by the majority of a target audience, putting it on your site can communicate that a company is a leader, he said.
Undoubtedly, the issue of slow connection speeds will fade as higher-speed modems come onto the market; the 28,800-baud modems that were the fastest available last year already have been leapfrogged by 33,300-baud units, and companies are working feverishly on extremely high-speed modems that would be available to homes and businesses through cable television connections.
If you are planning to put video on your site, you also probably should put downloadable video-viewing software, such as QuickTime, on your site. Available in free shareware versions, such software will enable visitors who don't have this software to be able to view your video, says Kleinberg.
One option to placing full-motion video on a site is to use frequently updated images taken from video cameras, says Solberg. He says such images are being used on Web sites for highway traffic updates or monitoring of children's play at day-care facilities. (Edelman, 212/704-4530; Miller/Shandwick, 415/962-9550; EasyCom, 630/969-1441)