In last week’s blog, we discussed how online video can meet business goals such as customer service, lead generation, and adding a personal touch. We also touched upon investment considerations for online video production. An interesting example of a company that is adding a personal touch by providing insight into its organization and operations comes from fast food conglomerate McDonald’s. That company is currently advertising on the Internet, creating links to videos on its Web site that invite viewers to “step into McDonalds’ kitchens.” These one-to-two-minute videos concisely showcase how employees make things like Big Macs, Egg McMuffins, and (for the health-conscious McDonald’s diner) Premium Caesar Salads. Each video includes the tagline, “See what we’re made of,” and seem to showcase McDonalds’ use of fresh ingredients, even for fast food. To see those videos for yourself, check them out here.

Today’s blog will wrap up our discussion of online video by considering some its associated social networking aspects. If you look at the previously mentioned McDonalds videos, you’ll notice a small “share” button on the bottom-right corner of each video. When clicked, these buttons bring up a direct link to the video that can be copied and shared with other people. Herein lies the one of the most crucial factors of online video’s success—the ability to easily share videos. Combined with blogs and social networks (as well as the commenting and rating features of popular video hosting services), online video has become an extremely social medium in a very short amount of time.

Once again, YouTube is one of the best examples for showcasing the social aspects of online video media. A video on YouTube can be easily shared on a number of different social networking sites, including Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Digg, orkut, Live Spaces, Bebo, and hi5. While sites like Facebook and MySpace have implemented their own online video mechanisms, many videos found on those networks originate from sites like YouTube because YouTube makes posting easy. Text comments are available so users can express their opinions about certain videos. Users can also create and share their own video responses, which are linked back to the video that was commented on. Video responses are especially popular when videos on political topics are posted. Viewers can also instantly post ratings on a video (one to five stars) to help increase or decrease its popularity. YouTube users can also set up their accounts to the “autoshare” function, which automatically shares that user’s ratings and favorite videos to Facebook, MySpace, and Google Reader.

We’ve mentioned this before, but there are also features from YouTube that are found on most other online video services, such as automatically generating the code needed to embed video on a Web site or blog. These Web-based social activities and interactions with online videos are helping to make online video an increasingly popular medium for casual users and businesses alike. It is important to align the goals of your online video ventures with how you want these videos to influence online social behaviors. In other words, you need to give your audience a reason to share your video with others. Your video may feature humor, it might be somewhat ambiguous to leave the viewer wanting more, it may be extremely relevant and interesting, or it might prompt people to respond. Each of these strategies can encourage online social behaviors.

Online video can initiate a conversation between your company and your customers or target audience. It can also give them the chance to express their creativity. One of the most famous user-generated online video examples comes from the Frito-Lay Doritos brand, which has been holding a contest for the past few years that gives people a chance to win money by submitting their own video spots that will be run during the Super Bowl. Dubbed “Crash the Super Bowl,” this initiative enables people to record and submit their own TV advertisement spots. Visitors to the Web site then vote to determine which three will be shown live on air. Six finalists receive $25,000, and three advertisements are selected to be aired. There are also bonuses of up to $1 million if a video gets listed at the top of USA Today’s Ad Meter the day after the Super Bowl. This concept achieves a number of goals—it engages people with the Doritos brand for a number of months leading up to the Super Bowl, it enables people to express their creativity and fondness for the brand, and it essentially “crowdsources” the making and ranking of advertisements for the biggest advertising event of the year at a much lower cost than an ad agency could ever provide. There is no doubt that Doritos will continue to build on the success of this concept in the foreseeable future.

We have only just begun to see how online video can be an effective communication tool for businesses. Online video is increasingly tying in with other mediums that we’ve discussed during Tuesdays with Tukaiz, such as social media and mobile communications. As technology moves forward, online video will likely become an even more crucial component of the communication process. As detailed in the past few posts, there are a number of considerations that must be weighed before one dives headfirst into the world of online video. It is important to build a strategy around these considerations when developing a game plan. Effective online video communications must be smart, unique, and creative.