Over the past two years, and more specifically the last six months, more and more companies are understanding the need to have online video on their website.  A good website should be a place where a person can come and get good solid information on a company, product, or service.  A great website will tell an engaging story around the brand that will pull the customer in and make him or her want to get more information. Great video content can take your site to the next level.

But what makes great video content?

What is good video?  Just like anything else subjective, that depends on the viewer.  However, with the constant arrival of high quality production/camera equipment for both professionals and consumers, creating a good quality production video is not nearly as difficult as it used to be.  From homemade videos and basic talking head videos to more professional e-commerce pieces and live action mixed with animation, online video has a wide array of uses.  Now, more than ever, producers and users of online video really need to focus more on the message itself and make sure that is engaging.

Here are some examples of great video content I've seen used - hopefully this will spawn some ideas for how you can leverage online video on your website:

• President Obama - Even using cameras installed on computers will work for the right message, as Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign showed.  David Plouffe used a series of videos made in his office to keep Obama’s fans informed of what was going on in the campaign.  While being just a very basic, low production video, Plouffe used PPT slides to emphasize certain points and utilized the fact that the information itself was interesting to viewers to make a more engaging video. 

• TED – A great website with an incredible array of videos of speakers on a variety of subjects, this is a fantastic example of the most basic video production can still be engaging and entertaining as long as the subject matter is worthwhile.  Nothing more than a camera following a speaker around on stage (granted, some of the speakers are among the brightest people on Earth).

• E-commerce – plenty of companies are trying to use video as part of their e-commerce strategy to get users to buy their products.  Zappos has been leading the charge, creating not only their own youtube video but also asking consumers to create their own videos showing their experience with their shoes. Lots of great press and interest in this campaign has made for a very successful period for the company. Diesel has a great video on their site of video utilizing tagging and e-commerce within the video.  For companies who feel they can engage customers with their products while being worn/used by others, this is another great example. 

• Viral videos – Everyone wants to have the next viral video ant there are some great examples of thses – from the homemade laughing baby video that has been viewed 115MM times, to the now famous music video for OK Go on treadmills, there are plenty of ways for companies to engage with consumers. 

Many of the top brands have their own YouTube pages to let consumers immerse themselves in the brand experience.  As we all know, YouTube is now the second most used search engine in the world behind Google – so use it.  Create your own channel – post videos, link them to your Facebook page and tweet about them. See what happens.

Another great way to engage in viral is of course comedy.  One of my favorite sites for this is Return of Terry Tate - Terry is a former NFL player who both creates his own viral videos (professionally done) and is also often used as a spokesperson in viral videos for brands.  Check out his website  - and if you have budget and want to do something hilarious, think about him.  I have seen examples of both external and internal company videos featuring Terry.

So, companies hoping to use online video no longer have to worry about huge production budgets for these videos.  Of course, the better the video looks, the more likely it is to be shared.  But, as I mentioned before, if you can create a great story to tell, you don’t have to spend a million dollars to tell it.

Here are some other great online video sites that you may or may not have heard of:

• Funny Or Die - www.funnyordie.com
• DailyMotion - www.dailymotion.com
• MyDamnChannel - www.mydamnchannel.com
• NextNewNetworks - www.nextnewnetworks.com
• Heavy - www.heavy.com

These are some of my favorites. Please feel free to share some of your favorite sites with me as well - I'd love to check them out.