There’s only so many cut-and-paste video listicles I can take.
Credit to HardwarezoneSG (link to: http://www.hardwarezone.com.sg/tech-news-youtube-reveals-singapore-s-top-trending-videos-2016)
10 types of people you meet in the office. 6 people you would most likely find in the gym. 5 things that make you Asian. Personalities with casual racism riding on stereotypes so hard they chafe their thighs. Trust me, this was funny MAYBE 5 years ago; but now, the laughs these videos used to induce have been reduced to either an uncomfortable chuckle or utter, utter disdain.
Adding insult to injury, some of these ‘content gurus’ and self-styled ‘influencers’ have an over-inflated sense of self worth (trust me, I’ve seen the rate cards) and all they have in their portfolio is an inordinate amount of bullet points.
Excuse me while I brush this chip off my shoulder.
The good news is that brands are paying more attention to where their money is going. Simply hawking views is selling the sizzle without the steak. Informed marketers not only look at content, but historically, how effective it was in creating real impact.
Drex Gerodiaz/ PIXERF There’s no point having a loud sizzle, with no steak.
Real storytellers are hard to find, but once you do, you can measure the effectiveness of the message by leaps and bounds. Real storytellers care about the audience, their motivations and form a deep relationship with them over time. Pushing a commercial message within a story is an art. Remember: you already stand to lose – the average attention span of your viewer is less than three seconds. So it’s easy to mess up.
Where do we go from here?
Chuck your phone away in desperation and turn to books?
Not so fast. The great thing about the internet generation is that we vote on our feet and decide with a twitch. Quality, like cream, will always rise to the top and with YouTube and big brother Google laying the smack down recently on how they reward views, and brands re-calibrating how they use video influencers in campaign – proponents of this industry who are not already improving themselves will need to buck up.
That’s good news for the consumer, and the industry in general.
