If someone was asked what social networking site they thought is best for communications, Facebook would likely spring to mind pretty fast, (as it is generally known as THE social networking site). And Facebook is of course a fantastic tool, you might think that with its immense user base (over one billion as I'm writing this) it could be used to power an entire public relations or communications online campaign. However, Facebook is overrun with advertisements, promoted pages, constant requests to like pages and attend events, and oh my god, the religious debates. In my experience, people tend to get annoyed and block further notifications from certain pages and people.
Sometimes that doesn't even work.
Because of these little annoyances, people have slowly began to migrate to Twitter, a finely tuned, promotion spreading machine. Even through Twitter does not have the users Facebook has (roughly 500 million) it's simply a superior tool in public relations. The speed that information is spread throughout site is incredible. Add this to the fact that Twitter doesn't suffer from an overload of information which may hit you in the face as you log in, and you have a winner.
So why use YouTube?
The reason videos are so powerful for any communications strategy is that it provides a more personal touch, which is important. Nothing else on the internet is more personal than a video.
YouTube is not the only video sharing website, but it is certainly the best for communication professionals working on campaigns, as websites such as VEVO hold exclusive contracts and have a narrower target audience.
Creating a video is a very effective way of launching a public relations campaign, regardless of the client. If a video has the ability to touch people emotionally or if they relate to it it will stick in their memories for a long time. These emotional reactions can cause videos to go viral at alarming speeds. Remember how fast 'Kony 2012' went viral last year? This video was so powerful that it caused a sharing frenzy that lasted weeks by the time people began to scrutinize.
An example of a positive use of YouTube as a communications tool is the 'No Kid Hungry' public service announcement created in conjunction with the Food Network. It included a narrative from Jeff Bridges which was used to gain more publicity.
Humor is powerful in any form of media. If there is one thing that might stick in a potential customers mind more than a touching speech and a warming gaze from one of their favorite celebrities, it's something that leaves them splitting their sides laughing. This is of course debatable, many people may feel that certain emotions effect their decisions more than others, but if I'm the customer I will always remember the funny one.
An achievement made by certain companies is that they have produced ad's so memorable that people actually went online specifically to see the ad again. A perfect example of this is the famous 'Guinness Dancing Man' ad called 'Anticipation' launched in 1995.
The user base and traffic of the website is phenomenal, and it's still growing, and it will continue to grow. Check out statistics on the sites traffic here. - YouTube Press Room Stats
