Who’s King In the Attention Economy?
This article was originally printed in CU Today’s quarterly magazine and recently discussed on The Allied Angle podcast.
The Attention Economy
In the attention economy consumers exchange their attention to one brand’s message for another. The more a brand engages consumers' attention, the more valuable that brand becomes.
Video is the currency of choice in the attention economy. With YouTube being the second most visited website in the world, it’s evident that consumers crave video. Just one minute of attention to a video is equivalent to consuming 1.8 million words. What a compelling communication channel!
Video is a powerful, fast-paced tool, and we’re making some predictions for how it will evolve in the coming months.
- Move over email and text, video is in the house. 66% of consumers watch a video to learn about a brand or product. While written digital channels like email, SMS, and text-based social media posts still have their place in member communication, these channels are more effective when combined with video. Don’t worry, we’re not talking about lengthy videos: short form (one to three minute) videos are ideal for introducing your values or guiding members to next steps.
- Video production is going to be more affordable. Many credit unions - yours included, most likely - know that video is a powerful tool in the marketing toolkit. However, traditional outsourced video production is very costly. The alternative is to bring a video creative team in house, which is also expensive. With new SaaS tools on the market, financial institutions can bring video production in-house for the cost of the software, rather than the cost of FTEs. This is becoming the most affordable route for video production.
- SaaS tools aren’t replacing humans. They are freeing them up to do their best work. A video SaaS won’t replace your teams, but it will equip them to produce high quality video content. In-house video creation capabilities can even be leveraged by various teams (think HR, sales, and marketing.) Giving your teams a video production software enables them to produce videos with shorter lead times than traditional outsourcing. Designated users can leverage design and campaign templates - and get back to their jobs.
- Video increases connection currency. Attention spans are short, and getting shorter. (There’s a decent chance you’re skimming this article because your attention is already waning.) While revenue is an important metric for success, we’re living in the era of attention and connection are important forms of currency too. Member engagement doesn’t come with a balance sheet, but measuring viewer engagement and other key insights can provide quantifiable metrics for how your brand’s messages are performing.
- The cost of ignoring video is high. We’re living in the Experience Age, and video is an important piece of the digital optimization puzzle. Credit unions may struggle to add this into the budget – yet the cost of leaving it out is high. Your credit union isn’t competing for a piece of market share from just banks and fintechs anymore. In our video-forward world, brands that are mastering video curation are winning consumers’ attention, so you are competing against every single brand creating video content. If engagement is shallow this could show up in fewer deposits and lower retention (both employee and member.)
The Final Word: Video isn’t Going Anywhere
These days, everyone with a smartphone is a content creator. Since video is the preferred method of content consumption, it’s time to equip your teams with a highly personalized, in-house video production and editing platform.
Want to see how powerful video can be? Learn more about the SundaySky video platform!