This is the second year 3M has put on a Video Contest.  Last year, according to this post on ClickZ (Link), the contest received 600 submissions.  The article also quotes 3M’s communications manager putting the cost of the campaign around that of a small TV buy — which I’m guessing is in the $1MM range.

Forrester’s Nate Elliot published two new studies that digs into these UCG video contests (link).  Nate’s research shows that over 20% of marketers have run contests that solicit user generated content.

Thoughts:

• User Generated Content Contests are not cheap.  To be successful they require significant promotion.  3M’s $1MM budget generated 600 videos.  If the average views per video was 100 that would result in 60,000 views for $1MM.
• You have to get creative with the content.  User Generated Content is not for every product.  That said, the 3M contest is a great example of a product that at first glance might not seem to be that fun for users to film — but turns out it is.
• As more and more consumers have a video camera with them at all times in the form of a Cell Phone expect more video contests.  The biggest hurtle is for the user to go through the hassle of creating, editing, and uploading the video.  Expect to see simple tools added to cell phones over the next few years that removes most of these hassles. (That’s a business idea that should be developed — easy video editing tools via smart phones).
• I recommend thinking about these types of consumer engagement activities as a part of a larger marketing campaign.  These contests carry a lot more weight in moving viewers into buyers when thay are a part of a comprehensive marketing program that touches consumers at various points along the purchase funnel.

YouTube HotSpots

A while ago YouTube added a report to “Director” level accounts that shows how “hot” a video is at any given moment in the video.  The idea is that you can tell when viewers are bored with your content and use this information to improve future videos.  When the green bit is above the red line then viewers are engaged.  When the green bit goes below the red line then viewers are bailing out.

From the graph above you can see that this video starts strong then fades out.  (This is a video I made with my son and not one of the ones I did professionally).  We can study this and see what content the viewers where interested in and where the content starts to lose the viewers.  Over time we can learn the “hot” buttons that keep the viewer engaged.

I do a lot of online video and find this report an interesting insight into how our content is received.  What I don’t know is how to apply the information.  I have another video shot coming up in Jan and before we shot I’ll take the script writers through these reports.  I’ll post a follow up to determine if there are learnings here that can be successfully applied to improve video engagement.