• by Derek Gordon , March 14, 2011

If you haven't seen it yet, you've got to watch the Corning video on the future of glass in an always-on, completely digital world.   I first saw it about three weeks ago, and it is exhibit A for why video should be a centerpiece of any SEO strategy -- and the key to a larger content strategy. 

In the video, a truly fantastical world is imagined in which a typical family of four interacts with the glass they encounter at home, at work, while shopping, at school -- even while commuting.  Corning makes it feel real by drawing on well-known technologies that already use specialized glass -- such as smartphones, the cook-tops in kitchens or the video display in hotel bathroom mirrors -- to help bridge the disbelief gap.  In fact, the only truly unimaginable ideas in this video are the two children who happily dress themselves for school and the natty dad who expertly prepares a hot, home-cooked breakfast for his wife and daughters. 

According to the MediaPost story about this oddly seductive video, which was originally made for a Corning Investor Day presentation in early February, it's been viewed more than eight million times.  John Mannion, Corning's director of client relations, says the company didn't intend for it to be any sort of viral marketing campaign.  But when Corning published it to its YouTube channel, he said, the video struck a chord and just took off.  

Since Google and Bing introduced blended search engine results pages that often highlight videos and images near or at the top of the page, search marketers have been leveraging video content to get to the top of SERPs or to more completely dominate a SERP.  In fact, start-up and emerging brands are often able to break into page-one results they might otherwise be locked out of for months (or years) by using smart video strategies. 

When you watch the Corning video, it will be abundantly clear the company had a large budget to work with.  But interesting and engaging video content need not cost a fortune or even require a great deal of production prowess. 

Last year, I was interviewed by a reporter at Bloomberg who showed up to the interview with a small HD video camera -- which he set up on a small portable tripod -- and a couple of mikes.  He asked if he could tape my interview with him, which I agreed to, and then he settled in across from me to ask his questions. After we were done, he said he'd use the video to write his story; he'd then edit it to publish a video of my commentary; and he said he might also extract the audio to create a podcast (a step he wound up not taking).

I was kind of amazed. While I guess I understood this method of working was possible, I'd never actually seen it in action.  One journalist was doing the job of writer, editor, videographer, producer and publisher.  I thought the story was well-written, and while the video wasn't going to win any awards, it was (I thought) pretty good and definitely "click-worthy." Moreover, when I did a search for the story later on, the video came up in the search results on page one, while I had to click on "news" in order to find the written story. 

Now that you can shoot and edit HD video on an iPhone or iPad 2, and then load your video directly to YouTube, among other hosts, you, too, can be as efficient and effective as that Bloomberg reporter.   

Maybe you have an exec giving a speech at a major conference.  Awesome.  Capture that on video, add a title frame at the top and a call-to-action frame at the end, upload it to your YouTube channel  -- making sure you thoughtfully add a title and video description that reflects your keyword strategy -- and hit publish.  Because YouTube is HTML5 compliant, your video will be visible no matter what device is used to view it.  You'll be able to embed your video in your company blog, on product pages, in microsites and in your newsletters.  As your video is shared within your social graph, Google will point that out in search results; as it is shared, viewed, and "liked" on Facebook, Bing will also point that out.  Next thing you know, your low-budget video has hit the big time. 

I don't know if the future Corning has envisioned will come true, though it seems likely.  One thing that has already come true, though, is the power of video to drive traffic and awareness for your brand.  Use it.