Video: Why You Need to Pay Attention to Everyone age 28 or younger
Videos have taken the Web by storm. The most popular site, YouTube, is the No. 4 most popular Web site on the Internet. It reaches 10% of all the people online every day.
What is driving this phenomenon? The reason was explicated at a program sponsored by Canright & Paule, a Chicago design firm I recommend and use myself. It's the fact that everyone age 28 or younger has grown up with the Internet present in their lives, according to Stephen Krol, VP for Professional Services for the Lyons Consulting Group.
This is Generation Y or the Millennials. Entering the world after 1977, this generation comprises 72 million people, or almost 30 percent of the total population. This generation is having a huge impact on the economy. They not only shop using their own money, they influence their parents' buying trends -- the Baby Boomers.
Generation Y has never known a time without TV, radio, satellite broadcasts, microwaves, computers, game systems and the Internet.
These energetic, Web-loving young people have Webcams and know how to put video online. The lesson for law firm marketers is that the law graduates that law firms recruit are in this age bracket. To reach them, you need to put video on your Web site recruiting page. Static pictures and text just won't attract them.
Co-presenter Greg Buhl, VP for Interactive Strategies of Performance communications Group, gave examples of how video increased return-on-investment for several businesses. Sysco Foods has a video of Chef Pepi using new food products; the video significantly increased the time that visitors spent on the Sysco site. Disney put video into a banner ad for a game, and the clickthrough rates increased measurably.
Video on law firm Web sites = something worth viewing.
Larry,
I'm totally in agreement with your comments, although I'm a little biased since we're in the business of producing videos for law firms.
Law firms are way behind the rest of the world when it comes to video on the Web. My informal survey of the AmLaw 100 found very few firms with video in their careers section or otherwise. Given how competitive recruiting has become, it's surprising they don't recognize what you're saying. Other than a personal visit, there's no better way than a video to give a law student or lateral an idea of what it would be like to work at a firm.