We are witnessing a new communication landscape as online and social media have created ever changing platforms for distributing your message effectively to a diverse audience. The market is becoming more aware of how multimedia can enhance output and communicate with its customer base and share holders more easily, but many still remain confused. This article aims to address some of these issues and create a better understanding.

Multimedia can be a powerful communication tool particularly in the online world but you need to know how to use it for a campaign to be a success. Focus cannot just be given to the content alone; distribution and optimization of content is equally vital. It is useless producing fantastic content that doesn’t reach your target audiences effectively.

This is an area where social media becomes an extremely valuable tool to have. With new websites, social networks and new distribution platforms launching all the time such as The Video News Agency which ‘hosts material from a range of companies for use by the communications industry, such as corporate announcements, documentary material and interview footage’ (Journalism.co.uk, 13/9/2010. http://goo.gl/qMDL), ensuring your content reaches key influencers is becoming a much more inexpensive and simpler task.

And for PR and Marketing professionals in particular the value of social media used alongside multimedia content cannot be ignored. We only need to look at these statistics to see why:

’ 46% of Journalists use online video sourced from social networks in their own work , 68% quote bloggers in their work and 37% keep up to date on issues and topics through Twitter.’ ’

Online and social does the sharing for you:

What defines social media is that it is all about sharing so when you make your multimedia content available via social platforms you enable your customers, bloggers and journalists to spread the word for you and you reach some previously un captured audiences.

This process was summarized perfectly by the chief executive of the world's largest PR firm Weber Shandwick, Harris Diamond.

‘"For us, every time there's a new channel created it's an opportunity for our client to reach a group of people in a way it never used to. We're on the other side of the coin.''

"It has ripple effects that go far beyond the [audience] numbers [of newspapers or TV stations]."

(The Sydney Morning Herald Oct 8th 2010 ‘Social media heralds a golden era for marketers’ http://goo.gl/OSfK )

Giving your audience what they want:

Using social media to distribute and promote your multimedia content is a fantastic tool for product and service development. Audiences can feedback their comments and opinions which you can then use to adapt and tailor your content to make it more effective. Some great examples of this can be seen through social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook where brands create a page to announce news or run alongside a new product or series.

But Multimedia content is not just about online?

What makes multimedia content such a valuable investment too is that distribution of your content is not limited for online use. Content such as video can be used alongside more traditional PR and Marketing campaigns too. For example a video can be used as part of an email marketing campaign. It can be used as a conference aid to Clients or potential Investors to give you an edge and a different way of engaging with your audience.

At a time where content can be created in multiple mediums and then shared in social media communities, it is surprising that we are still seeing some resistance to a wealth of opportunities. If you’re still not sure I urge you to take another look. If you want some support perhaps you could come and talk to LittleVoice Media....

For more information on how LittleVoice Media can help visit our website below.