Interactive Video: The Newest Type of Corporate Video

Interactivity is a given in the way we consume media today. Think about it, when we’re clicking around the web, scrolling through our Facebook feeds, or browsing the on-demand options on our TVs, we’re making choices about what to read next, where to click next, whether to scroll, or what to watch next. Marketers attempt to guide that process: to attract your eyeballs and encourage some type of next action.

This interactivity is part of the way we make decisions today. Our decision to trust a piece of information’s accuracy or usefulness is assembled from several sources; we’re constantly making tiny choices as we interact with our electronic environment. Over time this adds up to a point-of-view.

Interactive video, as compared to static video, helps users determine or influence the outcome of a storyline to create his or her own point-of-view more quickly or firmly.

At Tribe we’re constantly trying to make business communication more human. What’s more human than choice?

Companies can use interactive video in numerous ways. The format is a largely untapped resource that plays into the hands of how people receive information and make decisions. Coupled with statistical analysis, interactive video can help a company gain insight into the values of their best customers to better serve them.

Tribe is all about crafting a story that connects your company, your leaders, your employees to the people you are trying to reach. In the end, the most important goal of any corporate video project is to turn strategies and projects into stories that move people. Interactive video is another tool.

All of Tribe’s interactive work happens to be internal-facing, not public. (But you can give a us a shout and set up a private screening.) And, in the meantime, if you’d like to see some great examples of interactive video for business, take a look at Rapt Media’s website.

Here are 3 excellent business uses for interactive video:

1. Onboarding. Employee onboarding at its core is a method of disseminating information, company processes, terminology and social norms in a systematic way, so that an employee can’t do better work, faster. Setting up a video workflow that allows a user to tailor the information, and see an explanation, to his or her role is infinitely more effective than handing someone an employee handbook or diverting them to the company wiki.

2. Recruiting. The sales aspect of the employee recruiting process is about convincing a potential hire that your company is a great place to work. Interactive video is a good idea for recruitment because it can help show a company’s tendencies or help an employee imagine herself working there in a certain role or area of the organization. For example, Do you like to work collaboratively? Do you want to be a manager someday? Are you really good at math? Here’s more about this area of our company that might be a fit for you.

3. Training. The best corporate training videos create clear stakes for an employee. One great training methodology deals with the presentation of a certain scenario, then an A, B, C choice of how to resolve that scenario. For example, imagine you’re in an office setting, and you observe a co-worker about to violate one of the company’s most rigid ethics guidelines. What would you do? Report it to your manager or supervisor? Pretend you didn’t see it? Try and talk them out of it? With interactive video you can play out each scenario and show the consequences and illustrate the behavior that’s correct or preferred by the company.

These are just three possible uses for interactive video in a corporate setting. We happen to believe the business applications of the format are endless. What do you think?