I got an email from Joe Biden. Seriously, the personal approach the Obama campaign takes tickles me. As much as I know that a number of people pour their energy over the email strategy and copy, I get a kick out of seeing that I have a message from weekly horoscopes, trulia real estate alerts and… Barack Obama! Today, I got the VP-candidates first direct email. It’s a video message that runs close to 3 minutes.
Often times I get asked the question, how long should an online video message be. I counsel saying under 2 minutes. If you can, stay close to 1 minute, I say, thinking of typical Internet users’ attention limits.
Biden’s message carries itself well. This is his first time in my inbox, so I am interested in what he has to say. I want to study his mimics, hear his message, think through how his words bode with the Obama campaign’s mantra. Maybe if I didn’t work in the interactive space, my eye wouldn’t have gone to the counter. But, bottomline, if your online video goes over an acceptable dose of time, your content better be king.
Idil has devised marketing and communication strategies for Fortune 500 companies and non-profit organizations for 20 years. She is the author of 'Implementing Word of Mouth Marketing: Online Strategies to Identify Influencers, Craft Stories and Draw Customers' (Wiley, 2010), as well as numerous industry briefs and articles on online communications.
Idil has been a public speaker on word-of-mouth marketing, women and ethnic minorities’ use of digital communications, and e-CRM. She has been widely quoted in trade journals and newspapers such as CNet news, CBS Market Watch, San Jose Mercury News, Chicago Sun Times, Harvard Business Review, the Financial Times and the New York Times. In 2010, she was selected ‘Digital Communicator of the Year’ by PRNews.
Idil is currently VP of Media Analytics at Nielsen, working with public sector, technology and telecom clients, gauging their advertising and brand communication effectiveness. She also serves on the Ad Council’s Research Committee.
Previously, she was a VP of Client Development at NM Incite – a Nielsen / McKinsey company, identifying and amplifying business opportunities in social media for clients. Prior to her roles at Nielsen, Cakim was a Senior Vice President in the global PR agency Golin’s digital practice and a Director of Burson-Marsteller’s think tank—the Knowledge Development group.
A native of Istanbul, she holds an M.A. in Communication from the Annenberg School at University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in Sociology from Bryn Mawr College.
View all posts by Idil Cakim
