Yesterday, someone sent me an email asking this question:
If I was able to get my top 20 customers to send a 30 second iPhone video saying why they love working with us…I want to mash them up for featuring on our web site and YouTube…is the iPhone high enough quality?
In my opinion, yes.
Photo by takacsi75
Given that so many people are now able to create their own video and have experienced YouTube, I believe the general population is more understanding and accepting of lower quality production than they were in the past. What matters is that the content and message get through.
For certain, you would want to edit the videos. User-generated videos tend to move slow, and have a lot of extra footage at the beginning and end. Editing is powerful and can capture the most moving cuts to create something faster-paced and more impactful.
Of course, for any given company, there branding question of low quality production. If it’s important for your brand to present a polished face, then user-generated videos from phones might not be right.
However, for the person who sent me this email, I would argue that phone video works in her favor. She wants to convey that real people use her service, and phone quality video will help convey that in a non-verbal way.