Consumers like brands that they can identify with, and it’s hard to identify with a business itself unless you can get to know a little bit about it. Social media and online video are pretty powerful tools for helping consumers get to know a business, and it can cost next to nothing. 

As mentioned in another article about how businesses can utilize video as the TV industry is revolutionized by connected devices, WebProNews spoke with "Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business" author Steven Garfield about humanizing your brand with video. 

For example, you can use video to show people how you’re different from your competitors. You can show off your place of business, your team, etc. It just helps customers get to know you, and that can help create a positive reputation in their minds.  

We also spoke with Tim Washer, who  works on Cisco’s social media marketing. He shared some examples of how Cisco does this. One way is through humor. For example, Cisco once had a Valentine’s Day campaign about how an $80,000 router would make a great gift for your lover.

Obviously, they don’t expect to sell expensive routers as valentine’s gifts, but they do leave an impression with such an ad. People remember it. One issue with using humor, as he mentions, is that you need to keep getting funnier. Here’s the slideshow from a presentation Washer game on humor at the Summit:

Ims10 tim washer View more presentations from Tim Washer.

Humor isn’t the only way to get through to people, however, it might be easier than you think to humanize your brand through video, without using up too many resources. Washer mentioned a Cisco employee, who was going on a trip to Malaysia and India, and they sent a flip camera with her, which she used to make a little Travel show of her trip. She used the camera to take shots of different foods she was trying, different places she was going, etc. She also slipped some business in there. She talked about the business people she met with, the challenges they were facing, and what Cisco’s products could do to help. 

Cisco is a large company, but it takes very little resources to do something like this. With online video in more living rooms, it only adds to the incentive. 

Another interesting point Washer made, is that the cost of something like this is essentially the time of the people involved. This employee was taking the trip anyway. The only added cost (other than the camera, which you might already have anyway) is the time it takes to put something together. For something like this particular campaign (or show, if you will), that’s not too much. 

The benefits? Letting customers get to know you, and possibly like you. That’s worth a lot.