With the help of Australian video company Vquence, Senator Kate Lundy started a YouTube and a Vimeo channel in June this year as part of a new effort in using social networking technology – also known as Web 2.0 technology – to better communicate with her constituency.

Many of her federal colleagues have started using YouTube for publishing videos. The success of the Obama campaign has impressed many politicians and encouraged trying out the new approach – in particular to connect better with the younger generations. However, the majority of YouTube channels of Australian politicians are barely more than “Trophy channels” – they just republish TV appearances and best speeches from parliamentary recordings of the particular politician. But there is so much more to be done with video.

A YouTube channel that follows the Obama example needs to be part of a well thought out strategy. According to Maxwell Harper, Obama’s video strategist during the 2008 campaign, “Video is an investment and if you think about it really strategically it’ll pay for itself through the impact it has.”

Senator Lundy made her YouTube and Vimeo channels an integral part of a wider campaign to improve her own communication with citizens and to allow citizens to have more input into government decisions. Her twitter presence, her blogging site, as well as her consultative Public Sphere events are other parts of the picture that forms a complete, modern communication strategy for a politician.

The strategy is paying off. According to video metrics prepared by Vquence, the more than 50 videos posted since June have seen more than 3000 views by the beginning of August. More importantly, the time that people spend on her website has increased by 45% because of the videos. Clearly, visitors are finding the videos a valuable addition to her communication mix.

The videos that are showing the most impact are the vodcasts or video blogs. “Vodcasts are regularly produced short pieces of video that provide a focused message, similar to a blog post but in video format.” says Dr Silvia Pfeiffer, Vquence CEO. “Senator Lundy’s first three vodcasts have achieved more than 1000 views within the first month – more than any other videos on her channels. Clearly, people like the direct way in which the Senator tries to communicate with them.”

“One of the concerns often expressed when considering video amongst a range of Web 2.0 strategies is the perceived complexities of recording, posting and assessing the effectiveness.” Senator Lundy says. “I was aware of the success other politicians were having with their video and You Tube channels but had always presumed the need for resources would put video beyond me. The good news is it is indeed possible!”

“If you are not publishing video online, you are missing out on an opportunity.” states Dr Pfeiffer. ” YouTube is now the second biggest search engine on the Web and that means visitors are trying to find you there. If all they can find are fake channels about you or your brand, your reputation may suffer.”

Vquence is now helping Senator Lundy with video search engine optimisation, seeding, daily metrics, and quarterly comprehensive reporting. Senator Lundy and her team have become self-proficient in video production and are continuing to try out new production styles, trying to provide even more value to her constituency.

Senator Lundy YouTube Channel

In her recent blog post, Senator Kate Lundy states that with such positive experiences in mind, she was curious to explore the new medium herself. She describes the thought process that she and her team went through to start her online video presence and how Vquence helped her team become self-proficient with vodcasting.

In June, after a short period of planning, Vquence proceeded to set up Senator Lundy’s YouTube and Vimeo channels and produced the first three vodcasts. These vodcasts alone have attracted more than 1000 views.

However, once started, Senator Lundy and her team were incessantly at work to produce more video as part of developing new strategies of communicating with her constituency. Her Public Sphere events are a historic move toward more citizen participation in government decisions and have created 40 video recordings of speeches that were all uploaded to her video channels, too. It is instructive to analyse the interest that those videos created not just during the event, but long after.

Video views after the Public Sphere

The top graph shows the Google Analytics results of the Web page for the Public Sphere. The day of the second Public Sphere event is clearly identifiable by the large spike of views on that day. What is outstanding though is that the videos that were published shortly after the event and that are recordings from the event continued to have views for more than 4 weeks after the event and are still attracting interest.

The key finding of a 28 page report that Vquence delivered at the end of July on the performance of Senator Lundy’s video activities is that the video strategy caused people to spend 45% more time on her website than before. The following picture is an extract from the report:

Time Spent on Senator Kate Lundy's Website

When people spend 3 min on the site rather than 1:20 min, a lot more information is exchanged. Some people prefer digesting information in video form rather than text, thus with video available, the website becomes accessible to a lot more people. In addition, Senator Lundy has taken our advice and made videos accessible using subtitles – these have also been shown to increase user attention. Removing all other variables, it is very impressive that the videos caused a 45% increase in time spent on site.

In the meantime, Senator Lundy and her team have started shooting and editing her own videos . For a new vodcast, it is important to experiment with the content and production style and find one that works for you. So, it is great to see Senator Lundy continues to come up with new ideas like her new monthly wrap. After all, a vodcast is an expression of your personality and your communication style, so it takes some experimentation to get it right.

Do give her feedback on what you want to see addressed in her vodcast and whether you like or dislike the way in which it is done. Only by giving feedback and getting engaged will we improve the way in which politicians talk to us – and ultimately the way in which our government deals with us.