One of the benefits to working in the field of social commerce is its nascence. Because of this there is a lot of green field and thinking about the art of the possible is well still, possible.

When we seek to spread the word about how brands can better spread their word we are regularly meeting with clients, friends, and prospects. These are smart folks typically working for a major brand, advertising agency, or PR agency.

As a solution provider side my company is offering the generation of targeted video content, the distribution of commerce videos, and advisory on commerce optimization. Over the last year we’ve had a chance to see a variety of implementations as well as a good look at what brands and agencies are looking to do in the future.

As Memorial Day weekend approached I came up with an idea to see how peoples perspectives compared based upon the chair they are sitting – agency or brand; and then PR agency or Advertising agency and CPG brand or CE brand.  So I sent out an informal survey to major brands and agencies. Not wanting to be biased towards clients, I also included prospects we’ve been in discussions with as well as personal friends in those industries that I consider to thinkers.

All in all I received 45 responses from just over 50 emails I sent out (plus some feedback from our very own Clorox Connects community). The question I asked was around sharing thoughts on the topic of video. Specifically I was trying to determine where brands thing there is the most value in using consumer generated video content.

The top five areas that brands and agencies would use consumer generated video content are:

Brand website or microsite – 64%

Facebook page – 62%

YouTube – 58%

eCommerce site product page (i.e. BestBuy.com, Amazon.com) – 53%

In stream advertising (ie. Hulu) – 31%

Sales presentations – 31%

Selling ideas internally (i.e. “I told you the remote is clunky, watch this”) – 31%

Part II will come next week and will include a comparison of results from PR firms, advertising agencies, CPG brands, and CE brands.

Love to hear your thoughts and comments.