Why words are so important in the so-called age of video

Video killed the radio star. That was the 1980s mantra of the MTV generation, courtesy of the band the Buggles. Today, video everywhere you look. People consume more and more video and, as if you needed more evidence, YouTube is now the second largest search engine inthe world.

Not so fast. I would argue that words are still more important.

A recent call for banning the word ‘bossy’ from our vernacular by Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg reminds us that word choices can be critical not only in business, but in civilization as a whole. While a picture may be worth a thousand words, it’s interesting that words are still the currency we use to describe them.

In communication, words are the gold standard.

Of course, I don’t mean to suggest that you should stop making those videos (and Slideshare presentations and podcasts), just remember that the words you choose as you’re defining them are critical. Yes, Vine videos are fun and attention getting, but the attention your brand can get from a six-second video can be as fleeting as the video itself.

Words are where the investment needs to be made.

So before you create that epic video, that mind-blowing Slideshare presentation or that in-depth podcast, consider investing time in the words that will describe them. I’m not talking about the words that are actually used in these tactics (e.g. the script), but the words used in the strategy that defines and inspires them.

The strategies you develop as you pursue these tactics need to lay out your thinking for who, what, when, where why and how this will happen. As Joe Pulizzi and others have said, we are all becoming media companies. The big difference here is that we aren’t reporting the news. We are the news.

And who cares about us? No one.

That’s why things like storytelling and content strategy are so important. In order to make ourselves relevant to those whom we want to engage, we have to create a story.

And, to do that, we have to use words.