I’ve always said that there are two types of people in the world: Cat lovers and dog lovers. The type of pet you love is the type of person you are. For instance, if you are a dog lover, you’re a loyal friend, protect the people you love and can become vicious if abused or treated wrongly. If you’re a cat lover, you’re a little more distant with people and fiercely independent. And you love a good nap. I’ve always been on the fence. While I adore dogs, I’m a cat owner, mostly because I like to travel and it’s easier to leave them alone than a dog.
So keeping this in mind, how do you explain our fierce love with cat videos?
Since the rise of YouTube, the cat video has been an essential part of viewing material on the internet. According to a 2015 survey by the Pew Research Center, 45 percent of the people who are currently uploading videos to the internet are uploading footage of their cats or another pet. According to the website ReelSEO, there are 2 million cat videos on YouTube, the first being uploaded on 2006. Those videos have attracted 24.6 billion views. On cats. Doing cat things. Even the hacker group Anonymous is in love with cats – the group has more than once declared war on cat killers around the world.
What is it about cats that we like to watch? Is it because they are so cute doing silly things? And why cats in the first place? Why not dogs or gerbils or snakes? Well, maybe not snakes.
Several articles have examined our love of cat videos and tried to come up with a scientific explanation for it. But I think the reason is simple enough – they’re entertaining. You get a chuckle out of them. For a brief minute, you watch the video and smile. It puts you in a good mood. And cats can be total jerks so it’s awesome to make fun of them.
But there is something law firms can learn from the cat video. Even if you hate felines, cat videos are entertaining. You’re almost required to stop and watch them on Facebook (and if you’re a cat owner like me, you probably get sent links to cat videos all the time). The cat video is essential for the video you want to create for your law firm. I’m not suggesting having a cat star in your video. What I’m saying is you need entertainment value.
If you do a quick search on YouTube right now for law firm or legal videos, chances are you’re going to see the following types of videos:
- A talking head video where a lawyer is just sitting at a desk or in front of the camera and talking about a matter that no one cares about.
- A commercial type video with flashy graphics that offers no education value other than who you are.
Come on, where’s the entertainment in that? If I wanted to watch a commercial, I’d turn on the TV. If you want to get people to watch your video, you need a hook, something that will draw them in. Not everyone is going to sit and watch you for two minutes discussing what tax law is. Just the idea alone puts me to sleep. Try to bring some fun into the video. Instead of you sitting there talking about the subject, why not make it a PowerPoint presentation? Or draw some stick figures and recreate an interesting case? Or get someone who knows a thing or two about graphics and animate the whole video? You’d be surprised by the views you get by becoming more entertaining.
And if you need help, well that’s what we’re here for. Give ENX2 Marketing a call and let’s see what we can come up with. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to scare my cat Pepper with cucumber and film it. He had it coming, he knocked over my water glass the other day. Jerk.