[interview with Wendy Piersall - 5:47]
For those of you who have been asking about more video from me, here's a conversation I had with Wendy Piersall at SxSWi. I talk about my story and how I got involved with technology, building a community, and making a life on this side of the pond.
There's a lot of talk about using video these days for a variety of reasons. When done well, spontaneous and not over produced, yet still professional and informative, in addition to being:
- Google-friendly - all of the good advice on tagging applies
- Easier for those who have limited time to consume - we're visual creatures, too
- More personal - we do respond to eye contact and facial expression
a video can engage us. So with all this in mind, why not use video for some of your customer-facing information? Think about instructions, tutorials, Q&As, special announcements - what better way to present a friendly face? There's more. We have a literal fascination with the screen and while the television screen saw us passive, the computer screen has us very much leaning forward and in charge.
It is much easier to engage customers in a visual medium than it is with words Have you ever given any thought of the ubiquitous avatar online? It's there for a reason - it helps us visualize the other person at the end of the conversation. That's also the reason why a company logo, as beautiful as it may be, just won't have the same effect.
One of the definitions of the verb to engage says -
The key is engaging in as many ways as your customers want to engage with you. Today at Fast Company expert blog we talk about how to build an engaging video library for your customers.
Do you use video on your Web site? Is your video chat a virtual assistant or is there a real person on the other side? Better yet - do you allow customers to leave you video comments on your site? Have you thought about doing that? Video is a lot less anonymous and you might be surprised by the creativity of your customers.
If you have a WordPress blog, you can install Seesmic video comments.
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Related posts:
When a Conversation can Save you Money
The Case for Customer Communities