The Communications Department

I recently completed a video project that started out as a simple one-day shoot with a little over day to edit. However, as I stepped back and looked at what we created, I was struck by how much video has evolved during the last few years as a viable and cost-effective communication medium, due in large part to improved technology and improved distribution efficiency.

I have a corporate client whose company has an exclusive relationship with a gentleman who is recognized nationally as a leader in his field of expertise. My client would love to bring this gentleman to client meetings, sales finalist meetings and special events, but it just does not make sense from a practical and logistical perspective. So instead of taking this gentleman on the road and filling up every minute of every day with meetings and events, my client asked me to spend a day with the gentleman interviewing him on camera in order to produce a video she could use in place of his physical presence.

While this was a fairly straightforward video project, there are some observations worth noting about using video in this fashion, including:

Video is an effective tool for delivering a clear and specific message. I shot a lengthy interview with the subject matter expert, which gave me a lot of content when it came time for the edit. Working with my client, I was able to whittle down the content in the edit to reflect the exact messages my client wanted to communicate to her audience. The total run time of the video is less than ten minutes, but it clearly and succinctly delivers the key messages for which my client was looking.

The message is consistent. My client wanted this video for distribution to her company’s sales force, which is several hundred people strong and located across the nation. Incorporating the video into each salesperson’s presentation ensures a consistent message from the company with regard to the messages communicated by the gentleman in the video. Since the gentleman is not present to deliver his messages in person, my client does not have to rely on a salesperson’s interpretation and delivery of those key messages. The video delivers those messages consistently the around the country.

Video can be distributed many ways in many formats. The days of producing a video, making a bunch of duplications on VHS and distributing via the postal system are long gone. For this project, my client requested a few DVDs for key locations where they were having an event. However, the primary distribution channel was online through an internal Web portal. My client uploaded the video along with an updated sales presentation PowerPoint to the portal. I embedded the video in one version of the PowerPoint. In another version, a PowerPoint slide has a link to the video. My client ultimately will decide which way is best for her organization. The flexibility in format also significantly reduced cost due to the elimination of duplications and shipping fees.

Video can have a lengthy shelf life. From one interview on one afternoon, my client has a video her company can use for many months, perhaps even years, as long as the key messages do not change much over time. In this instance, I believe that will be the case and she will get at least a year out of the video.

As I prepared  for a couple of trips this summer, I found myself relying on user-generated review sites like TripAdvisor and Yelp to help me make decisions about hotels and places to eat. As a result, I started to wonder about the impact of these reviews ultimately have on business. After a little research, I came across a comScore study, which included these interesting tidbits of information:

• Nearly one out of every four Internet users (24%) reported using online reviews prior to paying for a service delivered offline.
• Of those who consulted an online review, 41 % of restaurant reviewers subsequently visited a restaurant.
• More than three-quarters of review users in nearly every category reported that the review had a significant influence on their purchase, with hotels ranking the highest (87 percent).
• Study participants were willing to pay up to 50% more for a meal for a high user-review rating.

(Source: comScore and The Kelsey Group, 11/29/07)

As for the accuracy of the reviews? “Ninety-seven percent of those surveyed who said they made a purchase based on an online review said they found the review to have been accurate.”

From my perspective and the influence user-generated reviews had on my purchasing decisions, the study rings true.

So what’s a business to do? A great place to start is Google. Google your business and look for the “reviews” link. Google pulls reviews from multiple sources, so business owners can see which sites contain reviews. Also, check out the more popular user-generated review sites, like Yelp.com, TripAdvisor.com and OpenTable.com. Some sites, like TripAdvisor, allow the business owner to respond to specific reviews so readers can get both sides of the story. Once you get a sense of what’s out there, think about how user-generated reviews factor into your social media marketing strategy. 

I think this study makes a compelling argument regarding the impact of user-generated reviews on the bottom line. Businesses, especially hotels, restaurants and other service-related businesses, need to know that people are talking about them and it may be costing them a lot of money.

I had the pleasure of attending the first ever Podcamp Western Massachusetts this past weekend. While I could only make it for the half of the full day podcamp, I did come away with some useful learnings and insights. Here are five of them.

1. Social media gatherings are positive experiences.The purpose of the podcamp was to bring people together who have a common interest in social media. One of the fundamental behaviors of social media online is to share thoughts, ideas and knowledge with one another in a free and open manner. This remained true during our face-to-face time together, too. Helping with this experience was the use of the Unconference format, which allowed for a free-flowing agenda defined by the interests of the group and the opportunity for attendees to opt-in to workshops that have the greatest appeal to the individual.
2. This social media stuff is real and significant. This isn’t really a learning for me but a reinforcement of what I have been experiencing over the last year or so. The folks at podcamp represented a wide range of occupations, economic status and life experience. They also represented a wide spectrum of social media and technical expertise. And yet there were so many stories of how they were engaging or being impacted by social media on a daily basis — from doing business to connecting with people they would never have met without these social media tools to driving cultural change.
3. It’s still all about relationships. I attended a workshop about using social media to promote  yourself and your business and one of the first comments was that interpersonal relationships remain the primary driver  for success. This idea is of particular interest to me because I’m trying to get a better understanding of the effects — positive and negative — social media has on authentic relationships. And as the podcamp helped prove,  there is no substitute for face-to-face interaction. There are plenty of online tools to facilitate the workshop topics covered at podcamp. However, there is real value in coming together as a group and seeing and hearing one another in person.
4. Twitter is hot. There was a lot of discussion about Twitter during the time I was at podcamp. It appeared to garner the most interest, leading to its own Twitter 101 session. While the discussions included information on what it is and how to use it, there were several discussions on why we use it. With Twitter growing so quickly and making its way into the mainstream, the information and networking on Twitter has the potential to grow in value and importance. I say has the potential because the downside is that it also is growing in spam and losing some of its “purity,” as a cottage industry of ghost Tweeters seems to be growing, too.
5. Attend more social media gatherings. Podcamp was a great experience and as mentioned in the first learning in this list, social media gatherings generally make for a positive and worthwhile time. And with social media evolving and changing at lightening speeds, attending an event is a great way to keep up with what’s going on in the social media world. So be on the lookout for social media podcamps, Tweetups (gatherings of local folks on Twitter) and other social media conferences.

For more learnings from folks who attended Podcamp Western Mass, make sure to check out the links on the Wiki.