Up until now, we’ve been exploring primarily text-based ways to communicate with customers. Using tools like blogs or status updates lets your voice be heard and lets you “be seen” online. Now, let’s get a little more advanced.
In many ways, the digital world does mirror what goes on in the physical, “real” world. For example, “being seen” physically for your business might mean attending an event such as a Chamber of Commerce meet-and-greet. These types of events give you the opportunity to meet people, to share thoughts or ideas, and to exchange business cards. These events also have what I call the “Romper Room” effect. Remember that old kids’ TV show? At the end of each show, the hostess looked through a “magic mirror” and would name children she “saw” watching the show, saying something like “I can see David, and Judy, and Nathan!” Over time, you start to recognize the people who attend the same events that you do.
The same thing happens online. For example, over time I have started to recognize the people I “hang out” with on Twitter. I recognize their Twitter icons (an image that represents their site, usually a small photograph of the person). I will “see them” online when they are active on Twitter.
Social media sometimes also connects the digital back to the physical. For example, while writing this book, I would spend time in Starbucks working on edits. While I was getting my Starbucks drink, I “checked in” using Foursquare. Later on, one of my friends did the same thing—got a drink at the same Starbucks and checked in … and noticed I was here. That’s one thing Foursquare does: It lets you know if your friends are in the same place. So he came over and said hi, all because of that mutual check-in.
This chapter explores how you can use images and videos as visual tools to connect with your customers. You will also find tips about how to most effectively use pictures and videos organizationally.
Pictures can help your organization connect with customers. I use Flickr pretty heavily and love posting “what’s going on in my life” photos. I often use Flickr to show what’s happening in my day—sharing pictures of a new hat, pictures out of my hotel window, or even pictures of myself.
Guess what? Because I share pictures of myself, people tend to recognize me when I speak at information industry conferences and meetings. This has come in handy at times, like when someone I had never met in person recently had to pick me up at the airport. The person had visited my Flickr photos account, seen my pictures, and recognized me easily.
David Armano, executive vice president at Global Innovation and Integration for Edelman Digital and blogger at Logic + Emotion (www.darmano.typepad.com), has used pictures to raise money for a family.1 In 2009, a single mom he knew was having a rough time making ends meet. Daniela was a Romanian immigrant, couldn’t speak much English, and had just gone through a divorce. David and his family decided to help out a friend in need.
On a whim, David decided to post Daniela’s story and asked his blog readers to help him raise $5,000 to help her out. David writes well, so the story was compelling. But he also took a photo of Daniela and her kids—and that was even more compelling. Within a day or so, David had raised more than $5,000 … he actually raised $16,880.60! His goal was furthered by a photograph that helped readers visually connect with the plight of Daniela’s family.
How about pictures or photographs that don’t include people—do they make a difference? Well, have you ever used Google Maps Street View to visually figure out where you’re going? I sure have. I use it to scout out landmarks when I’m headed somewhere unfamiliar, because it lets me “visit” and see where I’m supposed to be before I’m supposed to be there. Pictures can help emphasize events. For example, many people used Google Maps to check out the damage in Port au Prince after the Haiti earthquake. Those satellite images let viewers see the seriousness of the damage and helped compel people to donate time and money to assist with the cleanup efforts.
Photographs have become much easier to deal with in the last 10–20 years. No more film or processing to mess with (unless you choose to do that). Since photo files are born digital, you don’t have to scan or otherwise convert them into a usable digital format. You don’t even have to carry a full-fledged camera around anymore—my iPhone camera takes photos that are similar in quality to my old snapshot 110 film camera. Since I always have my iPhone with me, I can take a snapshot whenever I want.
Uploading photographs to the web is also extremely simple. Two popular destinations for photos, Flickr and Facebook, make it very easy to upload and add photographs to your social network pages. Many mobile-based social apps allow you to upload a photograph directly from the app to the online photo service, which makes the upload process even easier. Just press “upload,” and you’re done.
Before we dive any deeper into using photos and videos, let’s talk about permissions. Do you, as an organization, need permission to take photos or videos of people, to post them, and to use them as part of your business? The easy answer is … there is no easy answer. Here’s what I mean.
Sometimes, permission is not needed. If you live in the U.S., you have the right to take photographs and videos of anyone and anything in a public place (with some restrictions). But don’t take my word for that—check out these resources:
• From the American Civil Liberties Union: “When in public spaces where you are lawfully present you have the right to photograph anything that is in plain view. That includes pictures of federal buildings, transportation facilities, and police. Such photography is a form of public oversight over the government and is important in a free society.”2
• From Photojojo.com: “Anyone in a public place can take pictures of anything they want. Public places include parks, sidewalks, malls, etc. Malls? Yeah. Even though it’s technically private property, being open to the public makes it public space.”3
• From The Photographer’s Right: Your Rights and Remedies When Stopped or Confronted for Photography, by Bert P. Krages II, an attorney who concentrates on intellectual property and environmental law: “The general rule in the United States is that anyone may take photographs of whatever they want when they are in a public place or places where they have permission to take photographs. Absent a specific legal prohibition such as a statute or ordinance, you are legally entitled to take photographs. Examples of places that are traditionally considered public are streets, sidewalks, and public parks.”4
Sometimes, permission is needed. Here’s what Andrew Kantor, a technology writer for USA TODAY, says about the commercial use of photography:
You can’t put someone else’s likeness to commercial use without their permission. This is usually mentioned in terms of celebrities, but it applies to making money from anyone’s likeness. … For example, if you shoot individual kids playing in a school football game, you can’t try to sell those shots to the parents; the kids have a right to the use of their likeness. You can sell photos of the game in general, though, and any shots where what’s happening (“A player celebrates a goal”) is more important than who’s doing it (“Star running back John Doe takes a momentary rest”). Sound like a gray area? It is if you’re planning to sell the pictures but not if you’re simply displaying them. And if you’re using them for news purposes, all bets are off—you can pretty much publish whatever you want if it happens in public view.”5
See why I said there is no easy answer? We haven’t even discussed social media yet. Social media is primarily used for communication or to simply share “what’s happening”—the “news” of your organization. If that’s how you primarily use photos and videos online, you are probably good to go. If you plan on using those images (and specific likenesses of individuals) for commercial purposes, then you need a permissions form.
Also remember this: I’m no attorney. If you have access to an attorney, and you or your organization is concerned about organizational use of photos and videos, please consult with him or her. Attorneys don’t like surprises!
You can share pictures many places online, but only a few really matter to organizations. Let’s discuss each of these, and then I’ll provide some how-to’s for handling pictures and photographs as an organization.
You can share pictures on your organization’s blog. I mentioned this in the previous chapter, but it’s worth repeating: Photographs make your blog seem more friendly and approachable. For example, you could feature staff members on your blog. Provide their names, share their pictures, and give a little bit of information about them, such as their favorite books, favorite ice cream flavors, and why they like working at your organization. Your staff member, and therefore the organization, now has a name and a face. You have just personalized your organization, making it more human and approachable to customers. Now, when customers who visited that blog post think of your organization, they might think of that person. That’s a good thing—it means your customer has internalized what your organization looks like to them.
Photographs can also add to or enhance content. On my personal blog, I frequently use images to visually enhance my blog posts. For example, a PR firm let me drive a Ford Flex for a week with the understanding that I would blog about my experience. I took photos of various features of the car and used those photos to enhance my posts.
Organizations can use Flickr to share what they’re doing. Have a new product or service? Give customers a “sneak peek” before that product hits the shelves. Since people search for photos in Flickr, you’ll want to use plenty of relevant tags on each photo. A tag is a word or words used to describe something, which can be attached to images in Flickr. For example, if I took a photo of Starbucks, I might describe the photo with these tags: starbucks, coffee, and caffeine. Also, use descriptive titles on each photo, since the title field is searchable.
Of course, people can also comment on Flickr photos (if you’ve allowed comments in your Flickr account). Commenting on photos allows customers to ask questions about what they’re seeing. And you can answer them easily via the comment box.
Your organization’s Facebook Page acts very similarly to a personal Facebook profile, complete with a Photos section. So, upload those photos! They’ll appear on your Facebook Wall in the status updates section, so people can comment on them. You can also set up your Flickr feed to automatically dump photos to your Facebook Wall by connecting your Flickr and Facebook accounts (more information on that can be found at Flickr). There are also third-party tools that will automatically import Flickr photos to your Facebook photos page.
Twitter resembles the status update feature of Facebook. In fact, that’s all it does! Twitter lets you tell your story, and using pictures with Twitter helps to visually tell that story.
There are a variety of ways to share photos in Twitter, including Twitter’s own upload service (which hosts photos on Photobucket). You can point to URLs, such as the address of a Flickr photo. (Twitter might shorten the URL for you, so you can get more text into that 140-character text box.) You can also use a third-party tool to post pictures to Twitter. For example, I use Twitpic, which uploads a photo to www.twitpic.com and also posts it to Twitter with a shortened Twitpic URL. TweetDeck (www.tweetdeck.com), which is the Twitter reader I most often use, includes a photo viewer within the app, so I don’t have to click a link and visit a website to view the image.
The following are some ideas on how to use photos in an organizational setting.
When you feature staff members, use pictures of the employees who actually interact in those spaces. For example, if Marlene is your primary blogger, include a picture of her once in awhile, so your blog readers can put a face to the “voice.” Make sure these are nice-quality images, but no glamour shots needed! Make sure the photos are recent photos, too. If the photo is more than 5 years old, you most likely need a new one.
Photos should also be business casual. No beers in hand (unless you’re a bar). No slouching, T-shirt-wearing, “yeah, it’s the weekend” pictures. You most likely have some dress standards at work, and some professional standards in your business for staff. The same guidelines would apply for photographs of your staff used online.
You can show useful, helpful things about your business using a photograph. For example, if something major in your store or company has changed—for example, a new entrance or a new branch—you can show it in advance, using pictures posted to your website and to Facebook. This prepares your digitally savvy customers for the change—before they actually visit your business.
You should have a real smile on your face in your pictures. If you look surly or unapproachable, the impression transfers to your business. This especially holds true in a very social place like Facebook. Who wants to friend “Mr. Grumpy”?
When taking photos of your staff, try to position them so they’re doing one of two things:
1. Looking at the camera: A person looking directly at the camera seems to be looking at the viewer. If you add that photo to your organization’s website, the employee is looking at customers, maintaining eye contact—just like in a physical conversation. My Facebook profile picture uses this strategy (www.facebook.com/davidleeking)
2. “Looking” at your content: When adding a photo to content, position it so the photo leads the person visually to the content. So, if there’s an angle in the photo, make the angle lean toward the content, rather than away from it. The same holds true for people shots. If you add a photo to a blog post of a person looking to the right or left, position the picture so the person is looking at the content and not away from it. Looking away from the content makes the person in the picture look aloof and disinterested. It’s a small detail, but it is noticeable.
When taking pictures of staff, especially pictures that might be used as an icon/avatar picture for Facebook or Twitter, get a head-shot—one as closely cropped as possible.
Why? Those icon pictures are tiny! Even a head-and-shoulders shot, when small, hides what the person looks like. This can distract from the friendliness of the image (and, therefore, the friendliness of the website itself).
Here are a few more do’s and don’t of using photos:
Don’t hide.
Don’t do a faraway shot or a shot of you hiding partially behind a book. Yes, they’re cute. Yes, they’re artsy. But they also hide who you are, and that’s not the goal. You don’t want your organization to seem like it’s hiding from customers.
Do represent your company. Be professional; be friendly in your picture. Try to look as approachable as possible. Practice this if needed. Spend some time taking photos of yourself so you get used to it.
I enjoy playing guitar and love watching the videos created by ProGuitarShop, a guitar store in the Portland, Oregon area (www.proguitarshop.com). ProGuitarShop has a YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/user/ProGuitarShopDemos) that features one of its employees testing out new guitar equipment (guitars, guitar amps, and guitar effects pedals). The videos are done well, they give the viewer just enough information to know more about the product being tested, and handy links are provided to ProGuitarShop’s website (in hopes that you actually buy the product being tested).
What is ProGuitarShop doing with video? It is introducing customers, via video, to its inventory, to its staff (and the way they play guitar), and to the company’s goal of being “a premier online and local retailer for your guitar needs.”6
In what ways can you use a video to add the human dimension and help you create face2face connections?
Just like ProGuitarShop, when you share something via a video, you are sharing a little part of yourself and your organization. Your body language and movements, how you phrase things, even some of your mannerisms might come through.
When you make a video, you’re sharing your thoughts. You are telling us what you find important. When you share via a video, you will probably give a bit more thought to the message and to details like what you’re wearing. So, you have more opportunity to craft your thoughts and emphasize particular points.
Your well-planned message—consisting of your idea, plus your passion, plus your unique body language and facial expressions—helps drive your point home.
These days, most of your customers are used to connecting to people, ideas, and stories through video. Don’t believe me? Answer this: Have you ever cried while watching a movie or been moved by a dramatic turn in the plot?
I’m guessing your answer was yes. Some of us are even moved occasionally while watching the evening news when a powerful story is being told. My point? We are used to connecting through video. It’s really not a new format at all. So using video to share your organization’s story, or the story of what you sell or make as a business, can be a powerful tool for current and future customers.
Of course you can use video to introduce a new product. But why not use video to introduce your customers to other people? With video, you can do things like interview key clients and share their part of your story—how they use your services or products. Or look internally and introduce your customers to a new staff member.
This connection you show between you and the other person on the video helps demonstrate to your customers and viewers how you would interact with them as well.
We have just learned how video helps connect you to your customers and how it helps your organization seem more human. Now let’s talk about some how-to’s for video. These how-to’s, for the most part, have nothing to do with the mechanics of creating video—nothing about formats or specific cameras or proper lighting techniques. Other books (start with Steve Garfield’s Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business7) do a great job with the specifics of video on the web.
Honestly, the camera isn’t the most important ingredient. You can create a video that successfully connects you to customers by using the webcam built in to your laptop or by using a cheap webcam. And you can create a terrible video with a $5,000-plus professional video camera. Focus on connecting to customers, and upgrade your camera when you start to “outgrow” your current setup. That time will look different for everyone … and you will know when it happens!
Here are some general pointers that will help your videos stand out from the pack.
Remove formal language in your videos. The more formal you are, the less real you seem, especially in a video. So keep it informal. One way to do that is not to script what you’re going to say.
Does this sound difficult? I confess, I’m not a person who does well unscripted. If I didn’t script myself, at least somewhat, I’d talk for twice as long, or twice as short, and say half as much! Sometimes, I will completely script my videos with line-by-line phrases. Other times, I’ll create an outline of what I want to say beforehand. Then, during video creation, I will give those ideas in my outline my best shot. I wing each section while following the roadmap of my outline.
While you’re speaking in that casual tone, relax! Some of us feel uncomfortable when a camera is pointing at us. We might start overthinking our words and generally just don’t act like ourselves.
How do you get over that self-conscious feeling? The only way I know is to practice, practice, practice. Make lots of videos of you talking—sharing something, even if it’s just a hobby you enjoy. Do anything you can to get used to talking to a tiny lens pointed at your head.
Your comfort level shows—a lot—on a video. If you are uncomfortable talking about a product or service on a video, that will show. It will make it look like you are uncomfortable with that product, and you don’t want that. So practice in front of the video camera.
Some of us are talkers. We love to talk. We love to share the tiniest details. But with video, especially with web-based video, the goal is to keep the video as short as possible. Your goal is to create videos that are 2 minutes or less in length. To do this, only share one or two ideas per video. If your idea is still too long, make a multipart series of videos to cover the whole topic. End the first video with, “Watch next week for the second part.” That might keep your customers watching.
The following are some lessons I’ve learned while making videos that you can use, too.
When creating a video where you’re talking to your audience, talk to the camera lens. It feels weird—especially if there are other people in the room. But when you look at and talk to the camera lens, you will appear in your video to be looking at and talking to your customers.
Be sure to edit out extraneous material. There are probably sentences you don’t really need. Also, cut out any huge pauses or those “ahs” and “ums” you might have said. They’re not needed and add up time-wise.
Always face the light. You want people to see you. If you’re outside, face toward the sun and point your camera away from the sun. Inside, if you don’t have studio lights of some sort, find a bright window and face it.
You need more video than you think. So, shoot lots of video, even if your final video will only be 2 minutes long. If you’re talking about a product your business sells or a service your organization offers, shoot some B-Roll—video showing that product or service, without you actually talking. When the main narrative or story is playing in the video, you can insert your B-Roll video over your narrative to break up the video a bit and make it more interesting.
Also, leave extra space at the beginning and the end of each video clip you create. You generally need extra space for edits and for fading in and out. Add 10 seconds before and after each video clip you create. You’ll be very glad you did when you edit.
How do videos help your organization be more human and help you connect your organization to your customers? Videos:
• Show off your staff: Showing off a staff member in a positive way makes the whole organization that much more human. While photos provide a human face to the organization, videos take that idea one step further, because viewers not only hear the person, they also see him.
• Show off your organization: Connections also happen through your video content. Your customers already like watching videos—on TV, at the movies, and probably even on the web. If you are using video to show off the details of your organization, you are using a format that is already popular with a large and growing segment of your customers. So, use video to show off your organization and staff, your building, your services, your products, or the departments that help create these services.
• Show off your customers: Seeing actual customers using a service makes that service seem that much more usable to people.
Videos and photos are great tools to connect in a visual way with your customers. They lend a sense of familiarity to your organization and to your products and services—maybe even to your staff and some of your customers, too.
Watching a video or seeing some pictures makes “you,” in the organizational sense, seem so much friendlier and more familiar. Videos and photos help make the not too familiar … much more familiar. Therefore they bridge the gap, making the face2face happen much more easily.
1. David Armano, “Please Help Us Help Daniela’s Family,” Logic + Emotion (blog), January 6, 2009, accessed January 19, 2012, www.darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2009/01/pleas-help-us-help-daniellas-family.html.
2. American Civil Liberties Union, “Know Your Rights: Photographers,” ACLU.org, accessed April 10, 2012, www.aclu.org/free-speech/know-yourrights-photographers.
3. “Photography and The Law: Know Your Rights,” Photojojo.com, March 17, 2008, accessed April 10, 2012, content.photojojo.com/tips/legal-rights-of-photographers.
4. Bert P. Krages II, The Photographer’s Right: Your Rights and Remedies When Stopped or Confronted for Photography, accessed April 10, 2012, www.krages.com/ThePhotographersRight.pdf.
5. Andrew Kantor, “Misinformation About Your Photography Rights Continues to Spread,” USAToday.com, August 11, 2006, accessed April 10, 2012, www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/andrewkantor/2006-08-11-photography-rights_x.htm.
6. “ProGuitarShop Collective,” Facebook, accessed April 10, 2012, www.facebook.com/ProGuitarShopPage.
7. Steve Garfield, Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2010).