While video is widely used on many brand sites nowadays, there are still plenty of conservative companies — especially financial companies — that haven’t tried it out. Perhaps they’re worried about going off-message and damaging the brand, or maybe they’re leery about putting their top executives in front of the camera. They may not use video internally over fears of overloading their network.
Online video specialist Groovy Gecko has years of experience working with corporate clients who have those same issues. At the recent Streaming Forum in London, we caught up with Craig Moehl, Groovy Gecko’s managing director, and asked him how cautious companies should get started with online video.
“We don’t recommend jumping in and doing a live presentation with PowerPoint slides and Q&A from the outset,” Moehl explained. “We always recommend that they take baby steps. They would start first of all by making an on-demand presentation that’s edited; making sure that the content, tone, and everything is right with that.”
For companies that want to put their top executives in front of the camera, a little media training ahead of time can help. Explaining to the presenters what will happen, then conducting a few rehearsals can lead to better results. Moehl suggested that an autocue, or teleprompter, can be useful, and a little makeup can make the speaker feel more confident.
Moehl also ran through the benefits of online video, especially when used internally to speak to employees:
“There are a number of these. The key one for me,” Moehl said “is that there is a disconnect, depending on the corporate culture, of the ivory tower mentality, so there’s lots of people up there who don’t feel connected to management. I think having a human face pop up on your desktop or on your terms humanizes that whole structure.”
For more on jumping into online video, watch the interview below.
TROY DREIER ⋅ JUNE 24, 2013 http://www.onlinevideo.net/2013/06/shy-about-online-video-heres-why-companies-should-jump-in/#ixzz2XLO2xNwW