According to research from Nielsen, we trust people nearly twice as much as we trust companies and organizations. I use ViewedIt to comment on work from my consulting team, provide recommendations to clients, and even to deliver personalized video thank you notes to event organizers after I speak at a conference. You just download the browser extension, hook up your camera and mic (you can use your default laptop equipment if you like), press record, and then email the video to your recipient(s). You’ll see my head lower left—that’s where the video plays. Personal, One-to-One Welcome Video Mike Stelzner and his team at Social Media Examiner are also using this technique. In particular, they are shooting one-to-one videos to welcome each new member of their Social Media Marketing Society. Personal, One-to-One Customer Service Video Still one of my favorite examples, this is a case study in my book Youtility. When Warby Parker started doing this, Insta and SnapChat were nothing, so they deployed these personal videos via YouTube, with a link to them in reply tweets sent to customers who had questions. pic.twitter.com/wzZgDZl0h1 Certainly, the company could have sent back a quick “looks great!” tweet. But, recognizing that we trust people far more than companies, they recruited a guitar playing team member and sent back this video: What are the chances she bought those frames?
According to research from Nielsen, we trust people nearly twice as much as we trust companies and organizations.
This is why you see so much advice and counsel out there to “humanize” your content and your social media. When doing so, you gain a built-in advantage in trust and persuasion, provided you are not a nefarious character.
In fact, my friend David Horsager (one of the world’s foremost experts on trust) says that you must build trust, or your organization will die in the new economy.
Personal interactions are, of course, the best way to gain trust at the individual level. Nothing beats a face-to-face smile, handshake, laugh, or beer. This is one of the reasons why conferences continue to flourish, even though the knowledge imparted at the event can easily be gleaned via blogs, books, podcasts, and webinars.
Face-to-face can be tough to come by in this far-flung global community that’s tied together with likes, comments, shares, and email. So what’s the solution? Increasingly, it’s recorded, asynchronous one-to-one video.
Synchronous video is also terrific, and it is the primary use case for Skype, Zoom, Google Hangouts, and FaceTime. But in a business setting, it’s often more convenient and efficient (for both parties) to record a personal video, rather than jumping on a synchronous video “call.”
Here are three ways to use one-to-one, personal video, and examples of it being done particularly well.
Personal, One-to-One Explanatory Video
ViewedIt (a product of one of my sponsors, Vidyard) is probably my favorite new online tool. It’s perfect for quick explainer videos that feature your talking head on top of a web page, presentation, spreadsheet, or anything else that might be on your computer screen.
I use ViewedIt to comment on work from my consulting team, provide recommendations to clients, and even to deliver personalized video…
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