by Daria Steigman on February 23, 2009
Have you ever wished you could skim through a video post?
I have a secret. I don’t like watching videos. Send me a link to a 5,000-word article and I’ll dive in. But send me a video link and odds are high I’ll click it off in a few seconds.
There are some notable exceptions. Videocasts that break out the discussion into timed segments are okay, because I can move to exactly what I’m most interested in. Chris Brogan’s force of personality occasionally lures me to watch him–but only when the video posts are short. And Ike Pigott has a wonderful series of 12-second videos that speak to the audience and give you that hmm moment that spurs further discussion.
For the most part, however, I’ll stick to print. Written posts put me in charge–of my time, and how I consume the information.
What about you? I’d love to hear why you do–or don’t–like videoblogging.
Tagged as:
12seconds.tv,
Chris Brogan,
Communications Strategy,
Ike Piggott,
Social Media,
videoblogging
by Daria Steigman on October 22, 2008
Making tough business decisions is … tough. But you can protect your brand and mitigate the impact of your decisions if you can define your reasons and present a cogent argument.
Colin Powell did this in making the case for his endorsement of Barack Obama, says leadership consultant John Baldoni in a recent blog post. Baldoni argues that Powell’s approach offers a guideline for business leaders:
- describe the big picture
- make the case
- declare the moral imperative
- look to the future
- play nice to the other side
Read Baldoni’s post here.
Tagged as:
Brand,
Business,
Colin Powell,
Communications Strategy,
Leadership
by Daria Steigman on October 14, 2008
A lot of companies are enamored with social media and looking for new ways to interact with their customers. Comcast, for example, boasts about its Twitter presence. But what happens when you phone customer service? I shouldn’t have to call the CEO’s office in Philadelphia to get a service issue resolved.
Another case in point: Carefirst BlueCross BlueShield. It took me four minutes of voice mail hell to get through to a live person this morning–for a customer service call that lasted less than one minute. And half of that time was me pointing out politely to the rep. that their voice mail system is abysmal.
Customer service has to start with how customers connect to you. All the social media tools in the world are worthless if you neglect the basics.
Tagged as:
Business,
Communications Strategy,
Customer Service,
Social Media
by Daria Steigman on September 6, 2008
Google’s new browser proves the power of the brand: it has received instant attention and was in short-order downloaded over one million times. Plus the blogosphere’s been buzzing with a mix of browser reviews and discussions about Google’s business strategy.
But is Chrome a good browser? It installs and loads quickly, but there’s nothing there to give me that WOW factor. But maybe that doesn’t matter–at least for now. Google’s accomplished key business goals already with Chrome: 1) media attention; 2) user interest; 3) a new platform for innovation for both Google products and other applications. That seems like a pretty good week to me.
Tagged as:
Business,
Chrome,
Communications Strategy,
Google,
Web Browser
by Daria Steigman on September 3, 2008
