This week’s article by our Head of Client Service, Michael Back
“Hey Michael, how are you mate?! Good to see you, what’s been going on?”
I was at a conference last month and I had that moment we’ve all experienced. You know the one… someone comes up to you and not only knows your name, but is acting like your best friend. And you are just standing there, flicking your way through your memory’s museum trying to work out who the hell they are.
All of a sudden, two of their colleagues came up to me.
Colleague A – “Hey Michael, nice to see you!”
Colleague B – “Hey finally, we get to meet”
Standing there I was baffled. I was trying to play it cool but I suspect that my face looked a lot less like the Fonz and more like Bambi in headlights.
Colleague A – “Ah, you probably have no idea who we are! We have seen you on those Social Adviser training videos. But it’s weird, I feel like I know you!”
Finally, the penny dropped.
We recently ran one of our programs for the BDMs of a major Investment and Insurance provider, and as part of that we used videos of me on camera giving tips for producing great video content.
The videos were educational in nature but fun to make (and hopefully enjoyable to watch). The point is, I was carrying on like a bit of a goose in front of the lens, but those of you who know me will know that I AM a bit of a goose (don’t worry, I’m cool with that).
These guys obviously enjoyed them enough that they wanted to at least say hi (and not run away from me).
So what’s my point? Well I think a few interesting things have happened here;
1. There are a bunch of people who know who I am now. Sure, some people probably watched those videos and thought I was a loser. But that’s ok! Because a few of them thought I was alright enough to come and say g’day. And I enjoyed that.
2. The chances are I may have met these guys at some point in the future. But we are now far further down the ‘forming a relationship’ path than if I had stuck my hand out and introduced myself at the event. Basically, I have been forming a relationship with them in a weird subconscious way without having to be there in person to do it.
3. Lastly and certainly not least, Nick (our Video Ninja at The Social Adviser) and I had A LOT of fun recording these videos (not ‘pretty fun for work’ fun, but ACTUAL fun). Honestly, if we were to have sat down and written a training guide for these BDMs, it would have taken 20 times longer to do (not to mention how much I would have procrastinated / hated doing it!) Instead, we caught up for a couple of thoroughly enjoyable hours, said what we wanted to say and got the job done.
Every day of the year I bang on about video to clients, businesses and anyone else who crosses my path.
· You have the ability to reach so many people with such little effort
· You can present boring information in an engaging and enjoyable way
· It’s the next best thing to cloning yourself!
All these things are true and I say them so often. But it was that first-hand experience which REALLY made it sink in for me.
Be yourself, put yourself out there and magical things can and will happen. Sit in your office and do the things you have been doing for years, and I guarantee not much will change.
Like me, you will only realise the power of this stuff once you ACTUALLY do it.
So what are you waiting for? You have a smartphone in your pocket, and the world of Social Media at your fingertips.
It’s a good time to be alive!