Business Video Blogs 101: Why Shooting with a Smile is Critical
Posted by Catie Foertsch on Fri, May 22, 2009 @ 01:01 PM
You're getting ready to make your video blog entry. You've checked your camera and have your finger on the remote's record button. You've checked the framing to make sure you're properly centered in the frame. You're breathing deeply so you don't sound rushed. You've got your bullet points taped right next to the camera. You've rehearsed. You're ready. Right?
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Wrong. If you're the person described above, you will start your vlog looking serious. You may even have a little forehead crinkle going on as you concentrate on making this an excellent vlog - information-packed, relevant and interesting. Well, you say, of course you want to look serious. This is a business vlog and it's serious stuff. |
But your viewers are not going to see serious. What they're going to see is ... unfriendly. Because you're not smiling.
Video is a social medium because, before anything else happens (like the transfer of information), a social relationship is created, instantaneously, as soon as the person in the video makes virtual eye contact with you. It's a virtual relationship, yes, but it's still a relationship.
In the real world, when you meet potential clients, the very first thing you do is smile. As soon as you make eye contact, before you even extend your hand for a handshake, you smile, to let them know you're glad to meet them, you're friendly and approachable, and you look forward to a relationship with them.
| It's no different in the virtual world. Start all your vlogs with a sincere smile, because you want to have a relationship with your viewers. And make sure you end the same way - with a sincere smile to thank people for watching and to remind them that you're friendly and approachable, and that they want to have a relationship with you. |
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That, after all, is why you're making your vlog.