Video is more efficient in creating emotional attachment than text - if done right. I saw this effect in a course in IDC Media School about online storytelling, which I (along with two amazingly talented lecturers, Noa Morag and Roni Abolafya) delivered last semester.

In the course, the students wrote dramatic stories, that were told via social media tools such as fictitious blogs, Facebook profiles, vlogs, and Twitter.

For example, one story portrayed a quest of an adopted son to find his biological mother. This emotional and strong story was told through his blog, vlog and Facebook profile.

Another story was more of a David Lynch style plot, about a guy who is being stalked, videotaped and harrassed by an unknown person, only to reveal that it was a girl he knows:

Though not intended as a main goal, the course provided an insight to effective emotion trigger in the online world.

One of the most interesting cases was the reactions that vlog post received. In the first story, the students produced personal short vlog where the kid told his side of the story. The video segments in some cases received more responses and views than text posts in the blog. Considering that text is easier to consume, this fact shows that at least in emotional setting, video is stronger than text.

We also learned that if video is done right it increases viewers involvement. But done right doesn't necessarily mean high production value. Our kid's vlog was done with a webcam and still generated a lot of reaction. It seems that a strong correlation between the story line and the production level is more important than the video quality per se. I believe that if some of the videos where better produced it would have harmed the authenticity of the stories - leading directly to a lower emotional attachment.

Martin Lindstorm, the marketing guru, talks a lot about brands value over time. In his book, Brand Sense, he describes how additional senses affect the emotional reactions to brands. Video, with its moving images and sound is by far more effective than text in creating this attachment.

However, as online video search and interactivity are legging behind text based technologies (such as Google and hyperlinks), smart marketers and storytellers should integrate video in a wider multimedia and multi platform strategy.

This post is dedicated to Yaniv Golan. See here why...

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Radvision is a publicly traded video conferencing company. Pravda Media was chosen to kick off Radvision's corporate blogging project, define its strategy and provide on going support and training- all in full cooperation with the company's evangelist, Tsahi Levent-Levi

Social media is all about commitment, and the recent case study I am doing with Radvision is a proof that enthusiastic employees, training, and long term activities brings value in the over hyped field of social media marketing.

I had the honor to consult Radvision with building a blog network based on their business units:

1. Code of Contact , written by Ran Arad, aimed at VoIP developers

2. Video over Enterprise , written by Sagee Ben Zedeff, aimed at enterprise collaboration decision makers

3. VoIP Survivor, written by Tsahi Levent Levi, the chief evangelist of this effort, which focuses about VoIP industry insights.

These blogs provide company information and general industry trends and analysis. The later helped establishing these blogs as industry resource, and not as a PR effort.

In the year since the project started, the company's blogs provided value for both organization and writers:

1. Leads Generation -the blogs became source of information and thought leadership for the industry, potential customers contacted the company using the blog’s contact form, which in specific cases resulted in leads and deals. Also, 3^rd parties distributed these blogs to Radvision's potential customers, positioned as expert opinion.

2. Relationships with Industry Experts - many industry experts maintain blogs which are perceived as independent source of information and analysis. These experts often affect customer's buying decision. Radvision blogs established and strengthened its relationships with these experts.

3. Speaking Opportunities and Media Relations - Corporate blogs established its writers as industry experts regardless of their company affiliation. As such, they were quoted in industry publications and invited to participate in internal discussions by potential customers. Furthermore, Tsahi was invited to open a blog in a prominent industry publication, further strengthening Radvision's market position.

4. Sales Support -customers referred to the blogs during sales process, as well as left comments on the blogs with relevant questions. This direct access to developers and product managers proved beneficial to the sales process. Also, the blogs became an internal briefing aid, which sales managers use to learn about industry trends and new product development.

5. Rapid Material Development - one of the bloggers created an ebook from a collection of blog posts in a specific area. This Ebook was created in a fraction of a time of writing a white paper, and was used to encourage readers to subscribe to the blog's RSS feed. It quickly became an industry resource, that was distributed by 3rd parties to potential Radvision customers, as expert opinion.

6. Employees Satisfaction - all bloggers reported higher level of satisfaction due to their writing and industry exposure.

However, the blogs still didn't maximize their potential:

1. Blogging effort is not directly linked with corporate marketing activities

2. The blogs are text based only, and do not utilize the benefits of originally produced video and audio shows

3. Blogs' web addresses were only recently added to company publications and business cards

As one can see, corporate blogging could provide tangible value if done right. Stay tuned for additional information, including how to identify the right internal bloggers, required training, blog design and additional business benefits Radvision enjoyed from in its blogging effort.

Interested in receiving the full case study? Email us with the subject line: Blogging Case Study, and we will send you the full report as soon as it is ready.

While there is an inflation of social media consultants due to the recession, some are doing a great service to their employers.

Roger Smith Hotel is a small boutique hotel in Manhattan. I would have never heard about it if they didn't embrace social media strategies. They have a blog, twitter account for both the hotel and Adam Wallace their social media manager. In fact I got in touch with them through twitter. The hotel has a blogger's rate - which provided Buzz marketing for (almost) free. Social media gurus such as Chris Brogan stayed at the hotel and wrote about it - what better PR could one get? They also encourage tweetups and other social media events in their facilities.

I will not be staying at this hotel in my trip to NYC next week, as they ran out of the rooms I was interested in. But I would never have considered them, or even heard about them, if they didn't embrace my community in such a great way.

Makes you think that there is still a lot to be done in the over hyped but exciting world of social media.

Corporate blogging is increasingly becoming a low cost alternative to traditional marketing tools. However, many projects fail, due to lack of understanding of the medium.

What are the 4 key steps for a successful corporate blogging project?

1. Management support- corporate blogging, unlike search engine marketing, doesn't lead instantly to direct purchase of services. It also requires time and effort from the key people in the organization - usually the brightest are the ones who are interesting to read. Therefore, top management should support the corporate blogging initiative, or it will lose steam and fail.

2. An evangelist - in every company there is a person who s passionate about writing, blogging or social media in general. This is the person that will push the effort internally - and it is very important to give him/her incentives and support. Did I mention Management support?

3. Commitment - social media activities, including blogging, take time to take off and provide tangible results. They are also increase their value over time, as more people are exposed to the blog, write comments and become part of the interaction with the company.

4. Integration with traditional marketing efforts - in case your corporate blog is for marketing purposes - integrate it with your overall marketing program. This way you increase the overall value of both your blog and your traditional marketing activities.

Monitor something on the web

There's a lot going on, on the web, all the time. New companies, technologies, conversations, ranking schemes and more are created daily. You can pick one and start monitoring it over time. I monitor around 800 blogs' Technorati rank for over eight months now. I publish precipitating results to my Twitter @blogmon account and accumulated results in here. It is not just helping me to weed out good blogs from the rest, it is also helping me to learn a lot about the blogsphere, Technorati, mashup challenges and more. There is still a lot to do in this little project but it help me to establish few, but very interesting connections through working on it. Few ideas: monitor tags from Delicious, the top 100 blogs on Technorati list (here), use Google Trends, Alexa, Twingly blog rank. If you have some programming skills you can automate most, if not all the steps and scale the process. If not, that's OK too. You can start with only few. The added value is that you'll keep consistently monitoring it over time and finding the right way to present the results. Where to report results? Read on...

Lifestream

From one of my favorite blog ReadWriteWeb I learned that there at least 35 Ways to Stream Your Life and counting. Pick one or more and join the conversation. The key is to do it right and here I'm still learning.

Few ideas:

One way is to keep current, riding new waves of conversations - start with Twitter Search's Trending Topics or if you are in Europe use Twingly's Hot right now. You can also see interesting tags on hashtags.org (Most Popular, Recently Added) and then search for them on Twitter Search.

Report results from your monitoring project: You can use Seesmic, Twitter, Jaiku, FriendFeed or any of the other life streaming tools. An interesting one that allow you to present your data using timeline is Swurl. You can use Google Docs to build online document that could be published and embed (using iFrame) inside a blog post, web page, pointed using a link from Twitter. A more demanding option is using Google Chart - good for automation.

Share interesting experiences, links, books, movies, knowledge - think what might interest others to follow.

It is amazing that all these great services comes for free. What that is more fascinating is how easy people with common interest find and subscribes to your feed and or vice versa.

Start a knowledge base, join and participate in a community, online book club or group

There are so many groups open for new members that are looking for active participation on Ning, Facebook, LinkedIn and many more. You can also start and lead one.

Examples: I joined Your Inner CEO Community on Ning. This is not just a good book but also a very active community. I'm also working building a knowledge base around Salability and Performance using an unbelievable smart service (armed with powerful semantic search engine) called Twine. I joined bloggers communities like Pijoo or MyBloglog.

I have to admit that things are going slow for me in this section - see the Bonus tip #2 for the reason why.

Become a beta tester

There is nothing more exciting (for me) than shaping new product functionality, look and feel. As an early adopter you have a chance to interact with extremely talented and creative minds building new technologies. You can contribute from your experience, and unique thinking, helping building a great new product. Be ready to deal with challenges such as poor performance, trouble getting subscribed, on-boarding, product crashes and hangs. Yet, be merciful, look at the bigger picture. Give feedback on both the details and the overall functionality. This is my favorite activity and the one that requires the most of my time. I wish I could do it more. You'll be amazed how suddenly you mostly interact with the CEO, CTO and the VP of engineering (some time it is the same person :)).

Few ideas: use Mashable Beta Invite section to find candidates. Subscribe to Techcrunch feed, or subscribe by email (I consume it in this way) to learn about new companies. Some start-up companies’ offers private beta invites through Techcrunch blog.

Write a guest post

I could not help a little recursion in here :) Now, seriously, write something compelling and offer it to some of the larger and established blogs out there. Having a guest blog post is a win win. You get to be noticed and the host to be perceived as the patron for upcoming new bloggers.

If you noticed I did not mention the word blog. I recommend having one even just because today this is the best way to create your web identity. I see mine as the home base. Yet, you don't need to have a blog to establish web presence and blog also require some effort. Thanks to the great blog platforms available today it is not so heard to start from a very good place.

Two bonus tips:

Be patient - if you do start a blog Google appreciate the age of the domain and that you'll consistently write blog posts. I noticed a significant change not before 6 month of blogging.

Focus - don't do all these five at once unless you are single, have no kids and don't have a life. Each one of the activities listed here demands time and should be done with care. It is better to do one or two as best as you could to build positive, meaningful web presence

I will not get into existential philosophical discussion about the why in this post (please create your meaning) but I will finish this post saying that I have a lot of joy doing so. I learned a ton and still learning constantly. I made new connections all over the world that otherwise could not have happened. So, give it a try.

Keren Dagan is a professional software developer manager and an amateur blogger. He likes to think both strategically and tactically on web technologies, trends, and phenomena. He mostly write about data and search engines technics. You can read his blog http://webnomena.com/ and follow him on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/kerendg. Keren brings to the blogsphere more than 10 years of experience in software development and management building highly scalable solution for the enterprise and his unique way of looking at things.

One of my best friends decided to make a move and start blogging. He asked for my guidance, and instead of keeping it between us, I decided to post it here. So, here we go - welcome to the Ten Minutes Blogging School:

1. Choose a Platform - you are looking for a combination of flexibility and stability. Flexibility is the ability to add widgets, video players, badges and so on. Stability is the total uptime of the system. Therefore you need a well known service. I am using wordpress.com as it offers a good enough flexibility (they approve every application separately so not everything is working on their platfor

m out of the box) and they provide a reliable service. Another great thing about WordPress is that you can later install your own version of the platform and get maximum flexibility with zillion plugins that are av

ailable for the WordPress platform but not implemented in wordpress.com

2. Buy a Domain - so now you have a blog in wordpress.com. Its address looks like xxxx.wordpress.com. You don't want that. Buy a domain (from Godady for example), upgrade your wordpress.com account by buying 10 credits ($10), and redirect the blog to that address. So instead of having a long and annoying address, you will have one tailored for you. It is very important to get this thing done first - so all the links to your blog from external resources will be done to the new URL.

3. Go to Feedburner and create an RSS feed - find the RSS feed address that wordpress.com gives you and "burn" it with Feedburner to get an independent RSS feed. The reason is that your RSS address is very important in order to maintain readership over time. If tomorrow you will decide to move to your own hosted wordpress platform, or change your bloggin infrastructure, you will still need to keep the original RSS feed address.

4. Choose the template you like and start writing!

That's it for the technical stuff. Now for the real thing - Community and Promotion

5. Identify other blogs and sites in the same topics. Comment on them regularly with your blog address in the identification. other readers will find your blog this way, and you will get more incoming links

6. Add your blog link to your Facebook profile, and import its RSS feed to your notes. You can also open a Facebook group and invite your friends to it. Use it to keep in touch with your readers.

7. Add the blog to your Linkedin profile, in case it is relevant to your business, or you believe your business contacts will be interested in it.

8. If you are on Twitter, use TwitterFeed to push your post to your Twitter friends. Use it carefully, and try to communicate using Twitter for other topics as well.

9. Constantly post your posts to Digg, Del.icio.us and StambleUpon

10. Answer your comments - it is the way your readers communicate with you. It takes time but it worth the effort.

Is that it?

No, there are many strategies, and technics to write and promote a blog. But these things are the basics to get you going. Remember - write about your passion, you will have the best posts if you'll do that.

Good luck to all the new bloggers among us!

In another great post, Ayelet Noff, AKA Blonde 2.0, gave some tips for effective usage of social networks. I agree with most of the points she raised, and I love her blog (and her as a person :) ), but one thing caught my attention:

Finally, I want to discuss the topic of private vs. public identities, which I have written about in the past. Due to the whole premise behind Web 2.0, the borders between our personal and professional lives online are slowly disintegrating and to my belief, this is a good thing. When I upload pictures to my Flickr page, I upload professional pictures, but I also upload pictures of me, just hanging out with my friends, or traveling to interesting locations. When I update my status on Twitter, I may update regarding the latest post I just wrote on my blog but I may also twitter about an interesting article I just read or the latest movie I just saw.

I know that some people try to keep a certain professional façade online because they are afraid of what other professionals may think...I think these individuals are only putting themselves at a disadvantage... People like to connect with other people who are open and genuine. The more you allow people into your world, the more people will allow you into their own. By creating a rich profile you are only showing others that you are an active member of the community and that you have a multi-dimensional and unique personality of your own.

I believe that like everything in life, things are a bit more complex.

Different industries, different ethics

The view that open equals better is a one of the foundations of the Internet industry. It is so deeply rooted, that one can find its print in every aspect of its day to day life - informal dress code, open communication standards such as HTTP, flat standards organizations, and an implicit preference toward young entrepreneur. We all remember how Jeff Bezos, Amazon Founder and CEO, was filmed jumping on a yellow ball, laughing hysterically.

The telecom industry is different, in many aspects. Dress code is more formal, standards organizations are hierarchical, and young age is not necessarily conceived as an advantage for entrepreneur.

I live in both worlds. I am a blogger, using social media in my day to day life and work, and at the same time working with telecom companies, directly or as part of my capacity as IMTC VP or Marketing.

SO?

These differences are not only semantic ones - they reach to the core of these industries. Therefore they differ in the way they evaluate bloggers and social networkers.

The Myth of Social Media Openness

Yes, social media users are usually more open than other. But the reason for that is that many of the leaders of this revolution are coming from the Internet industry. Therefore they see openness as added value. In my opinion, like in many areas of marketing and relationships, social media cannot be treated as one-size-fits-all. Every industry has it own rules of engagement, that should be respected. Ayelet notes:

I know that some people try to keep a certain professional façade online because they are afraid of what other professionals may think...I think these individuals are only putting themselves at a disadvantage...

And she is right, if I am covering the Internet industry. But I don't believe that openness provides the same benefits when I cover industries that do not see it as core value. In some of my talks with Telecom companies about bloggers, I heard comments like: "when I read an article, I don't want to know if the writer is married or not - it is completely irrelevant", " Why should I see a picture of the writer at the beach, with his kids without a shirt?" and so on and so forth. Some even noted that it reduces the reliability of the writers in their point of view. Though a bit extreme, we need to understand that when we approach such markets and create their social media strategy.

Bottom Line

Social media is here to stay, and every company, news organization or brand that disregard it lose the amazing benefits this field can provide. But just like in any other area, we need to learn the rules of engagement of the industry, and customize our strategy to it. Otherwise we are harming the company, and the field of social media as a whole.

Want to know more? Subscribe to my RSS feed or email list.

Technorati Tags: blonde 2.0, social media marketing, social media strategy, telecom, internet, Standards, social media, IMTC

Doing a good presentation is a hard task. Especially when you need to explain abstract concepts in 45 minutes, that require listeners to change their way of thought about the most basic concepts of their trade.

When I do seminars for companies and explain the concept of social media, I face this challenge all the time. I must get marketing groups, who are used to one way communication, to open their channels to a conversation with their customers. I need to convince CTOs to spend time of their engineers on writing external blogs.

Here are two effective ways I use to convey these fundamentally different messages to corporate decision makers:

Images images images - forget bullets, lists, sections. don't let them read - let them see. Find images that are strong and tell a story. Flickr made our life much easier, as you can find there amazing images, and even look for creative commons licensed images specifically. For example - this picture can be used to describe traditional media:

This one to describe social media:

And this one to describe the differences:

Don't avoid problematic issues: some of you will be surprised to hear that many people still believe that blogs are only online diaries of lonely girls. In my presentation I show various kind of bloggers, and refer to this group as well, again with a picture:

By referring to these issues as part of the discussion, you can make sure that the topic is handled as part of your overall message.

What's Nu Metal got to do with it? Check out this Korn clip, and see how they convey a message in its first part:

Korn - Evolution

If you like this post, don't forget to subscribe to my RSS feed or email list.  

Technorati Tags: social media, korn, marketing, social media marketing, corporate blogging

When I asked Om Malik in a joint panel at Blogference if he has plans to go into podcasting and Internet Video shows, he said that he was thinking about this direction. Less than a month later, Om published his first show, in cooperation with Revision3. The show covers Internet trends and analysis, topics he analyze in his blog.

Contrary to what I thought, the initial aim of this product is not to get more advertising dollars. In a recent conversation, Om stated that he viewed video as a medium that surpass the limits of blogging - while posts has to be short and precise, online video enabled him to do long form interviews. Another angle I found interesting is that Om saw this medium as a mean to let viewers analyze the information given on their own, based on raw interviews.

And, as always, beyond the regular business concepts and needs, Om just stated that "it is fun" - I can't agree more.

I wonder if we will see a lot of professional bloggers adding original video to their media offering. Video production requires different type of planning and production, it is more time consuming than blogging, and in today's market, doesn't necessarily brings more viewers than textual blogs. This would change if video production companies will tailor their service to fit bloggers, by reducing the planning and production overhead from the bloggers themselves. Script is especially crucial here - not necessarily a strong blogger's capability.

In any case, if I was BlogTV or Ustream I wouldn't hold my breath - when I've mentioned the option of having live sessions, he simply said that his schedule is too full for that. This is another proof that live broadcasting is not as appealing as pre-recorded content, an issue I've raised in a previous post.

Good luck Om!

GigaOm Killed The Radio Star?

I came across Tech.Chick.Blog through mybloglog community a couple of days ago. It covers the tech area from a personal angle, playing the sexy geek card.

Three features made this site more personal and easy to use

1. The contact button is large, and easy to find.

2. Within the contact area, Gabbrielle Atticus, the writer, listed all of her online identities- twitter, Digg, Jaiku, Technorati, Stumbleupon and so on.

3. Last but definitely not least - in her "about" section, she uploaded a short video clip about herself. The clip is simple, clear, and in good quality.

These three features added a stronger personal angle to her blog, and made it more effective in creating both emotional attachment and direct connections with the blogger.

Technorati Tags: twitter, Digg, Jaiku, Technorati, Stumbleupon, tech.chick.blog, Gabbrielle Atticus, mybloglog, social madia, blog