This is an interview I did with Sean Moffitt, a word-of-mouth marketing expert, for the SMC Seattle blog. I put it together using Skype, Screenflow, and ecamm recorder uploaded to blip.tv. This was my first effort with those tools (minus Skype).
Skype and ecamm recorder worked like a dream, Screenflow was a little buggy for me, creating video/audio sync issues. But I’m reserving judgement on the product until I have a little more time to work with it. Also, I’m already a fan of blip.tv. Although it doesn’t load as quickly as YouTube, it allows more customization and much longer video lengths.

I love doing interviews, which is good since I’ve done more than 5000 of them!  They’re a great way to add content your blog, learn something new, and make a new contact or refresh an old one.  But how do you do one that creates buzz and interest for your readers or video viewers?  Here are some things I’ve learned along the way.

Before the interview:

Read everything you can about your interviewee, particularly previous interviews.  That allows you to cover new ground and get an exclusive bit of content for your blog!  If you have the opportunity to talk to the interviewee ahead of time that’s helpful.  You can ask them a few questions to see what direction they are going to go and what areas could be the most fruitful – just don’t ask too many questions, you don’t want the interview to feel rehearsed.

Write your questions down.  I rarely refer to written questions, but it helps me frame things in my mind, ensures I don’t forget anything, and gives me something to glance at if I get off track.  Writing down your questions also allows you to really listen because you aren’t worrying about thinking of a new question.

The warm-up: You want to build a rapport with your interviewee and quickly.  If I’m somewhere in their space I will ask about photos or books I see or pets and hobbies.  Pick something you are genuinely interested in.  Sometimes you get some great insights!  This also allows you to set up your gear in an unobtrusive way.

Video Tips:

Framing your shot: Pick a background that’s not distracting.  You don’t want people walking behind the subject if possible.  People do wacky things on camera and inevitably it’s when your subject says something great!  Even if it’s a staged background, the eye is naturally drawn to action.  In this video response from Taylor Guitars about the “United Breaks Guitars” YouTube video what the manager is saying is interesting, the problem is the background is more eye-catching than he is.

Because the average web video player is very small, in most cases you want to frame the shot so only the persons head and maybe a little bit of shoulders are in there.  Give a little bit of space at the top of their head and if they are turned at an angle put space in front of their face not at the back of their head.

Use an external microphone.  Even inexpensive ones offer much better sound than the omni-directional mics that come attached to your camera.

To test the audio and video ask your subject to say and spell their name and tell you what their title is.  The bonus: you make sure you have it in case you lose their business card.

Questions Do’s and Don’ts:

Do ask open ended and short questions. How did you start __? Why did you do this? Why did that work? I also like: you did this, tell me about that.

Do ask challenging questions. Softball questions are boring for your viewers and make you look like you aren’t serious. It’s okay to ask about controversies or failures. I think there is a misconception that you have to be hostile; that’s not true. You are trying to understand your subject’s point of view and illuminate something for your viewers/readers.

Don’t ask questions that could be answered with yes or no.

Don’t ask two questions at once. Usually people will answer only one of them.  Sometimes they don’t want to answer the other one and hope you forget, or they forget, which leads to the awkward “what was your other question?”

Don’t be afraid to rephrase the question or ask it again if the answer seemed awkward, the person went off on a tangent or they didn’t answer the question you thought you asked.

Wrap it up:

I always like to ask if there is anything they wanted to add, or if there is anything that I missed.  Sometimes you get something great to wrap up your interview.

Thank them for their time and when the interview is ready to go send them another quick thank-you and link to where they can see the interview. Don’t be afraid to ask “Is there anyone else I should interview for this project?”

The more interviews you do the more confident you will be.  And try not to get nervous if you land a big interview.  You are a professional, and the person wouldn’t have agreed to the interview if you weren’t worthy of conducting it.

Do you have techniques that have worked well for you?  Questions about what I have here?  You can post it in the comments or send me an email.

Image courtesy of fensterbme

Jay Grandin and Leah Nelson have established themselves as accomplished New Media producers with web content that has seen audiences of over 35 million. The success of their short films, comedy and documentary work has led to contracts for original series with companies such as Myspace.

I interviewed them in a lead up to the Gnomedex Tech Conference.

When did you first start using social media and why?
Leah: Jay was living in Michigan, designing furniture and making silly videos on the weekend and had built up a surprising following on Myspace, which at the time, was hot like fire. So, when Jay and I joined video-making forces, there was this hungry audience there to watch our stuff and comment and pass it around. It was really used as a place to show our work, but we also worked really hard to connect with that audience, writing them back and making sure we were connecting on a human level. Note: this was before your Myspace inbox became completely laden with spam, so there were actually real people writing to us.

Jay: It was an accident. In 2006 I was designing office furniture at Steelcase in Michigan, and was mandated to join YouTube and MySpace as part of a project about technology and collaborative office work. It began as an odd phone call from my boss talking about LonelyGirl15 on YouTube. “You what? Lonely who?” I didn’t have a home computer.

Which tools do you use most and why?
Leah: Facebook has become kinda like one of those leather-bound day timers that we all used to have. It would house my phone numbers and addresses, and events in my social life, birthdays etc. This is what Facebook is for me. Youtube and Twitter, aside from being places that we post our work, have become these amazing search engines more than anything else. I find I go there multiple times a day just to show people stuff I’m talking about.

Jay: What’s funny is that since we, as a company, began using SocMed tools to build other people’s/brands’ online presence, my own use of the tools as plummeted. Isn’t there a saying about not buying a mechanics call? Don’t read a marketer’s wall? I still consider myself an analog expat in many ways and find that I oscillate between deep social media dives and pretty infrequent transmission.

How do you successfully combine video and social media campaigns?
Jay: Videos are inherently social; they’re social objects that can be digested and shared easily and enjoyably. Some great videos are social media campaigns unto themselves — they’re so much a part of the sharing tools already. But the bigger the space gets, and the further it fragments, we’ve really noticed the need to hold a video’s hand and guide it to its audience. So much of the equation is incredibly simple… on paper at least: 1— make something worth sharing. 2— position it in the tools so that it’s easy to share. 3— know who the influencers are in your market, and tell them about it. If you’ve done #1 correctly, it works!

Leah: What Jay said.

For those on a shoestring budget what are some easy ways to incorporate video into a social media campaign?
Jay: Our friend Boris Mann always reminds us that his phone shoots video. He’s right. And it’s cheap. We’ve been conditioned to digest content, not fidelity, online… so the barrier is very low where the tools are concerned. Even high quality video, depending on the size of your shoestring of course, is doable—the days of PAs and grips and gaffers being a necessary component of a shoot aren’t really there any more. If you look at some of the most memorable campaigns lately—the “Best Job in the World” for example by the Australian Tourism board—hours and hours of content are being created for free by crowdsourcing the contents of the campaign. That’s pretty cool; you can’t you THAT on TV!

How does a web series differ from a television series?
Leah: I get impatient watching TV. There are a few shows that I really like, but I prefer to rent the whole season at the video store and have mini marathons watching them all in a row. This how you can watch a web series so I think they appeal to people who stay attentive can voraciously digest the content one episode at a time. On the flip side, they also appeal to people who like to tune in, watch 10min on a break, and then check out a few more a couple days later. Entertainment a la Carte.

Jay: Web series have no rules. The expectations around duration, frequency, consistency of content don’t really apply. For a long time we had what we’d call a web series (JayVideo) that was only really tied together through us; it was a silly variety show devoid of theme that only gave the promise of regular content. We were the web series.

How do web video ads differ from tv ads?
Leah: I think it depends where you are watching them. The line between TV and web viewing is nearing non-existent and when we watch traditional TV programing online, we ARE watching TV ads that are interspersed throughout the program and they are often the same ads that are running in traditional broadcast. But when the ad you’re watching lives on the companies website or on a video portal or social networking site, there really aren’t very many constraints (aside from the obvious one: don’t make it too long unless its really compelling. But I think this applies to anything, books, films, articles) so you have freedom to tell your message in more creative ways with less parameters.

Jay: Sometimes they differ vastly, sometimes not at all. Like I mentioned above, the expectations around duration and content don’t apply in the same way but, the BIGGEST difference, is that the audience isn’t captive. They have to CHOOSE to watch an online ad and, for it be successful, they have to CHOOSE to send it to their friends. When’s the last time you called a friend and told them they really needed to tune into channel 10 to catch the next commercial break? I think it requires more thought into who your audience is and how to connect with them in a way that’s memorable and mentionable.

What do you think makes a video go viral?
Leah: I’d love to know. I think timing is a huge factor. If something is already “hot” and being discussed online, the chances that the video will be passed around will increase. Aside from timing, its important that it be something that people relate to. Our shower video, How to Shower: Men vs Women, was something that made people laugh because it was true. Most of the comments on the video were “My husband totally does that!” or “I totally do that!” The Man/Woman dichotomy in the video had little to do with age or nationality or era so it was accessible to a lot of people.

Jay: Oh man… I wish i knew. The potential of seeing a nipple?

Any lessons you can share as people make the leap into web video?
Leah: Just start making stuff. Then put it out there and listen to what your viewers think of it. Of course you must have thick skin because will get comments like “this sucks” and “I just wasted 2 minutes of my life I’ll never get back” because people are cruel, but you’ll also have people write what they genuinely think so its instant feedback.

Jay: Just make stuff. We started making stuff… and then people started watching it. It was a complete surprise and, frankly, embarrassing. But then we thought to ourselves, “Hey, this is fun. Maybe we could charge money for this.” Anyone can have their own channel now and the best/funniest/most interesting content always rises to the top.

You can see Leah and Jay at Gnomedex on August 22th. Online, you can find them at their company giantantmedia.com. You can also find Leah on twitter or working on www.bongothefilm.com. Jay is also on twitter, or on his website.

I met up with Chris while he was visiting Seattle. I had my brand new camera and thought I would give it a try here. It was an impromptu interview where we talked about how Social Media Club got started, his goals for the organization, and tips for social media practioners.

Gear notes: I did not have my tripod with me so I used my elbows as one on a table top. I did have an external mic which I think was a necessity here because we were in a crowded bar.

Web video is growing exponentially. Ten hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute!  Some good (even great!) some bad, and some really ugly.  Getting into the great category takes some magic, but staying out of the bad isn’t that hard if you follow a couple of easy tips.

1.  First plan it out a little.   What’s your goal?  Where do you want your audience to focus? Planning it out ensures you can set up your shots to catch the best action.

2.  Use a tripod, especially for interviews or zoomed in shots (which magnify shake).  Even pros who are rock steady with their cameras use them for a reason, your video quality will be much better.  If you don’t have a tripod try to steady yourself on a railing, tree, or the back of a chair.

3.  Minimize panning across the area and zooming in and out.  Get in close.  It means  more intense video and much better audio.

4.  Get a variety of shots.  Of course you want the money action shot, but get a shot that shows the whole scene and don’t forget to get reaction.  Sometimes that’s better than the action itself.  Sure the fire is blazing, but the guy trying to put it out with his garden hose is really interesting.

5.  Put your best stuff as close to the beginning as possible.  You have less than 10 seconds to get someone’s attention before they will move on.

6.  Edit it down.  With so many choices viewers lose interest quickly.  If it’s not great or doesn’t advance the story, don’t include it.  Before you post have someone who wasn’t there watch it and give you feedback.

All of these things are easy to master with very little practice.  I’ll be covering more advanced and specialized techniques in future posts.  What do you want to learn?  Have great tips of your own? Send me an email or post it in the comments section.