by Ethan Beute
When rehumanizing your communication with personal video, focus more on social messaging—Facebook Messenger, LinkedIn messaging, or direct messages in Twitter or Instagram. Rather than the one-to-anyone, anonymous broadcasting to your wall or feed, these messaging systems allow direct, one-to-one communication. A social network connection may be the only connection you have with someone, so this may be the only channel available to reach her or him. Or you may have called, emailed, and texted with someone, but this person prefers a network's social messaging to communicate with you. Regardless, personal video works well here.
Introduce yourself to new connections and open up a conversation.
Instead of typing a happy birthday message or clicking to congratulate someone on a new job, promotion, or work anniversary, stand out from the crowd and make the person feel special with a personal video.
Use the “Great to Meet You” or “Check In” techniques from the previous chapter in a social message, especially if you don't have an email address or mobile number.
Sales executive and sales trainer Ronnell Richards in Atlanta, Georgia uses video to open up conversations with every new LinkedIn connection. He started recording truly one-to-one messages with the BombBomb mobile app, then dropping the link into LinkedIn messaging. Seen in Figure 7.1, this populates a video thumbnail. A connection's click starts streaming his personal video. As his presence on the network grew, however, he was connecting with as many as 50 new people every day! Because it was so effective at generating conversations, this technique required a scaled solution that preserved its personal feel. So, he records a brand new “thanks for connecting” message each morning and sends it to his assistant who uploads it and sends its link to each new connection throughout the day.
FIGURE 7.1 Start More Conversations with Video in Social Messages
The social messaging platforms each work a little differently. Because they're always changing, we'll only briefly cover some of their differences. With the Facebook Messenger mobile app, you click the camera icon, then press, hold, and record up to a 20-second video. Releasing the button stops the recording. On your laptop, you have to break out of that little Messenger window by clicking “See All in Messenger,” clicking the camera icon, and clicking “Take Video.” Warning: it doesn't count you down—it just starts recording. And your limit is two minutes before it automatically stops. Your video's not available to send immediately; you'll have to wait about 60% more time than it took to record your video for it to be encoded and ready to send (over half a minute wait after a one-minute recording, for example). And, as of this writing, you don't get a confirmation of receipt or play.
If you prefer to send immediately, drop a video link recorded and hosted elsewhere into Facebook Messenger. You have to do it that way in LinkedIn messaging—whether mobile, laptop, or desktop. They don't yet offer a recorder. Direct video messaging from the Instagram mobile app works the same as Facebook's mobile app, but you're limited to 15 seconds. To record video in Twitter's direct messaging, click the camera, then click the video icon, then press and hold “Record.” The length limit is more than two minutes, but you are confined to a square. All of these opportunities should expand as we go forward.
It's worth noting that cold outreach is more difficult here. In some cases, like Twitter, you can't directly message someone who doesn't follow you. In other cases, like LinkedIn, you can reach people you're not connected to, but only if you pay for their Premium upgrade.
DELIVERY, FILTERS, AND FIREWALLS
Delivery in social messaging is pretty consistent, especially if you have a direct connection with that person. Texts will almost always go through, but links and images may be limited if you have no texting history with that number. So … what about email?
Mass email has legally required markings on it, like an unsubscribe link, that tell email clients that it's a mass email. If your sending domain or server has a bad reputation, your email may go to spam. No system reveals how they send email to spam. There are no hard and fast rules, even though an online search will give you some. Think of it as a demerit filtering system that blends reputation, subject line, email content, bounce rates, abuse rates, past engagement with your sends and other factors to determine where to place it. Provided you have a decent history and you're using a reputable service, a mass video email sent via The Screenshot Method or The Pro Method should perform as well as any other mass email.
Even with a good sending reputation, mass email often goes to the Promotions tab in Gmail. Some people fear this, but there's no way to avoid it. Gmail is operating in service of its customers and a mass email is a promotional email. As someone who's sent millions of emails, I don't fear the Promotions tab. Many Gmail instances, including business accounts and many mobile instances, don't have tabs at all. And only about a quarter of all emails are opened in Gmail.1 If your Gmail recipients want to hear from you, they'll hear from you—either because they don't have tabs, they check to see what's in their Promotions tab, or they marked your emails to land in their Primary tab.
If a person says they're not receiving your mass emails and video emails, take a look at your suppression list. Your email marketing system, marketing automation system, or CRM should be keeping one for you. It's the list of all the email addresses that can't receive your email (typo in the address or address no longer exists) and people who don't want to receive your email (unsubscribes and abuse complaints). See if that person's address is on the list. If it's got a typo, correct it. If someone accidentally opted out or marked you for abuse (it happens), she will likely have to change that herself by fishing out an old send and updating her preferences. You may be able to unsuppress the address yourself.
But I'm not interested in mass video email sending, you offer. Great! By virtue of being far more targeted in your approach, your open, play, click, and reply rates will exceed industry benchmarks. On human-initiated, one-to-one sends, BombBomb strips the mass email markings on mobile and web sends (we leave them on for autoresponders and automated sequences). If you're directly in Gmail or Outlook, they're not there in the first place. With The Screenshot Method or The Pro Method, you shouldn't encounter any delivery problems.
Someone received my video email but couldn't see my video, you say. Happens. It's not foolproof. Devices, operating systems, email clients and versions of those clients, default and custom settings—there are so many variables at play. A really tough variable is the local firewall. You know the guy. Nothing bad's going down on his watch; he's got the firewall set to Threat Level Midnight! I've worked with this guy. I'd get the weekly quarantine email showing everything that got blocked at the firewall and it would be loaded with legitimate, valuable email. On emails that did go through to me, images, links, or attachments were stripped out and held behind a protective permission process.
When you identify a valuable or important domain (the part of the email address after @ that most often ends in .com), your email provider should be able to provide you or the IT person at that domain with some whitelisting information. This should get you and your emails onto the list that passes straight through the wall and gets delivered successfully. We've done this for ourselves and done it on behalf of our clients.
Here are a few hard truths. Not every video email will reach its intended recipient in the exact way you expected it to be received. Not everyone who receives your video email will open it. Not everyone who opens it will play your video. Not everyone who plays your video will respond. Chapters 10 and 11 provide very specific strategies to get more opens, plays, and replies to your video emails, as well as tailored follow-up processes. We offer this information here to remind you that video's not magic and that perfection's unachievable.
Your best bet for successful delivery is to send timely, relevant, and anticipated emails. Your personal and technical reputations are at stake. Each person's engagement with your sends will increasingly dictate when and how they receive your messages. Generically speaki
ng, big data and machine learning inform the delivery process and decisions made favor the recipient's interests, not the sender's.
THE VIDEO VIEWING EXPERIENCE
So, my video plays directly in the email, right in the inbox?. If you're using The Screenshot Method, it's a definite no. If you're using The Mobile Method or The Pro Method, it's yes and no … but mostly no.
As we just established, the email inbox is a very secure environment. Many things easily executed on a web page can't be executed in an inbox. And a consistent experience is more easily delivered on a webpage viewed in one of a few main internet browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer/Edge) than in an inbox that isn't just accessed through those multiple browsers, but also through multiple devices, email clients, and apps (Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, Yahoo, Edison Mail, etc.).
Some combinations of device, operating system, email client, browser, and app will support video play directly inside the email while in the inbox. It's a function of HTML5 video support, which exists in some situations, but not in most. Apple supported it in iOS and Apple Mail for a few years, then pulled it back before partially restoring it. When and where it does work, you lose the ability to track the video play at high resolution. Many emerging, interactive aspects of email suffer this same shortcoming. To maintain a consistent and trackable experience across all the different people and environments you're sending to, BombBomb's opted to stick with the standard process of: video gets clicked, new window opens, video email dynamically appears, video plays. But we're constantly monitoring HTML5 video support and its consequences.
With a device-to-device or system-to-system match, you've got a better shot at video play in the email in the inbox. For example, if you drop a YouTube link into a Gmail email and someone opens it in Gmail, he or she may be able to play your video down in the bottom of the email. Google owns YouTube and Gmail, so they can do things like this. But if you send that same email to someone using a different service, the experience will be different.
So, “video email” may not mean exactly what you think it means as a viewing experience. But your expectations and opinions don't make it any less effective. The technology and its providers are always changing, so the standard video playback experience is changing, too. Video email and video messaging work not because of the technology but because of the humans using the technology.
FACE TO FACE IN ANY CHANNEL
If you take nothing more from this chapter, then take this: In almost any case when you're typing out and sending text, you can send a video in its place. Before you click Send, Post, or Publish next time, ask yourself, Would this be better if I said it face to face? In many cases, the answer will be yes. To introduce yourself in a personal and memorable way. To communicate your message more clearly. To save time by talking instead of typing. To connect with someone more effectively. To get to “yes” earlier and more often on opportunities large and small. These are the benefits of building relationships through video, and they're available in emails, text messages, and social messages.
NOTE
1. “Email Client Market Share.” Litmus. Accessed September 25, 2018. http://emailclientmarketshare.com/.
CHAPTER 8
Why You're Not Sending Video and How to Get Comfortable on Camera
Overheard in small group discussions at corporate offices, conferences, team lunches, and elsewhere:
“I don't do video. Mary does video.”
“Yeah, Mary does do video. I tried video. Do you do video?”
“No, I don't do video, either.”
Replace “video” with “phone calls” or “email” or “meetings.” Really. Replacing with “email” sounds like this:
“I don't do email. Mary does email.”
“Yeah, Mary does do email. I tried email. Do you do email?”
“No, I don't do email, either.”
Sounds silly, right? That's what “video” is going to sound like in the foreseeable future. Some people are more effective than others in videos, emails, phone calls, or meetings. Some people were great on their very first customer service calls or in their initial prospecting emails. But books are still written and courses are still taught about selling better by phone, sending better emails, and hosting better meetings. How long have people been standing up in front of other people giving presentations? For thousands of years! And yet we still read, write, teach, and train on presentation skills.
Our communication is constantly evolving. As it's presently evolving, video is making its way into the communication tool set of business professionals. So, let's talk about why Mary does video, but her friends don't. And how Mary and her friends can make it a successful and satisfying habit on a daily and weekly basis.
WHY WE STOP “DOING VIDEO” BEFORE WE EVEN START
You're excited and motivated to rehumanize your sales and service processes with video. Your conviction that face-to-face communication is valuable and compelling runs deep. You know video can improve results and accelerate successes. You've got a checklist of day-to-day and week-to-week triggers to go to the “Record” button instead of your keyboard. You know the various ways to record and send. You're in!
So you pick up your smartphone or flip open your laptop and fire up the camera. You look at yourself for a quick visual check. Then you look into the lens as if you're looking your viewer in the eye. You look back at yourself for a double check. And then the doubt creeps in. The fear takes over. You're in your own head. Your momentum is lost, dashed upon the rocks at the edge of an angry ocean by wave after massive wave of uncertainty.
This happens to all kinds of people who set out with the best intentions on this personal video journey: to otherwise confident and successful people, to people who have winning personalities and warm smiles, to people who build rapport quickly when they're at networking events or client meetings. It's a huge, missed opportunity. But it doesn't have to be this way for them—or for you. You need not succumb to the daunting nature of the journey, the rocks, the ocean, or the waves. They're all in your head.
We've seen it all. We've been pioneering personal video for communication, connection, and conversion with and for our customers for a decade. Along the way, we've run surveys and other feedback mechanisms to understand what stops people from adding this personal and human touch to their emails, text messages, and social messages.
Have you ever said or thought any of the following statements about your video attempts?
I don't like how I look or sound.
I don't know what to say.
I don't have a system or process.
Odds are, you have. They're the most common reasons people quit before they start in earnest. So, we'll tackle these issues one by one because you're going to be using video. Soon, it'll be as standard as emails, calls, and meetings. Have some self-compassion. Get into a growth mindset. Don't listen when you tell yourself I can't do video or I don't do video. It's simply not true.
YOU LOOK (AND SOUND) GREAT
When I was a kid, we shared a driveway with the neighbors. It ran between our houses, then split out to our separate garages. Naturally, the same-age boy next door, Eli, was my best friend for several years. One of the countless creative things we did: record mock radio commercials and shows. The tape recorder my grandfather gave me was about as big as a half dozen bricks and just as heavy. The speaker took up half of the surface and the cassette tray and buttons took up the other. I'll never forget my reaction when hearing my voice played back the first time: “I recognize Eli's voice, but whose voice is that?!”
My coauthor had a similar experience. When he was 10 years old, Stevie got the best Christmas gift of his childhood when he opened up the Fisher Price PXL 2000. He and his friends recorded news shows and slam-dunk contests on this late 1980s video camera that recorded black-and-white video … on audio cassettes! Steve had the same reaction that I did. In his head, he was flying high like Clyde “The Glide” Drexler or Dominique Wilkins, whose dunk
s earned him one of the NBA's best nicknames: “The Human Highlight Film.” On video playback, however, his sneakers barely lifted off the driveway and only for a fraction of a second. In his head, he heard Tom Brokaw or Dan Rather. On audio playback, his voice was unrecognizable to him. Who is that, that I'm seeing and hearing?
If you've ever recorded a personal video, you may have felt the same way!
People Already Know What You Look Like
For your entire life, you've looked out at the world from your own point of view. You approach and talk with people. You interact with everyone you seek out and everyone who comes your way. You do it all without a second thought, except for that last-minute visual check on the way out the door in the morning, that salad-greens-in-the-teeth check after lunch, and maybe that affirmational hype check before an important meeting. But something about the video camera gives you pause, when you should just be recording and sending.
As you've looked out at the world without a second thought, people have looked back at you the entire time. People already know what you look like and sound like. And for people who've never met you, your hope is that they'll know these things soon. You look like you look. And you speak as you speak. Just because you're not used to seeing and hearing yourself doesn't mean others aren't. And just because you're not recording and sending videos to people doesn't mean your appearance is a secret. Young children think they're hiding when they cover their eyes; you know better.