Rich Media Maven

As Joan would say, “Can we talk?” According to the Wharton School of Business, some experts are calling new media, that is audio and video components online, Television 2.0. It’s part of doing business in the 2.0 environment, that is, on the Internet.

I talk to many businesses who are perfectly happy with what they have online-sans new media. Their business is good and that’s wonderful for now. “Why change?” they ask.

I reply diplomatically with a chuckle to soften my response, “Oh, pullease!”

Your crystal ball doesn’t require much visionary steam to see that rich media on the web, or Television 2.0, is part of doing business on your online platform.

Short Term ROI

Adding rich media such as video intro/elevator speeches to your site when it loads, podcasts or videos telling your story of a process, product, featured employees, and customer endorsements, will raise you above the dine of your competitors.

It makes your site “sticky” in that there is more to check out and more to learn about you and your business. So there’s a reason to “stick” around and check out your site.

Longer Term ROI

In the next 12-24 months with corporate Web presences multiplying to MySpace and YouTube, Television 2.0 on your business sites will be expeted.

Chatting casually with a Boomer at a recent gathering, I was informed that if a site did NOT have media, there was reason to question the business’s ability to keep up with current business trends in general.

I don’t know that I would pass that severe a judgment at this point in time. But I do think the Day of Rich Media 2.0 Judgment is not that far off.

Introduce Yourself, Your Passion and your Business

In 2003, I launched my ADD Coaching site, www.katherinelisti.com. I have a video intro that begins when the page loads. I would change it drastically if I was producing it in 2007. But for 2003, it was very cutting edge!

My reasoning at the time was that coaching has a personal component to the business relationship—more personal than your usual business transaction. So I wanted potential clients to meet me right up front for a meter reading. They were either going to like me or not, so let’s get it over with.

Today in mid-2007, I would describe an online video introduction as a way for potential customers and colleagues to meet you and shake hands across town, the state, the region, or the country. Visitors to your site get a sense, a feeling, an inkling about you when they see you introducing yourself and talking about your passion and your business. They observe your persona consciously and unconsciously. If they like you, they may contact you. If they don’t like you, it saves both of you the stress and strain of withdrawing from a non-match.

So an online video introduction can act as a “filter” for future contacts. But that filter will encourage more than limit. And as soon as I can find some decent statistics on that, I will share!

But in the meantime, no matter the generation – Boomer, Gen X-er, Gen Y-er, or Millennium…We’re all products of the motion picture/television culture. And therefore, rich media or Television 2.0 is going to make for a more dynamic web site for potential customers, current customers (coming back for more), and colleagues, than flat html!

Posted on July 11th, 2007 by admin
Filed under: Rich Media Basics