I learned an expression from one of our developers not long after we relocated to Chapel Hill.  He told me that, with technology, you have to eat your own dog food, meaning, on the most basic level, that you have to use the software and applications you develop.  It is the broader interpretation of this expression that really resonates with me though and that is the idea that it’s not good enough to just talk the talk, you have to walk the walk too.  From this came the idea for what will now become a recurring blog post category that will be known as, “3 Birds Eats Its Own Bird Food” which is, of course a bird-centric take on the dog food expression.

The inaugural post in this category will relate to creating and posting video content.  The popularity of You Tube, Vimeo and other video sharing sites is no secret, neither is the positive SEO value of video content or the simple fact that consumers gravitate toward the interactivity of rich media.  We consistently urge our dealer clients to capture customer testimonials, vehicle walk arounds, dealership and community events and a variety of other material on video for these reasons.  Even though I intellectually understand all of the reasons for creating video content, it’s a challenge for me to push past the discomfort I feel about putting myself on video.  It is difficult for me to knowingly appear in a video without feeling incredibly awkward, nor can I watch a video of myself without being shocked to hear how my voice sounds to others or making any number of other self critical observations.  If left to my own devices, I might scrutinize the recording like it was the Zapruder film, torturing myself by stopping, rewinding and playing it frame-by-frame and studying every fleeting, unflattering facial expression.  Nevertheless, I decided to toughen up and take the bull by the horns, a technique that has worked well for me in the past. (more…)