Creating a Vibe for Your Video Calls

Hi friends! Welcome to today’s episode of We Are, Marketing Happy, a healthcare marketing podcast. I’m your host, Jenny Bristow, and I’m also the CEO & Founder at Hedy & Hopp, a full service, fully healthcare marketing agency. I’m very excited today to chat about another topic that is kind of similar to last week’s episode. So last week we talked a little bit about the benefits of focusing on your own professional approach and content strategy on LinkedIn. Why is that worth your energy as a health care marketer? I received so many DMs and messages from folks that really it inspired them to start creating additional content that I wanted to do another content piece that would focus a little bit on how you can continue to build out your own presence as a health care marketer through the lens of building, you know, your own professional credibility.

So first big caveat: If you’re listening to this on Spotify or on another podcast platform and you don’t have video, you’re not going to get the full effect of this episode. I strongly recommend that you watch the YouTube version or the video version that’s available on Spotify. If you have to do audio only, totally fine, but there are going to be quite a few things I’m going to be visually referencing.

So let’s get with it. So today we’re going to be focusing on and talking about how you can show up your best through video conferences. So Zoom, we all spend so many hours on Zoom. A big percentage of our clients on the provider side, whether they are at a large multistate hospital system or, you know, a ten location, ten location orthopedic practice—a lot of folks are still working from home at least multiple days a week, and even when they do go into the office, they’re still having to do quite a few video calls. So I’m going to talk a little bit about the power of your background on Zoom. It’s the number one thing I get comments on, and I want first for you to see the backdrop.

It feels not as exciting as it normally does. Right? For those of you that are used to seeing me, come on here with joy in my background, you can see it feels a little flat right now, right? So I’m really excited to share with you a little before and after. So, here’s before. And here’s after. It feels a lot more alive, right? 

Three small changes: Lights in the background, candle, and of course, the famous neon sign. So I have a brand to represent, right? I own the company. I have the podcast, so I’m recording often. But there’s a brand that you’re developing visually every single time that you hop on a video call. Whether you realize it or not, it’s absolutely happening.

So I have a LinkedIn post that is one of my most popular LinkedIn posts I’ve ever done that provides some tips and tricks to make your backdrop a lot more appealing—regardless of where you are or how much money you have to spend on it. 

So let’s go through a couple of different ideas. First, lighting. Lighting is so important. I’m recording this episode right now and it’s about 4:30 in the afternoon, so light is coming in from different places. But I have my nice fancy little remote. I’m going to play a little bit with the blinds and show you how completely different lighting can look, whenever you’re opening or closing natural light around you. Then I also have a lamp that I can turn on that again, like so orange. So we’re going to kill that right away. That one’s not doing me any favors. And then whenever this blind is up, it just is too much light, right? It’s too much. So wherever you are, spend some time playing with the window coverings, the back lighting. I have a second screen that always has something white on it, so it’s almost like that ring light effect.

So if you are in an office building and you don’t have access to natural light by setting up your second camera or, sorry, second monitor to have something that has white on it, like your email inbox, even—anything that you need, if it’s not distractive, fine. But it’s white so it really can help kind of have that nice lighting effect.

Another thing you’ll notice that I do in my background that I always recommend for people is I have a lot of depth visually. It’s a lot of visual interest. So I have the ability to do this because I’m actually in a sunroom. I have an entire room that I was able to decorate. So I added lights with depth.

I have a candle with depth light, the neon sign. I have plants at different heights and in different sizes, all around me. And that provides quite a bit of depth. You can do the same thing, even if you have a flat wall behind you, by putting frames at different sizes, different height, maybe putting a short table, over to the side and a plant, to be able to provide, additional depth, of visual interest. You know, as you’re on a Zoom. So definitely thinking about how you can play with depth. 

Another thing you really want to focus on is camera location. So I see folks all of the time looking like this when they’re on Zooms. And I’m looking at my second monitor right now. So they must have their video over here, but their actual video that they’re recording that’s actually picking them up for folks that are on the other side of the Zoom or on the other monitor. That’s a pretty bad experience if you’re chatting with somebody like this, because it’s more difficult to read their facial expressions, and it feels less engaging than if I’m actually looking at the camera and chatting with you face to face, right? So you want to make sure that wherever your camera is, that is the screen that you are looking at.

Let’s talk a little bit about camera height. Everybody’s been on a Zoom call where somebody—let me get my monitor, my thing—where somebody was on a video that was like this right way to high, kind of looking down at them. Definitely, difficult or sometimes even, like where it’s down like this and too low. And it’s very difficult.

I have a little stand mine is on, so I have the ability to move it around a little bit if I want. But definitely play around with height because you want it to definitely feel almost like somebody sitting across the table from you and not looking up at you or looking down at you. You want it to be very inviting to be on a call with you and participating in that way.

If you can’t move your laptop, you can actually set up your phone as an alternate camera. Or you can buy one of those little camera plugins that they offer now to be able to, like, drop the line of sight down. If, for example, you need to look over to your second screen for any reason, you can do that and still be engaging with the content.

Another tip is clean your camera! Here, I’m going to go ahead and do it with mine while we’re talking. Clean your camera! So many people—this is the number one tip I give people for photography, as well: Clean your lens. It is crazy how much natural oil gets on your lens. And whenever that happens, it starts being hazy.

The picture isn’t quite as crisp, and when you’re hopping on Zooms and trying to have a professional polished conversation, as a marketer, you want to make sure that your image is crisp and you’re showing up the best. The internet connection is already going to do you dirty by messing up the clearness of your imagery. So at least make sure that your camera is clean.

I usually keep, either I use my hand like I just did, or keep a nice terrycloth or something that won’t scratch your lens in your desk drawer to clean it, at the beginning every day or whenever you touch it accidentally as you’re opening up your laptop. Always important to keep it clean.

A couple of additional things to think about as you’re designing your space is really thinking about color contrast. You can see I have some really bright things and then some dark things, and I really mix it up. I have art over to the side. It’s actually our Artist in Residence. So I get to highlight their work a little bit. So, you don’t want everything to be one color. And I typically see this whenever people are sitting in, like, a spare bedroom and they’re up against a white wall. And everything is one monotone color. So, thinking about ways that you can transform that, whether it is something, you know, inexpensive and easy, like peel and stick wallpaper to add some visual interest, or perhaps some framed art or photos, even some sophisticated looking posters. There’s really a lot of things you can do with creativity. And as marketers, we should excel at this, right?

So thinking how you can turn something—a corner of your house, or an office area that you have to use for Zoom calls—into something that shows a little bit more personality that’s going to be your spot where you’re going to record regularly, it’s worth putting in, you know, a little bit of time to brainstorm that. 

A couple of other things that I wanted to point out is I always have at least a jacket or a blazer or something readily accessible. I am very casual most of the time. People know that. I am a big proponent of always wanting to be yourself, really show up in a way that is genuine to you. But, you know, sometimes you gotta dress up a little bit. So having layers or things that you can throw on, especially whenever you have back to back meetings, can really be helpful.

So, hopefully this was helpful. I definitely know that as marketers we juggle so much, and for many of you, this is probably the last thing that you want to think about. But a lot of you are probably on many meetings and Zooms with people in your organization, with leaders within your organizations, you definitely want to take time to show up as your best self.

So have fun: Make sure that the way you’re showing up represents the brand and the personality that you want them to remember. And I’m always happy to answer any questions. Share your background with me! I’d love on socials, to take a snapshot of your socials and share it with me or—of your background—and share it with me on socials. I’d love to see what you design. 

So until next week, thank you for tuning in to this week’s episode of We Are, Marketing Happy, a healthcare marketing podcast. Hopefully you will have fun designing your space. Cheers!https://youtu.be/KfFPqGtLy8I