Why YouTube Should Give Wistia a Try

At the recent MamaBear Tech Conference, there were a lot of interesting and inspiring things going on.

One was a talk by Ivana Kirkbride, Audience Development Strategy at YouTube entitled "Guess How Much I Love You(Tube)?: Distribution via Video."

It was full of great things about how important it is to engage an audience. Apparently, YouTube considers video to be a good way to do that :)

The talk was cruisin' along, and she's going to end up with an inspiration tale about Michelle Phan, and how she used videos to make a name for herself.

So, she tries to start the video . . .

. . . nothing happened . . .

So, just to clarify: A YOUTUBE talk, and the video doesn't work . . .

Are ya with me on that?

So, my first thought is that YouTube should be using Wistia. It's a great video hosting service for businesses.

Here's some stuff to know about Wistia:

• It's Very Reliable
• They are über geeks when it comes to video stats
• Like to help you understand how that data can IMPROVE existing video content
• Rather than make lots of poorly engaging videos, they show how it's better to improve what you already have
• Great webinars
• Awesome ways to present content to site visitors
• It's what businesses use when they want to take video seriously

You'd think I work for them or something. Nope, I don't. They've just won me over with a great service and even better customer support. Here's what really did it for me:

They offer a few different packages, so I paid for the smallest one. It allowed like three videos at the time. On my business site, we are planning to do short videos explaining how to do stuff. So, we would have needed a bigger, more expensive package :(

I emailed them and told them my situation. We simply needed lots of videos, not unlimited bandwidth. So, good 'ole Jeff over there emailed me back in about 25 minutes. I figured it would be an email saying "Deal with it" or "We'll look into it" . . . nope . . . I was amazed when I saw that he had already setup a custom account with unlimited videos, and was capped based on the bandwidth. I was stoked, that's exactly what I needed, and it was done with no hassle, right away.

Try getting anything like that to happen with your YouTube Account . . .

Also, here's a blog post they did on the The Cost of Free Video Hosting.

If you have a biz, and video means anything, Wistia is something you gotta check out. Ya, even if you are YouTube :)

Why MediaPiston Should Automate Less and Care More

I was emailed a while back about a cool sounding service from Joe Heitzeberg. I looked him up and saw that he had done some good stuff in the past. His Twitter profile says "MediaPiston chief, mentor for TechStars & 500 Startups, new father". So, it seemed legit.

UPDATE: Some of this is simply me venting about a bad experience I had with MediaPiston, so take it with a grain of salt. There is also information based on feedback from Joe Heitzeberg, so don't miss that below.

Here are the comments I left on oDesk when ending my miserable contract with them.

Keep in mind. I gave them many chances to make it right with me. I felt completely ignored. If your name is Joe, or you have a company, please use this as an anti pattern for customer service.

They have a way to go before I'll consider using them again. I did a few jobs with them, and the work was ok, but I didn't get anything that would have been useful without more work on my end.

The thing that really pissed me off is that I did an ebook job with them.

It took forever to even get a draft. There were about 5 writers who were assigned and then stopped.

Once I got a draft, there was a date I was shown as a deadline for my review period. WELL BEFORE the review period was over, they marked it as accepted and TOOK THE PAYMENT.

They give two revisions and say you WILL NEVER PAY FOR WORK YOU DON"T WANT, but when I asked about that after they took my payment, they said I needed to ask the author for revisions. WTF, that's the process they are supposed to be handling.

Total lame experience with this service. I'm sure they have their challenges they are trying to overcome, but you'd think they'd overcome that by a great customer service experience. Nope!

All along, I get spam emails from the owner asking me how it's going, and to submit more orders, etc. But, when I email him with feedback or questions, they are ignored.

They may improve at some point tech wise. I get it's complicated, but they have complete control over the customer service they provide.

Here is an overview of the emails between me and good 'ole AUTO JOE, and their useless customer service:

There's a point where automating your customer engagement just makes your company look stupid. I'm addressing a serious issue with them that, apparently, it's now my problem, not theirs. Meanwhile, the founder is sending me smiley face emails about more orders and referals . . . ignoring the issues I am raising in my responses.

Joe Heitzeberg is not listed on the 500 Startups Mentors Page anymore. I probably should not comment on why that might be. UPDATE: He said he is taking a break from mentoring right now to focus on MediaPiston, which is requiring all his attention at the moment.

Joe, this part really makes me laugh:

"Thank you for placing multiple orders and for being one of our best new customers!"

If this was true, I should have had a better experience, don't you think?


UPDATE:

Joe Heitzeberg contacted me about this.  He was very candid in his response.  He admits that they have been focusing mostly on the technology that runs MediaPiston, and not enough on customer service.  Obviously, making any decision about where to deploy your resources has consequences.  If he had chosen to focus on customer service, this post might be about how the tech needs a lotof work.  My opinion is that you can never go wrong when you focus on making customers happy.  It's a lot easier to understand that features simply haven't been implemented than to deal with slipping though the cracks in customer service.

This is good to know:

We have additional support staff being brought in now and redoubling efforts to improving the product in those specific cases where customers run into trouble (vs. just throwing people at it)

I wish them the best. I hope I have helped in some way.

What LeVar Burton Said About My "Questionable" Website

In a previous post, I wrote about How to Get Into an Exclusive 500 Startups Event as a VIP where I talked about my journey to get into the recent MamaBear Tech Conference created by 500 Startups.

So, I made the PuppyRapMobile website to win the contest, and some have said that it seems kinda racist. Obviously, I don't agree. However, since I heard that, it has been on my mind.

LeVar Burton was the keynote speaker at the conference, and was truly amazing and inspiring (I'll have to follow up with a post just about that talk). He talked about how his acting career started by playing Kunta Kinte on Roots, and its significant impact on American culture. Hmmm . . .

. . . I knew he was just the person to put my mind at ease. If the guy that played Kunta Kinte on Roots could not settle the issue, no one could.

At some point after his talk was over, I met up with him in the hall outside the main conference area.

He was nice enough to take a look with me, so I showed him around the site a bit.

I told him how some people said it was kinda racist.

He smiled, patted me on the back, and said "It's an homage!"

Thanks LeVar Burton, for clearing things up. I'm glad you liked the site!