Owen Fitzpatrick is a psychologist, psychotherapist and hypnotherapist. He co-founded the Irish Institute of NLP with Brian Colbert in 2001 and as an international trainer of NLP, set up Owen Fitzpatrick International in 2010.
Author of the time management book ‘Not Enough Hours’, he presented the RTE television programme ‘Not Enough Hours’ in 2008 and 2009. I met Owen in 2009 when I took part in the programme and what I liked most about his approach was his ability to talk common sense when teaching practical and simple skills.
Owen launched a new website in 2010 and has been using written blog posts, videos, facebook and twitter to promote his work internationally and within Ireland. I recently caught up with him to ask him for this thoughts on the various social media platforms.
Owen, what do you think makes for a good blog post?
I enjoy business blogs that include a personal take on things by the writer yet make it relevant to the content of the blog post. I actually think business people can often communicate their personalities more effectively in written posts than youtube videos through the use of good description and effective images. Sometimes people are concentrating too hard when being filmed and their character isn’t communicated effectively.
You have a number of video blogs on your website. Do you find them more effective than written posts in delivering a message?
It depends on the message/call to action. More information can be delivered in a written post with the use of lists or bullet points and of course, interesting images can be used. It is important to ensure videos are short as well as interesting so videos that are too lengthy limits the effectiveness too. I think any business that can utilise both well and vary them accordingly should do well in communicating their message. I use i-movie and find it very easy for editing.
You used you tube videos very well to promote the 4 day Charisma bootcamp course you were holding in Dublin last December. Did you find them to be an effective marketing tool?
I found the videos to be very effective and will be using them again to promote our Charisma bootcamp course next April. I was able to interview each of the speakers regarding their thoughts on how their skills could teach people to be more charismatic and it gave those considering attending a little taster too. I was also interviewed in one video for my thoughts on why this course would teach so many valuable skills including how to communicate more effectively. I wanted it to be one of the best courses of all time and used the videos to transmit my passion and belief in this bootcamp.
Do you have any tips for anyone considering using video blogs on their website?
Yes, these are some tips I follow:
- Use the same branding at the start of the video. 5-10 seconds is sufficient. The first one I used was way too long. The same with the ending – finish with a similar branding each time too.
- Introduce yourself in the same way each time – have some continuity with your introductions.
- Vary your facial expressions and pay attention to your intonation too. Quite often, people are concentrating so much on remembering what they want to say that they find it difficult to come across naturally.
- Don’t play low music in the background – it is distracting.
- Be passionate about your subject.
- Perfect a setting for your background and stick to it.
How have you grown the number of ‘likers’ on your Facebook page?
I teach courses all over the world and I mention my facebook page at some point during the course. If a student of the course is on Facebook, they like the page and quite often, leave a comment relating to the course or to one of my books or CDs. Therefore, it tends to work as an promoter for future courses too.
What about Twitter?
I’m not tweeting that much at the moment but that will change. Due to various priorities, I have found it hard to find the time this year but I’m in the process of changing the website and with that, changes will be implemented with the blog posts and other social media usage. There will be a lot more ‘personality’ from Owen Fitzpatrick going forward.
The next Charisma bootcamp by OFI will take place next April in Dublin. If you need tips regarding time management, then I wholeheartedly recommend his book ‘Not Enough Hours’.
