#eMetrics Reflection: Self-Service Analysis in 2 Minutes or Less

I’m chunking up my reflections on last week’s eMetrics conference in San Francisco into several posts. I’ve got a list of eight possible topics, but I seriously doubt I’ll managed to cover all of them.

The closing keynote at eMetrics was Matt Wilson and Andrew Janis talking about how they’ve been evolving the role of digital (including social) analytics at General Mills.

Almost as a throwaway aside, Matt noted that one of the ways he has gone about increasing the use of their web analytics platform by internal users is with video:

1. He keeps a running list of common use cases (types of data requests)
2. He periodically makes 2-minute (or less) videos of how to complete these use cases

Specifically:

• He uses Snagit Pro to do a video capture of his screen while he records a voiceover
• If a video lasts more than 120 seconds, he scraps it and starts over

Outside of basic screen caps with annotations, the “video with a voiceover” is my favorite use of Snagit. When I need to “show several people what is happening,” it’s a lot more efficient than trying to find a time for everyone to jump into GoToMeeting or a Google Hangout. I just record my screen with my voiceover, push the resulting video to YouTube (in a non-public way — usually “anyone with the link” mode), and shoot off an email.

I’ve never tried this with analytics demos — as a way to efficiently build a catalog of accessible tutorials — but I suspect I’m going to start!