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You know what happens when most companies launch a new, branded mobile application or other content-rich marketing program intended to effectively combine information and promotion and set the world ablaze with a viral sensation?
Nothing.
When you finish the app, or start blogging, or begin answering questions, you have not reached the finish line; you have reached the starting line. Too many businesses break out the champagne just because something new was created.
To get a better sense for how businesses can use content and social media together to be successful, I talked with my friend Jay Baer. Jay Baer is the author of the brand new New York Times bestseller Youtility: Why Smart Marketing is About Help, Not Hype. I asked Jay to summarize the concepts of Youtility, and this is what he told me:
“Youtility” is marketing that is so useful, people would pay for it if asked. Because this is often an inexpensive proposition when considered in the context of the overall marketing programs of a company, these efforts are viewed as relatively minor and thus don’t receive dedicated promotional support, even at launch. Instead, they are promoted alongside the regular flotsam and jetsam of the brand’s communication: a link here, a mention there. This dramatically curtails exposure – counteracting the entire premise of the Youtility.
You have to market your marketing.
This concept of using marketing to promote your marketing is also the best possible case for using social media, which far too often devolves into self-referential inanities that career employees wouldn’t even care about, much less casual customers. This frustrating scenario of brands talking, talking, talking in social media but never saying anything of value other than “we’re great, you should give us more of your money” is the epitome of social media misuse.
On the whole, which is more inherently interesting and useful, and thus more likely to be an effective marketing message? That Columbia Sportswear sells a variety of outdoor gear, or that Columbia Sportswear has a mobile app that shows you how to tie knots called “What Knot to do in the Great Outdoors?”
Remember, companies of every size, shape and description are competing pixel-for-pixel for attention with real people whom we know and love. You break through that clutter by being useful, not by shouting louder.
Content is fire, and social media is the gasoline.
It’s not about keeping it real; it’s about keeping it relevant. If your social media informs more often than it promotes, you’re on the right track. If it is deeply helpful rather than deeply promotional, you’re probably on a roll!
Here’s a real example of this fire/gasoline idea, featuring back-to-back messages sent by interactive marketing software company ExactTarget on their Twitter channel last summer:
The first Tweet is a yawn-inducing corporate message about a new version of the company’s software, made even less relevant because it’s only for people seeking a German or Brazilian Portuguese version of the software – likely a very small subset of the brand’s followers on Twitter. Total waste.
But in the very next Tweet, ExactTarget gets it entirely right. Sent during the London Olympic Games, the message includes a link that, when clicked, accessed a very interesting infographic, showing which Olympic sports have the most Tweets about them, the most followers on Twitter, and several other statistical tidbits:
Does the infographic explicitly provide information about ExactTarget’s products and services? Absolutely not. Instead it uses real-time relevancy to create interest and an inferred topical tie, since one of the company’s products is software that allows companies to monitor and engage on Twitter.
Your Most Important (and Most Often Overlooked) Audience.
Indeed, you can use online marketing to raise awareness of the truly helpful information you’re providing to customers and prospective customers, and smart organizations like Columbia Sportswear and ExactTarget are successfully implementing those ideas. But there is another critically important audience for your Youtility that is consistently overlooked – your employees.
If you are truly, inherently useful, the manifestation of that approach will be just as valuable to your team members as it is to customers, maybe even more so. You know who is particularly interested in an application that shows you how to tie knots? People who work for Columbia Sportswear. Many are outdoors enthusiasts and are disproportionately likely to find themselves in a situation that calls for just the right knot.
In a world where personal relationships and social connectivity are the coin of the realm, your employees are your single greatest marketing engine. With the exception of huge, global consumer brands like Coca-Cola, the collected social connections of your employees exceed the social connections of your company, and those employees are perfectly situated to create awareness of your helpful Youtility marketing.
What is your content and gasoline?
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Now it’s your turn. What companies do you think do a great job of being helpful or useful? What is your “Youtility”? What useful information do you provide to your customers and prospects? And how do you get the word out about it through social media? Please let me know in the Comments section below, and please do share this post with your network.
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Jay Baer is a social media and content strategist & speaker, and author of the New York Times bestsellier Youtility: Why Smart Marketing is About Help, not Hype.
Dave Kerpen tries to be as useful as possble through the content he creates and curates online. Dave is the founder and CEO of Likeable Local. He is also the cofounder and Chairman of Likeable Media, and the New York Times bestselling author of Likeable Social Media and Likeable Business.To read more from Dave on LinkedIn, please click the FOLLOW button above or below.
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A few weeks ago, Media Composer 7, Avid’s latest editing application was launched. This new version got a very warm welcome and has generated quite an enthusiastic “buzz” on Social Media. But maybe you are still looking for some additional info? What new features can I use? Will this application run on my system? How do I install? And where can I find the Manual? Hopefully, this list of useful Guides and Documentation can help you answer those questions.
A good practice is to subscribe to the following Knowledge Base articles. That way, with every update of these documents, an email notification will be send to you, so you will always have the latest version.
In every document description of this blog post there is a direct link to the Knowledge Base article. The picture below shows you how to subscribe. After that you will get an email to confirm your subscription.
This guide is intended to assist you with installing and starting your application. You will also find information on how to activate your software and how to install any third party software. Additionally, instructions on how to deactivate and uninstall your Avid product can be found in this guide.
A complete list of changed and new features in Avid Media Composer 7. It provides a quick summary and brief explanation of Dynamic Media Folders, Background Services, Editing High-Resolution Media, FrameFlex, Color Management, Cached Waveforms and many other novelties in MC7.
This document describes compatibility issues with previous releases, software installation instructions, hardware and software requirements, and summary information on system and memory requirements. This document also lists hardware and software limitations.
Remember the big manuals from the old days? Well this is the same thing, but in a handy, downloadable document. This guide contains the task-oriented instructions, conceptual information, and reference information you need to use the features of your Avid editing application. This guide is intended for all users, from beginning to advanced.
This guide provides conceptual information and step-by-step instructions for the effects and color correction features of your Avid editing application. It also provides reference information for every effect and effect parameter available in your application. It also provides in-depth information on using Advanced Color Correction, available through the Symphony Option (starting at page 716).
File-based workflows can greatly accelerate post-production, replacing real-time tape capture with much faster file-based import along with the integral metadata to preserve image quality throughout the editing pipeline. With the emergence of new digital cameras that can record images with higher precision and dynamic range, media can come in varying size, resolution, aspect ratio, frame rate, compression, and color encoding (color model, bit depth, gamma). This guide shows you that your Avid application has adapted to allow better handling of resolutions and color encoding that these cameras and formats are constantly introducing.
2 documents (Win & Mac) with a listing of workstations and laptops that have been qualified by Avid for use with Media Composer. Avid dedicates a significant amount of engineering resources and time to test and qualify specific platform configurations. As new systems get tested and qualified, this document will be updated.
An interesting chart that describes what Operating System, QuickTime version, and nVidia driver you should install for the different versions of Avid Media Composer. (Windows and Mac charts are combined in the same document).
With the launch of Media Composer 7 comes a whole bunch of exciting new features and enhancements that will improve your editing workflow. And while Avid always encourages you to read the What’s New document, we all know that editors don’t have time to “read manuals”.
That’s why I made 10 short video summaries of my top changes that come with Media Composer 7. Just a fast, quick, “What’s New” run-through to get familiar with this new release. Check out my first five below.
You can try out these changes with the free 30-day Media Composer 7 trial. If you have more questions about specific features, don’t hesitate to post them on the Avid Community.
I’ll post my next 5 videos next week, in the meantime, have fun with MC7!
Wim
Brands are supposed to use social media to show their human side, but apparently Bank of America – and the alleged humans that run its customer service Twitter feed – missed that memo.
When New Jersey dad Mark Hamilton wrote an anti-foreclosure message in chalk on the sidewalk in front of a Manhattan Bank of America branch, he was told to leave by cops. So he took to Twitter: “Just got chased away by #NYPD 4 ‘obstructing sidewalk’.” he tweeted under his handle @darthmarkh.
What happened next underscored the world’s third largest bank (according to Forbes) utter lack of a grasp on how the social media platform works:
But wait, there’s more.
The immediate and understandable assumption was that the bank’s Twitter feed is run by a bot – a program that automatically replies to tweets that mention it. Bafflingly, this turns out not to be the case. A bank spokesperson explained to Digiday that real people are, in fact, behind all of the brand’s tweets.
“All of our interactions are personal and handled by a team of over 100 social-media servicing representatives,” the bank wrote in a statement released to Digiday. ”We respond to mentions of the bank to help identify underlying customer issues in addition to direct requests for help.”
But in this instance, the bank was responding to activists’ anger with vapid offers to help with their accounts. With its utter lack of online competence, Bank of America merely reinforced these angry tweeters’ view of the company as a faceless, heartless conglomerate.
“Our social media servicing representatives have assisted thousands of customers though our Twitter service,” the bank wrote in its email. With help like that, though, who needs enemies?
ByWim Van den Broeck on Monday, July 1st, 2013
he following is a guest contribution from editor, Wim Van den Broeck. With almost a decade of Media Composer experience in Belgium and Spain, Wim is currently a freelance editor in Madrid. He has a huge passion for the Avid Product Family, his main tool to achieve the best possible results for his clients. You can follow him as @editorbelga on Twitter.
With the launch of Media Composer 7 comes a whole bunch of exciting new features and enhancements that will improve your editing workflow. And while Avid always encourages you to read the What’s New document, we all know that editors don’t have time to “read manuals”.
That’s why I made 10 short video summaries of my top changes that come with Media Composer 7. Just a fast, quick, “What’s New” run-through to get familiar with this new release. Check out my first five below.
Phone calls. We all have important ones and want to maximize the impact, which can be hard to do when you aren’t face-to-face.
Many first-time entrepreneurs have grown up digital natives so have a really good intuitive feel for technology & design but don’t yet have the business basics down.
This shows itself when people try to do an elevator pitch, send concise, actionable emails or have a quick phone call with you to ask for help.
I’m not talking only about a sales call, getting past the assistant or anything like that. I’m talking about simple and quick calls to your business peers, VCs or other players in your ecosystem.
How Can I Help?
Angels, entrepreneurs, VCs, bloggers and the like all get a ton of requests for “just 15 minutes” phone calls.
I’m OK with this. One of the more rewarding parts of my job is being able to help other people. It’s high in the gratification quadrant when somebody comes back and says that our chat made a difference in their business.
The truth is I think that it’s part of human nature to want to try and help others so you’d be surprised how many people will find ways to help if asked appropriately or by the right person.
So when a person calls me and we’re 10 minutes into the call and it’s not clear why they’re calling I’m usually thinking to myself, “what was the reason they wanted to call me in the first place? What are they hoping to achieve?” and mostly, “How can I help?”
Most people don’t get to the point and since the distance between my random inner-head mutterings and my mouth are too small and my ADHD too great, it often just blurts out of me like Tourette’s syndrome, “Let me just stop you there. How can I best help you?”
It’s what we want. It’s what you want. Let’s be explicit about it.
[If you don’t follow me on Twitter now would be a great time! Click Here.
After all, You Don’t Ask, You Don’t Get! ;-)]
So here’s my advice:
1. Prepare! Write your set of bullet points on paper before the call. Write out the reason you’re calling, your key points and “the ask” in advance and your time allotment so you can always refer back and make sure you’re tracking to your plan.
2. You can start informally with banter – If I’m calling somebody I know a bit I usually try to start with a little friendly banter. If I know they like a sports team that might be a good start. If I saw their company in the press, heard that they saw somebody at an event that I know, they live in a town where a storm just rolled through – whatever. I think trying to humanize the call from the outset is good. When you jump straight into “sales pitch mode” it feels a bit strange.
Two things to watch for: 1) if you’re trying banter to build rapport but not “feeling it” then quickly shift to business. Some people just aren’t “chit chatters” and prefer to get on with things. I find that kinda boring, but I know some people are just wired that way. 2) some callers take this banter too far It starts to border on disrespectful of the person’s time or wasteful of your 15 minutes. Don’t be that person.
How long you go for is really a judgment call because there’s no right answer. If it’s somebody that I know really well and I confirm that they’re not rushing to do something else I might even take 10-15 minutes just to “catch up.” If it’s a general acquaintance it’s probably more like 3-4 minutes. If it’s a first time call you might try to keep the banter at 2 minutes or less.
So even if the person you called is really chatty don’t be undisciplined and let them talk too long. You have limited time on the call, presumably you called for a reason and you’re chewing up your valuable clock.
3. Let them know why you’re calling – When you’re ready to pivot the conversation your next line should be some derivative of, “listen, the reason I’m calling is … blah, blah, blah” 25% of people or less actually do this. They just talk and I’m not really sure why they called.
If you’re calling for a reason, the sooner the recipient knows the sooner they can help. If the clock runs out they’re not going to be able to help. Even if you don’t have a single “ask” I recommend saying something like, “listen, I’m going to make this call short. I don’t have anything I’m asking for, I was just hoping to get 10 minutes of your time to tell you what we’re up to so that the next chance we get to meet down the line you’ve got more of an understanding.”
4. Don’t hang yourself – One of the other big mistakes callers make is going “off to the races” talking about their business without getting any feedback from the recipient of the call. This is bad enough in person but I promise you if you do it over the phone the recipient will start to tune out. If you listen closely you’ll probably even hear the tapping of a keyboard. You can talk for a bit but then seek feedback and make sure the other person is “with you.” When I used to do a lot of recruiting we used to call it “hanging yourself” because people who talk for long periods of time without seeking feedback are generally not self-aware or good at human interaction. Don’t be that person.
5. Ask questions – The best trick for creating a two-way conversation is to ask questions. You can do this too early in the call and you can’t be an interview factory, but polite questions relevant to your topic are appropriate. It will help ensure that you don’t do all the talking. Plus, when you listen you learn more anyways.
6. Know what “the ask” is – If you’re set up a call with somebody then know in advance why you’re calling and what you plan to ask for. Don’t ask for four things or you’ll get none. Don’t ask for big favors unless you have a tight relationship. Don’t assume that this will be the one and only time you’ll ever talk to the person. If you cultivate a good long-term relationship through patience, persistence and reciprocity there will be many more occasions. So by all means have an “ask” but make it: obvious, easy for them to achieve and of a limited number – preferably one.
6. Stick to your budgeted time – maybe less – When you think of your relationship with the individual as a relationship you’ll build over time and over many calls, discussions, chats at conferences or whatever you’ll realize you need to be known for being respectful of other’s time. If you’re known as the person who’s always long winded you’re less likely to get the next few calls on the calendar. Less is better, I promise.
Now go pick up the phone and stop hiding behind emails. You build real relationships on the phone and in person. Good luck.
“Synergy” is one of the most abused clichés in the corporate lexicon. But when you’re both the chairman of Twitter and the CEO of one of the most-watched commerce startups around, synergy isn’t a bad place to aim.
Jack Dorsey may have hit the target with the launch today of Square Market, Square’s first big foray into online shopping.
Since launching in 2010, Square has mainly been known for its eponymous credit card reader that plugs into the headphone jack of a smartphone or tablet. And Dorsey has often spoken of the business opportunity presented by the 95 percent of commerce that happens offline.
Square Market not only acknowledges the reality that small retailers can no longer afford to remain offline-only; it gives them a tool to obliterate the distinction. Now any shopkeeper using Square as a cash register can simply flip a switch in the app to create an instant online store.
“Our mission is to make commerce easy,” Dorsey said while demo-ing the new product for Wired at Square’s San Francisco headquarters. “That doesn’t mean ‘make offline commerce easy’ or ‘make online commerce easy.’ It’s commerce in general.”
Square’s register works by letting store owners input their inventory—description, price, picture—into the app. When someone comes to the counter to make an offline purchase, the cashier taps the item to add it to the total. In the latest version of the app, a switch to the input screen that lets stores choose the option of selling online. Toggling the switch to “yes” instantly (at least during the demo) posts the product to that business’ Square-hosted online storefront.
In keeping with Square’s insistence on design that “gets out of the way,” these storefronts are stripped down to nearly the bare minimum needed to shop online—a picture, a price, a button to buy. But this isn’t just an aesthetic preference. It’s Square making a statement that the online storefront itself isn’t what’s most important. The product for sale is. This is where Twitter enters the picture.
You may not know that Twitter has something called a “product card” that turns a link to a product online into what amounts to a catalog listing embedded in a tweet. The product listings on Square Market don’t look much different than these cards, which is no accident. When a store owner—or anyone—tweets a link to a Square Market listing, the product card will include a buy button that flips right back over to Square. In effect, Twitter becomes the storefront.
Though not just Twitter. Sharing on Pinterest or Facebook accomplishes much the same thing. Square Market in that context isn’t so much a destination—though Square does hope it will become one—but a platform-agnostic backend for social selling. A product listed in Square Market becomes what Dorsey calls an “atomic unit” of commerce. The point is to highlight what’s being sold, he says, not to emphasize that it’s Square doing the selling.
The new Mac Pro was briefly unveiled by Apple at the WWDC 2013 and we saw a short introduction video of the new breathtaking design. When compared to the previous generation Mac Pro, it blows it out of the water!
Although details on the new Mac Pro are still scarce, one thing is certain and that is it’s size! Apple stated that it will be approximately 1/8 the size of the current Mac Pro and that makes it… just bigger than a roll of paper towels. Crazy, huh?
We had the image above sent to us from one of our readers and it is impressive to think the most powerful Mac computer you will soon be able to buy will be so small!
Make sure you stay subscribed through our social media feeds, so that you never miss a beat, by liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter and joining our circle on Google+.
Courtesy of iJailbreak http://www.ijailbreak.com/news/mac-pro-size-paper-towels/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Video editors, check out these great websites that are a wealth of knowledge for all things post production. From great tutorials to quick tips, these sites will help you stay on top of your post production game!
In a previous post, we rounded up the best filmmaking websites, but with all the great post production and video editing sites, that topic is surely deserving of it’s own hit list. In this roundup, we’ve picked the best video editing sites in 2013, great daily reads when you’re waiting on a render or have a few minutes to spare. Bookmark these!
Know a video editing site that didn’t make the list? Share it in the comments below!
Stay up to date with the post production industry, and pick up some new tips and skills in the process. In no particular order, the best post production and video editing sites:
Shane Ross shares his experiences as a television editor in LA. An active post production voice on Twitter, Shane’s blog documents his “insider view” on the process of editing TV shows. He works mainly with Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro, but his insights on workflow are helpful for any editor.
Oliver Peters is a veteran film editor and colorist who shares his insights on post production. On his video editing site you’ll find a nice balance of tutorials, behind the scenes editing workflow and insightful thoughts on the industry.
Philip Hodgetts blogs about technology relating to post production and distribution. Philip is the mastermind behind many video editing plugins and software tools and he’s on the forefront of the future of post production. His blog is a fascinating read that covers topics both creative and technical.
Bartlomiej Walczak writes about post production and color grading on his video editing blog, “Creative Impatience”. He focuses on the Adobe post production tools: Premiere Pro, After Effects, & SpeedGrade. He also offers useful free plugins (feathered crop, vignettes) for Premiere Pro & After Effects.
The name of this video editing blog comes from a common joke about editors making crappy video look good. The blog is a first-person account of a pro video editor, Monica Daniel. She shares her stories from the edit suite, everything from project breakdowns to picking an ergonomic mouse for editing.
Michael is a German video and sound editor who shares his tips on video/audio post production. The blog is a mix of helpful articles, product reviews and tutorials, with a good bit of focus on working with audio in your video editing projects.
Eric Wise covers different video editing and post production subjects each month and often features expert guest writers. The content focuses on delivery and transmedia as well as editing and color grading. Be sure to check out the free email newsletter, as well as the SpliceVine monthly post production podcasts.
If you’re interested in color correction and color grading, Chris Hall’s color blog is chocked full of useful info. He offers a series of video tutorials “Anatomy of a Grade” on creating specific looks in DaVinci Resolve. This post production blog is recommended for those learning Resolve (there is a free Lite version) and wanting more control over their grading.
Norman Hollyn is film editor and Professor who shares his thoughts on the industry. Subjects cover technique, theory, and technology.
Jonny Elwyn is a a London based Editor (and fellow Premiumbeat blogger ) who shares his experiences and thoughts on post production. Jonny dishes up his own insight into editing and working with clients, and shares videos and interviews from leaders in the industry. He often compares the differences in video editing applications, like his popular series on switching to AVID Media Composer.
Alexis Van Hurkman is a well known colorist who wrote the Apple Color and DaVinci Resolve manuals, as well as several other books. On his own site he shares his knowledge of color grading, and he recently started another blog at Pro Video Coalition.
Scott Simmons has been an active online authority on post production and video editing for several years now. He writes a frequently updated blog on ProVideo Coalition called The Edit Blog, where he shares his thoughts on the industry, as well as product reviews and video editing tips/tricks.Be sure to follow him on Twitter as well.
Art of the Guillotine (AotG) is an aggregate of the best post producution articles. On the site, film professor and post production pro Gordon Burkell reposts useful video editing and production related posts from around the web. The site is a hit list of relevant info for industry pros.
Here are 3 popular sites you may already know and are certainly worth checking out:
Courtesy of Premium Beat http://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/video-editing-sites-you-should-be-reading/
“We’ve been experimenting giving the analytics feature to a small groups of users outside our advertising clients,” the rep told Mashable. “We’ve been happy with the response thus far, and will determine next steps after the conclusion of these tests.”
Twitter previously appeared to grant users free access to a comprehensive analytics dashboard showing the number of retweets, favorites, and click-throughs each tweet receives — a metric that average users didn’t have access to before.
These tools already existed, but this was the first time Twitter made them free and available to all users, according to The Next Web, which was the first to report the change. Twitter did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
To access these features, simply log in to your account on Twitter’s advertising page. There, you’ll see an option in the top left to view analytics for your timeline activity, which displays the performance of your recent tweets.
You’ll also see an option to review analytics on your Twitter followers, which breaks down their interests, locations and gender, and charts out follower growth.
Other third-party Twitter services provide some of this information, like Klout and Favstar, but none seem as comprehensive, and none are built right into Twitter.
SkyTech Media Solutions 