Social Media Speaker

What Are You Thankful For?

Social Media Advisors, Social Media Speaker

So what are you thankful for? I went to Twitter and asked the following question:

“It’s Thanksgiving week. Tell me what you are thankful for in 140 characters or less!”

I received several responses which I found I could basically categorize into three different thoughts:

Tech/Funny Response:

Mike Mueller – @MikeMueller
@jb140 Thankful for? That’s easy, I’m thankful for Rick, Rebecca, Chuck, my sign, and that cop from Davis! http://t.co/FLMhWLzQ

Drew Meyers – @drewmeyers
@jb140 the internet #retechchat

Family

Happy Grasshopper – @gushopper
@jb140 My sweet husband and our growing family!

Nicholas Mercer – @oubipaws
@jb140 – my family and friends as well as the many opportunities given to me in my life.

Both of these two are about to become parents for the first time. Congrats Celeste & Oleg as well as Nicholas & Casey on the growing of your families! Becoming a parent is something definitely to be thankful for. It is one of the greatest things in the world!

ChrisBohn – @ChrisBohn
@jb140 -Thankful for my son, good health, and the ability to work and make a living for a happy home & life.

Kelly L Stevens – @EscrowKelly
Thankful that my husband is still with us! RT @jb140: It’s Thanksgiving week. Tell me what you are thankful for in 140 characters or less!

Juli Maichle – @kneatfreak
@jb140 Being JP & ME’s Mommy. Best experience in the world. So thankful.

Friends

Patricia Ann Young – @patriciayoung
GM lots to be thankful for: @jb140 @TheRealClint @AlbieVas @davidpatterson3 @RealEstateTonya @Amelissa1 @benbalsbaugh @KWCO

Tonya Hayes – @RealEstateTonya
thankful f u all! @patriciayoung @jb140 @therealclint @albievas @davidpatterson3 @amelissa1 @benbalsbaugh @kwco

Melissa Mckinney – @Amelissa1
GM you are right about that! #hugs @patriciayoung @jb140 @therealclint @albievas @davidpatterson3 @realestatetonya @benbalsbaugh @kwco

Instead of trying to write out everything I wanted to share a quick video of the things that I am thankful for from the past year:

Thank you to everyone who has helped make this past 12 months amazing! So in closing I ask you, what are you thankful for? Leave a comment below!

Creating Better Video- Steadying Your Shot

Social Media Advisors, Social Media Speaker, Video

Yesterday I started a series of posts on creating better videos. The series came from some recent presentations I have given as a social media speaker on using video more effectively in your online marketing strategy. The first post dealt with picking the right angles for your indoor shots. Today we are going to tackle another one of the issues I see in too many videos. The fact that you feel like you are riding a roller coaster throughout the entire video due to the shakiness. If you wonder what I am talking about, here’s an example from one of my golf outings.

So how do we go about fixing this problem? Well, absolute easiest is to just use a tripod. It steadies your camera and removes all the shake. You can purchase one for anywhere from $20 for an inexpensive one to some that can cost you several thousands. Personally, I use a tripod/monopod combo from Sunpak that is around $85. (aff link) This tripod is a little taller than some of the others out there which comes in handy if you are taller or interviewing someone who is taller than 5’7″.

In addition to this tripod, I also use a smaller lightweight one, but that can can be hard to use since it is so lightweight it causes some vibration when you try to do pan shots. The third tripod I carry in my bag always is a small desktop tripod. This one might get more use than any other tripod I own as it is with me all the time. It doesn’t always work the best with the DSLR camera due to the cameras weight, but with the pocket cameras it is perfect.

Here is a quick demonstration video showing the importance of steadying your camera:

So what if you want to shoot a video and do not have a tripod handy? What should you do? Well, obviously you wouldn’t want to just give up on shooting the video. Instead, lets think of some other ways to imitate the tripod. Here are just a few things I have done in the past when I don’t have a tripod nearby to steady my video camera:

Find a steady flat surface to sit/prop the camera. I’ve used everything from sidewalks, desks, railings, you name it to steady the camera. I’ve even used my wallet before to prop a camera up & get that perfect shot.
Put your camera strap on & pull the camera tight against your neck. This will help to steady the camera more than just using your arms.
Find something to lean on. If you can find something to lean your elbows against you can use your arms as a tripod fairly well.

These are just a few ideas, there are plenty more crazy things I’ve done in the past to try & get the right shot. Have you ever used any of the things I mentioned in the past? Or maybe you have another idea. If you do, please share!

Creating Better Video Content

Social Media Speaker, Video

Wow! What a crazy month it has been here for me. Over the past few weeks I traveled several thousand miles to share as a social media speaker at many events around the country. One of the more popular presentations I have done recently has been on video in real estate. In that video I share several video demonstrations on various tools & tips. Things like the importance of using an external microphone, using tripods, etc.

I think these video tips are fairly important and could be useful to others, so I will be sharing these short video examples and tips over the next few weeks here on the blog. Today I am sharing tip 1 for creating better real estate video.

Getting The Right Indoor Video Shot

The biggest issue I have seen in most indoor real estate videos has to do with the camera position. Too many times I see the shot focusing on the windows of a room and shooting directly at them. While it is important to point out the lightness & brightness inside a room caused by a window when trying to sell a home, if you try to convey this the same way in your video that you do when physically in the home with a buyer you end up with all kinds of problems.

Because there is so much brightness, many ignore turning on the lights in the room to try to keep the shot from being over exposed which causes problem one. Then you have the unbalanced amount of light as you pan the room. Most cameras can not adjust fast enough as you pan so you end up with part of your shot looking fine, part completely washed out and then another segment that is so dark you may think you are in a real estate cave. Not to mention the fact that it looks like the room changes color from tans to yellows to grays to whites.

You can spend hours in the editing booth trying to adjust color and exposure in your shot causing you to want to pull your hair completely out. While this option is available, there are others that are much easier. The angle you choose to shoot your video at can fix all these issues almost instantly.

Instead of shooting your video directly into the windows with no interior lights on, move the camera to the other side of the room near your windows. Turn on the interior lights and begin your video shot there. By doing so you will see a more consistent amount of light across your shot without the white balance & exposure changing as many times as a chameleon.

Here’s a quick demo video from my recent presentation on Real Estate Video Basics:

So when you shoot your next indoor real estate video, take time to think through the shot to get even steady lighting throughout.

How to Build an Online Following

Social Media Advisors, Social Media Speaker

I was honored this year to be asked to come present at the Florida REALTORS® Conference as a social media speaker on how to build an online following. I shared with the group 9 tips to building an online following properly. You can view the entire presentation at the end, but first here are the main points:

1. Don’t buy fans– The only place you should ever consider buying any type of fan online is at amazon and it should only be the type needed to cool you down on a hot summer day.

2. Build a good mousetrap- Being on all these social networks & connected with thousands of people is pointless if you do not have a good home base blog/website to direct that traffic to. In real estate, consumers are mainly looking for three things when visiting your site. You need to have clear call to action buttons in place to allow the viewer to search homes, find out what’s my home worth, and learn easily how’s the market.

3. Be yourself- It’s ok to be genuine & open with your audience online. When you share the real you it makes it easier for them to connect with you as a person. Share some humor and have fun. The consumer will like you more for it.

4. STOP selling- Social networks were not created as selling platforms. If all you are doing is broadcasting that over & over you are not using the platforms properly. Remember, the first part of the phrase is “social.”

5. Talk about others rather than yourself- If you spend more time communicating with others and talking to them your business will be much more successful online and you will build a much larger online following.

6. Ask questions- Instead of just making statements, try asking questions. By doing so you are encouraging those connected to you to get more involved and want to interact.

7. Ask people to join- Add call to action buttons to your site, to your email signature and other various tools to give people the ability to connect with you. What you do NOT want to do is start begging them to join constantly as that becomes annoying and will push people away.

8. Stop automation- I’ve written on the concerns with automating everything, so I don’t really need to get into it that deep. Just realize that each & every network runs and acts differently.

9. Learn how the tools work before using- Before you begin using a new techy tool you just found, it is really important that you take the time to learn how it works and also some best practices so that you do not make yourself look bad in the eyes of those who are using the platform already.

You can view the full presentation below on building an online following:

Building an online following

View more presentations from Jeremy Blanton.

If you would like to book me as a social media speaker at your next event, simply contact me.

When It Comes to Content Creation Just Do It!

How To Blog, Social Media Advisors, Social Media Speaker

So, over the past week or so, there has been quite the conversation going on about what is considered good content. The discussion began on Twitter, and then moved over to a blog post by Rob Hahn, which brought out some really good discussion on the subject. To sum up Rob’s 1,761 words his main point was this:

“Create content that you find compelling and forget everything else.”

While I get the point behind Rob’s post, I don’t necessarily agree with it 100% and here’s why: Someone new to blogging doesn’t know where to start. I get the point of being yourself, writing about your passions & all, but when someone who is new to blogging, you aren’t going to start out by writing the best blog posts, creating the most awesome videos, and everything else. You may have stuff of interest to you and that you are passionate about, which I think are great topics to do, but the fact is that when you are just starting out, you have yet to find your voice in creating that compelling and amazing stuff alone. You content is hit or miss in the beginning. Just like in baseball, you are happy to get home run caliber content once out of every fifty tries.

When I am out speaking to people on how to get started with blogging, I always share this: Your first blogs will stink! The key is to just start. I then go on to tell them about one of my first posts I ever wrote. To save everyone the trouble of trying to find it, I’ve pasted the post in it’s entirety below:

Hot Donuts Now!!!

This Morning while just flipping through some of the odd headlines that pop up when opening up aol, I started reading a story about 23 Retail Stores closing. I mean some of the ones on the list are kinda no brainers, but one that caught my eye was Krispy Kreme!!! What is this world coming to? Instead of closing them up, they need to just turn on the hot donuts signs more often!!! Luckily only 25 stores have closed so far. Hopefully someone in KK will read this post and take my advice!!!

94 Words of waste with twelve exclamation points. The post had absolutely nothing to do with the profession I was in at the time, it was simply just something interesting to me that I thought would make a good topic to write about. If you go on to read many of the other posts that I wrote back at the beginning of my blogging career, they follow along the same lines of terribleness. Unlike many people that start blogging I just started doing it and put an effort into blogging no matter how bad I may realize those posts were in the beginning. That first month I wrote 38 blog posts. Of which maybe only 2 were worthwhile. But, I did not quit, I had decided I was going to do this and would not give up.

After about 6 months, I finally started to get the hang of it and my efforts started paying off as new leads came my way, business started to grow, and my blog was starting to be recognized. It wasn’t too long after that time that the local newspaper contacted me to write for them, major corporations contacted me for interviews, and my content was starting to be published on a national scale. That real estate blog which I have not written anything on the subject of real estate in over two years still makes my phone ring to this day. Now, my entire business model for 210 Consulting revolves around my blog and it is my main source of connections and leads.

The reason this has happened is that I took the same type of stance that Daniel Rothamel took in his response to the conversation with Rob and the others. Daniel’s stance is this: In order for content to be considered good content, it actually has to be created. If I had not started with writing those first blog posts as terrible as they might have been, I would have never made it to the point I am today. Finding your voice in your blog, video, or many other online avenues takes time for many. But, if they never actually start and give it a try, then they will never achieve success. The same is true for the person that starts it and gives up after only a few tries. Like anything in life, it takes time and hard work. I think what sums this up better than anything is a speech given by Art Williams:

So, don’t always worry about the compelling & amazing, just start creating content. There is someone out there that will find your content interesting and you will make connections. Trust me when I say this, I have seen some stuff that is just down right awful that has brought people business. Everyone has their own opinion and you will connect with at least one person if the content is created for them to connect to. Without the content it is virtually impossible to form those connections.

So, like Daniel said,

“There is one thing that ALL good content has in common– it was actually created. The only really bad content is the content that we never create. . .”

I tend to agree. I would love your thoughts and comments.

Photo: Nisha A Creative Commons 2.0