Social Media Advisors – Page 14 – We are Social Media Advisors, a Social Media Speaker, & Custom WordPress Site design.

Now you really need to get into Google Plus

Social Search went live this morning on Google. No, not Google Plus – but GOOGLE, the mothership of the internet. They’ve been hinting that social has been influencing the Google algorithm for a while and as of today there’s no more hinting. It’s in your face. Bamm!

Here’s how a search for an Irish Pub in NY looks to me. Remember, I’m in San Francisco. You can see there’s 30 of my friends that have recommendations for me.

Google has placed that right at the top!

I didn’t know I even had 30 friends in NYC, let alone personal recommendations for me.

The truth is, they might be friends, but they might also be friends of friends. That means they might be someone you don’t recognize, don’t know and yet they just influenced your search result! Wow! They might have written a review on Yelp, or uploaded a picture to Posterous, or liked a YouTube video. Those are the rare instances. The majority of what shows up as a ‘recommendation’ in search is either a share to Google Plus or just a simple +1 by them.

That’s why, even though you don’t think you need another social network, you do need to understand what’s happening. Lucky for you, we have help!

January 16th, 2012 1PM Eastern- Understanding The New Google+ with Mike Mueller

Join us with special guest presenter Mike Mueller for an in depth look at the Google+ social network including how to drive traffic back to your website as well as the NEW Business Pages.

In this webinar we’ll discuss:

What is Google+?
Step-by-step walkthrough on how to get started
Current useful Google+ applications for business
How to keep Google+ from becoming a time suck.
Understanding how to use this new Social Search to your advantage

With over 62 million users already on Google+, this is a network to definitely consider in your online marketing plan.

This is a free webinar with limited seating, so sign up now! Register Here

Is Building Your Own Green Screen Studio Worth It?

Online Consulting, Social Media Advisors, Video

Over the holidays while visiting the ~~out~~ inlaws in northern Atlanta, GA, I had the opportunity to visit with several of my friends. My one friend Ken, recently opened a new business work space where one of the options available is a green screen studio. Since I’ve never recorded with one before, I thought it would be a great opportunity to try my hand at green screen video.

What I found out quickly is that there is an art to doing it, and many skills required to do it properly. First, you have to have a large enough space to shoot in. My office for example would never work to shoot in because it is only 10’x11′. You need a few feet distance between you & the screen. You also need space for the screen to hang flat, and space for the lights & camera. His area is much larger.

Next, you MUST have the right kinds of lights. Ken had 2 softboxes which lit up the subject beautifully. However we didn’t quite have the right lights for the rest. We had two CFL umbrella lights. They did a fair job at lighting the screen but caused a few issues. The first was that they weren’t really bright enough to light up the screen fully. Second, we were then mixing different light colors which can make setting the white balance difficult.

I think that after we spent a while testing, Ken decided he was going to go and purchase either some more soft boxes for the screen or at least just some halogen work lights to light things properly. What I realized after some research is that you need basically two lights on the subject in front of them, two lights on the green screen flooding it with light to remove any shadows. Lastly, there needs to be one light overhead behind the subject for backlighting.

Finally, the camera you use plays a major role in the quality of your green screen video. I tried shooting with my Kodak Playtouch and it looked terrible. Because you don’t have the ability to set white balance, exposure, etc, the person’s skin turned really pale and made them look as though they were a zombie. Also, since the lens doesn’t have the precision focus of a DSLR camera, the edges were very blurry in post edit. When I switched to the DSLR, things got much better.

What kinds of costs do I see needing to be incurred to get a good green screen studio built? Well, let’s break it down:

Lighting- $600-$1,000
Screen- $200+
Large space-?
Camera- $600-$2,000+

So in closing, unless you have the gear required and are not willing to invest in the right equipment to create your own, you are probably much better off either hiring a professional, using a studio like Business On The Spot, or simply skipping the green screen idea completely.