Social Media Speaker

Creating Better Videos- Audio

This is part three in my series on creating better videos. In our first segment we covered indoor shots and how to keep the light balanced. Then, we discussed why using a tripod is crucial to the quality of your video. For today’s segment, we are going to discuss audio.

Good videos are made up of two main components. The images on the screen and the sound that accompanies it. If one of these parts is lacking or missing, the quality of your video goes down. While you may think you need to spend several hundreds of dollars on a good microphone setup, you will be surprised what you can get for under $40.

Before I show an example, let’s first discuss the different types of microphones that exist. There are three main types that you may want to use:

Shotgun Microphones- These microphones are highly directional and pick mainly the audio that is just in front of them. It is used many times on movie sets with a boom stand that hangs it overhead those speaking. They can get a little more expensive, but can be effective in situations where you cannot have a microphone 6 inches from your subject. They can pick up sounds usually within 10 feet. Unfortunately though, if you are trying to interview someone in a noisy room, it can be difficult to distinguish their voice and the noise of others speaking in the room.
Handheld Microphones- Handheld microphones are like those used by news reporters. They can be wired or wireless. They provide a good sound of those close to the microphone. If you want the ambient noise of others in the room, this may not be the best option. Also, if the person using the microphone has weak arms and the microphone moves away, you may lose some of what they are speaking.
Lapel Microphones- Lapel microphones provide very good quality audio that will remain consistent as you clip it onto the persons shirt or jacket. These microphones pick up only the person wearing it so if you are trying to interview someone else, this is not the option for you. Unless of course you use an audio mixer and two of them. In the example below, I use a simple $25 Audio Technica ATR 3350 wired version. (aff link)

Here’s a demo:

As you can see, adding just a simple $25 microphone changes the quality of your video immensely. No longer do you hear the wind blowing and my voice faintly. Instead my voice now is coming through crystal clear. So, if your camera allows for the use of an external microphone, then put the additional investment into your videos and see the major difference. If your camera doesn’t have the option for an external microphone, have no fear! I will have a guest post coming soon that will show you how you can accomplish the same type of audio quality.

To learn more on how to create better videos, check out this presentation that I have shared as a social media speaker on Video Basics.

photo credit: Mike Mueller Areweconnected.com

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.

Never Rent What You Should Truly Own

Custom WordPress Sites, Social Media Advisors, Social Media Speaker

I recently finished building a Custom WordPress Blog for a client that had quite the sad story. For the past 2 years he has poured his heart and soul into creating an awesome blog. He worked diligently on making his content rank well in the search engines. He was starting to see results and his business was starting to grow.

But, there was one small problem. He had created his blog on a platform that he didn’t own. The blog was built on Blogger. Granted, he had no issues with setup, that only took 5 minutes to do. Another few minutes and he had a pretty nice looking theme chosen. He was now ready to start his blogging career. And best of all, it was FREE!

Then, one day when he woke and went to log into his blog to write his daily post, he had a slight problem. The login was not working. Also, when he tried to pull up the blog, it appeared everything had vanished into thin air! He tried feverishly to contact Blogger and get things reinstated. But, they felt that something he was doing on his real estate blog was against their terms of service and shut him down. Now, what he could have done in writing about a listing or a neighborhood that breaks their TOS, I have no clue.

Two years of work down the drain. Lost forever into the thin air of cyberspace. After several months of fighting to get his blog reinstated, he finally realized that it was time to move on and start on a platform that he had control over and owned. He contacted me & we began the construction of his own Custom WordPress Site. We began the work and now he has his own site that he never has to worry again having a terms of service violation.

As unique as this story sounds, this is something that is a regular occurrence across many of the social media platforms that are out there. Remember the Facebook Page that was shut down for a trademark violation? This same sad story I have seen happen numerous times on places like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, WordPress.com and many other playgrounds within the social space. The problem comes when you are using other networks other than one that you own as your primary business builder.

Instead, you need to use those areas to push traffic to your home base. Here’s a graphic from a recent presentation I created for speaking at a few Inman News Agent Reboot events:

If you own your space and use all of these other rental networks to drive people back to you, then you will not be as devastated if something happens to one of the small outer pieces. Here’s the way I feel you should set up your entire social media strategy. Have your domain that you are in complete control of and use all the other platforms to drive everything back to where you can convert it into business. Besides, can you actually sell something alone on Twitter? I suppose it could be done just through a conversation, but more times than not, you are going to come to a point in the discussion that you will share a link with the person you are communicating with. That link is going to drive that person away from Twitter and more times than not, directly to your own personal website where they can go from being just a potential lead into a converted customer/client/member. If you drive them to a space you aren’t in complete control of, it taeks only a moment for them to misclick and buy from a competitor.

On blogger for example, there’s the next blog link at the top. I just clicked on it 3 times in a row. The first place was an accupuncture, followed by a consumer advocate site with Google Ads down the sidebar, and finished with a mortgage site. You can’t control where they go, and what they might see next. I’d hate to work so hard on my stuff ranking well in the search engines and spend all that time creating great content to lose the consumer to one accidental click.

So, would you rather own your space, or rent somewhere else that you cannot control?

photo by: joeltelling creative commons 2.0