Enterprise social media and online promotion is sort of like trying to organize spaghetti. No matter how much you try to line up all the pieces into straight lines for an effective marketing plan, it all comes unglued and globs together in a sticky, ball of a mess. But it’s ok, because it’s going to taste good no matter how it looks. Well, it will taste good if you know the secret sauce!

So what is the recipe for success when it comes to Social Media? Well, first off, how about understanding the pieces that comprise the general topic? I realized early on that there were a few basic parts to this puzzle that most people had heard of, but had incomplete or even false ideas of what these parts were or how they fit in the overall picture. Thus, the Demystifying Social Media Webinar.

In this webinar, I take apart the most common pieces of social media and explain what they are, and give an overall perspective to the topic. Armed with this framework, you will be able to move forward with your online promotion with more confidence and understanding.

Interested in Canon certification and/or our Canon camera classes? The Association has been delivering the best DSLR Boot Camp in Los Angeles for 3 years. This year we are taking the Boot Camp on the road as well as continuing our classes in Burbank, CA.

In February we have our Pro Level I Canon Boot Camp (Feb 25th – Burbank), which is available to anyone whether or not experienced with Canon cameras. Pro Level I classes usually feature guest speakers from the industry who have experience with DSLR Filmmaking, such as Dana Christiaansen or Eric Schmidt.

In March, Creovision will host both Pro Level I and Pro Level II (Level I Grads or Industry Pros only) in Prague, Czech Republic! Class dates are March 10th & 11th, and March 17th & 18th (Level I and Level II, respectively). The classes are open to anyone, but seating is limited. Visit the Prague site HERE for more information and to download the class application. We are very excited about the Prague Canon camera classes as Polly Morgan, DP, will be joining the Boot Camp Team as an instructor! 

Future Boot Camp Dates are listed on the right side of this blog, or email me at trevor@theassociation.tv for more information.

Sometimes the only thing that seems to stay the same in the social media world, is that it is constantly changing. Facebook and other social networks constantly update their look, add features, and generally confuse the rest of us with a dazzling array of change, change, change.

While this might whet the appetite of the early adopters, keen to stay on top of the very latest technological advances, the rest of us might not be as happy with yet another “thingy” to figure out. Personally I’m very happy to let a big tech corporation update and advance their technology, but I prefer to have the benefit of their work be in the background, so I can focus on my work and make a living. Also, it’s obviously easier to focus on ONE thing rather that 20 things that keep changing.

Maybe it’s just because I’m male, but it’s challenging to keep up with 20 social network platforms that don’t stay still! Blogging, however, has essentially stayed the same over the years.  And blogging is a crucial part of keeping your company on top in search results. Additionally, a well setup blog can be the hub of an effective marketing plan and simplify any corporate social media effort.

A key, key aspect of blogging, is that you OWN it. Marketing exclusively on Facebook or other free platforms is risky if that’s the only marketing plan you have. Why? Facebook owns everything you put out. Ask yourself this very important question: Do you pay Facebook for your Page? For your personal profile? No, you don’t. Facebook can literally yank your page at any time. Same with Twitter or LinkedIn.

But a blog is different, especially if you are paying for the domain and hosting. It can’t just be taken away because someone complains or flags your content. Wouldn’t you rather own your content, and retain the ability to push content out to the same social networks you have now as a “distribution campaign?” Keep in mind, posting something on Facebook has a shelf life of about 1 hour. It’s soon gone, pushed out of sight by a constant stream of content. Blogs are consistently located in one spot (owned by you) and are easier to find in search results today, tomorrow and in the far future.

I recommend looking over your activities and start writing about what you do every day. Give people a taste of your company and how you help people. Give away free tips. Help someone every day and write about it. Interview other people in your industry and give them a platform to promote how they help others too. Do it every day, but at least once a week. Technically, there are some really good reasons to blog which I’ll get into in later posts. For an overview of social media, watch my free webinar, Demystifying Social Media for Business, which includes a section on blogging that might be helpful to the novice.

This month Fletch Murray, President of The Association and Chief Instructor of our Canon camera classes, had the honor of speaking at the South Bay Filmmakers Meetup Group.

While he was probably more focused on talking about the Canon DSLR 5D and 7D, I thought I’d take the opportunity to mention what a great opportunity social networking groups are to spread the word about your company without spending a lot of marketing dollars.

Customer Feedback

No matter how good you or your products and services are, having someone else outside of your company mention a few good words is pure marketing gold. After the event was finished, attendees logged into Meetup to give their feedback on his talk. Here are a couple of excerpts as an example:

The rest of comments can be viewed on the Meetup event page here.

Meetup (and other social networking groups that actually meet in person, like Biznik) offer a powerful way to get in front of your target audience, gain exposure and even get clients with minimal cost. Sure beats advertising or Pay Per Click in terms of cost-per-lead. And it’s fun. Look for online social networks that lean towards meeting in person – face to face meetings are the best for the relationship building that leads to a potential work contact.

During our Pro Level Two workshop, students get a chance to shoot scenes for a short film that show what they can do with their Canon 5D’s and 7D’s. Our last Pro Level Two Canon Boot Camp had three set-up scenes to shoot:

The video below is the rough cut preview of the third scene:

For the opening close-up lighting of the candle, we put Canon’s 28-135mm on a 14mm macro extension tube, on the Canon 7D.  The extremely short depth of field draws attention to the candle’s flame.  The rest of the shots are from the Canon 5D with an L series Canon 70 – 200 mm shooting at f 4. This “long lens”  threw the candles out of focus (they were eight feet away).

A china ball lamp served as the key.  On some of the shots we held a three-inch square white candle to add a flickering fill light as the Porta-Jib Traveler arced across the actors.

The flame lighting shot was shot on the Canon 7D.

March 2012 marks the month that The Association takes the Canon Boot Camp on the road for the first time! Are we going to Phoenix? Nope. Are we going to New York? No.

We’re swimming the ocean blue to put on the first ever European Canon Boot Camp! Yes, we will be making history (well, we’re excited about it, so it’s pretty historic to us!) in Prague, Czech Republic. One of the most visited cities in the world, and a historic cultural center of Europe, it’s only fitting the boot camp touches down here to teach some DSLR Magic.

The event is sponsored by Creovision, a professional production and post-production studio in Prague, and number of partners. The 2 day workshops feature our Pro Level I and Pro Level II Canon camera classes with hands-on training and drilling in the use of Canon’s HDSLR 5D and 7D. And, of course, those attending will receive their Canon certification by The Association.

Since I don’t speak Czech, the classes will be delivered in English, which actually makes it all the more universal for those attending. The current class dates are March 10th and 17th for Pro Level I. Both Pro Level I classes are followed by Pro Level II on the next days, March 11th and 18th.

Anyone interested in taking the boot camps may apply! Just fill out the application and email it in. You may also reach out to the boot camp coordinators, Martin and Markus. Here is their contact information:

We thank Martin and Markus for inviting us out for what’s sure to be a memorable boot camp, and we’ll keep you updated on our trip as we can.

Our December Canon camera class Pro Level I students were treated to special guest speaker Dana Christiaansen, who shared his experiences working with the new EOS C300. Dana has extensive experience shooting commercial productions for car brands such as BMW, Suzuki and Scion, as well as others.

Dana gave us a taste of what it was like to work with him on the short film directed by Sam Nicholson, ‘XXIT‘, shot with the C300. Basically, you have to be ready to run! Keep an eye out for Part 2 and Part 3 where we explore technical aspects and lighting with Canon’s C300.

To see Part I of Dana’s talk, click on the video below:

The rest of Dana’s filmography and videos of his works as a cinematographer can be viewed online.

Interested in more tips from the trenches? Come to our Pro Level I & II  Boot Camps! The next one is in just a few days, on January 28th, where Eric Schmidt will be sharing his first hand experience in shooting feature films with the Canon DSLR 5D and 7D.

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I know it is hard to believe but I didn’t win the lottery…again. I thought I’d try to win without playing my kids’ birth dates for once. Oh well. Not that I play every weekend.  I’ve gambled on the lottery maybe ten times in the last ten years. I don’t feel bad about it. Five bucks now and then has about as much chance of paying off as money invested on Wall Street. We all used to believe that we had to have a portfolio of investments.  Many of my friends and family saw their investments disappear. We’re in baffling times.

More baffling to me is why companies gamble on commercial productions they put on TV. Especially now, when every dollar really counts! Judging from the ads, these companies skip all the vital steps to making an effective direct response TV ad and then wonder why it doesn’t pull leads.

What do I mean by vital steps?  Well for one thing, know your target audience, thoroughly. Not just the demographic.  Know what imagery they’re receptive to. Know what they “think” about products or services similar to yours.  Know what about your product or service they will respond to positively. Know what emotion your target audience is sitting in. Know what words and phrases they agree with. These are just a few of the things we research.

If you don’t know these things before beginning the creative part of making a custom video production, you’re going to miss your target audience. You’ll disconnect with your audience to a greater or lesser degree.  Like the guys who marketed the Chevy Nova in South America, where “No Va” means “won’t go”. Duh.

Here’s another example.  We’ve had clients come to us with a product named Klimadynon. It alleviates discomfort during menstrual cycles.   We tested some alternate names and renamed the product so it didn’t communicate that it was for women who act like a dinosaur now and then.

If you don’t know your audience you’re wasting your money.  You’re not just losing sales, you may be driving them away!   If you don’t know your target audience you’ve reduced the chance of your ad being effective by 70%. It’s like playing darts blindfolded. You can’t see the target.  How do expect to hit a bull’s eye? We see advertisements on TV all the time that miss the target audience. They don’t cause the phone to ring.  The sponsor has wasted his money. Is there a better way?  You bet ! We’ve used it for years on our corporate clients and we started using it on our TV commercials.  It’s proven and scientific.  It takes the guesswork out of marketing.

All advertising is a gamble. Our proprietary methods put the odds in your favor. Otherwise, you may as well play the Lottery.  Your chance of winning is lousy but at least you’re not throwing away so much money. A better way to go is to find out how we can help you win with an effective marketing plan.  It’s a sure bet.

So what do we do at boot camp? What’s a typical workshop like? If you had either of these questions, then you’re in luck! Although the class is far more detailed than the breakdown below, this description will give you a general idea of how and what we learn about our DSLRs. This is how our December 10th Pro Level l day went:

12:00 – Fletcher Murray, President of the Association and one of the boot camp teachers, introduces himself, Celine Duong, and cinematographer Tom Myrdahl. We explain what we at The Association actually do and our boot camp’s purpose.

12:15 –  Fletcher shows us a video about what the company does with the 5D/7D. Right after that, we ask you what your reason for taking the class is so that we can get to know you and understand your specific needs.

12:30 – Camera Orientation! Our teachers go through, in detail, the basics of your camera and have you demonstrate as we go along.

1:00 – Camera Operation! How do you set up your camera to get a good shot? You get to demonstrate this after the lesson to ensure full understanding.

2:00 – Break

2:20 – *The Drill* How to keep your cool in a high anxiety situation. We’ll teach you how to stay focused when a producer is on you tail while you’re trying to fiddle with the camera.

3:20 – Our assistant teacher, Celine Duong, teaches our students how to offload shots to hard drives.

4:00 – Break

4:20 – Guest Speaker Dana Christiaansen talks to students about his work, gives us tips, and shows us a cool film he DP’d that demonstrates the EOS C300. Q & A afterward.

5:20 –  We  talk to our students about Digital Filming workflow.

5:30 – We go over a list of things that could really screw you up, and teach you how to avoid them!

5:45 – Time to take your exit exam and demonstrate how much you’ve learned.

6:00 – You’re done. We take a group picture and you get to display your awesome certificate.

Our students left with much more knowledge than they came in with, and, more importantly, were able to demonstrate that knowledge. We really believe in this boot camp, not only because we make sure to include every relevant lesson you can think of, but because it produces great results. We hope to see you there!

To find out more about The Association, custom video production or the Canon Boot Camp, visit our website or call us at 818-841-9660. The updated dates and times of our most recent upcoming boot camps are on the right side of the page.