Are you ready to get the party started? Because that’s what Facebook is. It can be any kind of party, but what I really mean is that it follows the rules of being at a party.

If you attend a birthday party at the home of a friend (or even if you’re just tagging along with another friend), a certain amount of trust can exist just because you are under the roof of a mutual friend. When you meet someone at a party, how do you greet them? For example, let’s say you sell insurance for a living. Imagine this scenario:

Joe: “Hi, I’m Joe, do you know when you’re going to die?”
Guest: “What?”
Joe: “Do you know when you’re going to die? No, of course not. No one knows. You might die tomorrow! If you did, do you have enough life insurance to protect your family?”
Guest: “Uh, I need to use the restroom, urgently. Nice talking with you.”

Now, of course, no one would really start with that kind of conversation right off. It would be more like this:

Joe: “Hi, I’m Joe.”
Guest: “Hi, I’m Bob. Nice to meet you.”
Joe: “Likewise! How do you know the birthday girl?”
Guest: “Ha ha. Well, I’m an Ex, actually. Long time ago from school.”
Joe: “No kidding? What school?”
Guest: “USC.”
Joe: “I went to USC!”

Before you know it, you’ll be exchanging cards and that can eventually lead to a business deal. But first the friendship was established.
Following a similar conversational pattern on Facebook, building relationships with the tacit trust that Facebook provides can help bring in business the same way word of mouth does. In fact, that’s exactly what Facebook is made of. Word of Mouth between friends.

It’s less effective if you only try to “friend” people you don’t know. No trust = uphill battle. Try to stay under the roof of your friend’s house, virtually speaking. In other words, express who you are personally on your personal profile so others have a way to “meet” you and know a little bit about you, via the friends you already are connected to on Facebook.

By the way, not only friends are important on Facebook. More than likely consumers are chatting about your competitors, and your competitors themselves may be on Facebook. You can party with them while doing a little competitors analysis, and they’ll be none the wiser. And they can do the same analysis on you, so it’s not spying. Everyone’s in the same room.

It’s said you are only 6 degrees of separation from the rest of the world. On Facebook, you can see if that’s actually true! And every one of your friends and contacts could potentially refer you if they “know” you and what you do for a living. In other words, being a party animal (on Facebook) can be part of an effective marketing plan!

Facebook has a corporate social media version of a personal profile page, called, simply, “Pages.”

Also known as Fan Pages, Business or Like Pages, these profiles allow you to feature your business without violating the trust factor outlined above.  There is a very important difference between personal profile pages and Business Page:

Only the Business Pages are fully indexed by search engines like Google.

Personal profiles are personal.  Why would they be indexed as part of public content? While a couple of pieces of data (like name and bio data) will be indexed from personal profiles, on a Business Page, everything is indexed. A business page can actually function as a website if you have nothing else. They are quite versatile, and even have a built in blog called “Notes” as well as other built in ways to spread content virally.

And it’s all free. Great place to start.

Keep in mind that because it’s free, Google is also free to delete your account at any time for any reason.  Get a little friendly with people who don’t know you, and your account might disappear. But only if people are complaining, or you “friend” people too aggressively.

Because Pages are indexed, and with Facebook being such a large presence online, these pages can rise rapidly to the first page of Google. My very first social media client, who to this day does not have a website, rose to the 1st page of Google in 4 months, and has been getting regular sales (phone orders) as a result of having a Fan Page, with zero overhead to worry about.

While there is no guarantee that being a part of Facebook will net you more sales, it’s certainly not going to hurt. Actually, let me amend that statement.  If you have terrible service, and your customers would rather not refer you as a result, stay as far away from Facebook as you can. Good works travel well on Facebook, since it’s so easy to share with friends, but bad service travels just as fast, if not faster.

Most small businesses have good reputations because they can deliver such personal service. If that’s the case for you, jump in and start a Facebook profile today, and branch into a Business Page if appropriate.

The truth is, Facebook is an incredible tool for enterprise social media. Really, nothing has changed in business just because the Web is part of the scene. What the Web has really done is made connecting for business faster. Relationships that lead to the close of a deal are still important. Can’t live without those, right?

Facebook can help build those relationships faster and through multiple channels all day long, even while you are sleeping. That’s the difference. But it has to be done the right way. Relationships can be slow to build, and fast to lose. By taking a long-term view, building organically by providing useful content centered around the needs of your potential market, a company has a better chance of creating sustainable income from their corporate social media efforts.

The first step is to truly understand the target market you are trying to reach. There is no substitute for this step, and an in-depth consumer analysis will save thousands of dollars in useless, ineffective marketing down the road.

Facebook is for Friends

In business, a lot of success is based on who you know, who you went to school with and who your friends are. That hasn’t really changed.

Facebook is a major force in the marketing and advertising world today. Will it remain so? We’ll just have to wait and see. In my opinion, it become such an incredible force because it caters to people’s diverse needs by singling out relevant information based on relationships, and customizing the experience based on the actual actions each user takes inside Facebook. As long as that trends continues, Facebook is here to stay.

Likewise the advertising platform it offers can be uniquely targeted towards specific ages, likes, gender, location, etc., more so than Google Adwords. This alone makes it worth including it in a company’s enterprise social media arsenal.

Facebook isn’t just another advertising and marketing tool. It’s relationship leveraging tool that leads into advertising and marketing through word of mouth. Confusing Facebook with magazine ads or tv-type advertising and marketing techniques will not be as effective as leveraging it for WOM Marketing.

As a side note, Facebook is a great market research data collection tool, since so much of the content and banter back and forth is visible. If nothing else, get on Facebook for the ability to do a surface-level consumer analysis.

I’ve heard many rumors that you can’t get a good key shooting green screen with the Canon 5D.

Nonsense.

The key, (no pun intended), to shooting good green screen in any format, is lighting.

I’ve shot numerous green screen projects, whether they be corporate video productions, direct response tv ads or commercials; and in many different formats. As long as you and/or your gaffer know how to light for green screen compositing, then the format is not an issue.

Many would say that the Canon 5D’s  4.2.0 color space prohibits a “good key”.

Well, we recently completed a project for Brain Zoo Studios shooting live action on green screen to be composited with animation for a spot promoting Disney’s new “Phineas & Ferb” game.

We hired a great gaffer as part of our video production crew, and shot with the Canon 5D because we love the images it produces, and because we needed to move fast to make the day on time and on budget. We trancoded the native H.264 files in 4.2.0 color space to Apple Pro Res 4.2.2 and handed the footage off to our client.

The footage composited beautifully. The client was happy and therefore, we were happy. So don’t listen to the critics who say you can’t shoot good green screen with DSLR systems like the Canon 5D.

It can be done.

Are you shooting in 3D?

Thinking about it? 

Confused by it all?

For a format that’s been around a very long time there sure is a lot of buzz about 3D right now, and I think Mr. Cameron has a lot to do with that. But what if you’re not a big time feature film or TV guy?

What if you earn your living delivering high quality corporate video production services?

Is 3D right for you and your clients?

Absolutely!

It’s no secret that 3D is the future, and the future is here. All content, from TV shows to home movies on the web will be 3D in the not so distant future. Flat screen 3D TVs will soon be in every household and, more importantly, every board room.

You need an effective marketing plan that includes delivering 3D projects to your current and future clients.

So you, the corporate video producer, need to educate yourself and your clients about all things 3D, and there is a LOT to learn. Fortunately, there is a wealth of information out there, and also companies that already specialize in 3D production and even training. Take advantage of the all the resources available, so that you can make a successful transition into the third dimension.

Fletch is all about sizzle.
At 6’7″, he’s one of the biggest producers in Hollywood.

Fletch’s company, The Association, has produced award-winning commercials and large format video presentations for clients around the world.

Fletch’s creative team has produced effective Pay Per Click and DRTV campaigns with conversions 4 – 8 times greater than industry average.   Easy to work with, focused and dedicated to the client getting the best for their budget, Fletch has a 99% customer satisfaction rating.

One of the most often heard buzzwords describing the new Panasonic AF-100 camera is, “HDSLR Killer”.

But is it?

Not necessarily, according to Panasonic’s Jan Crittenden Livingston, Product Mgr. for the AF-100. At a recent AF-100 event she stated that “there is still a market for the hugely popular and affordable HDSLR’s like the Canon 5D, especially at the current price point”.

However, I did notice she said it with a big smile on her face, and for good reason.

Utilizing the features that have made the HDSLR the hottest camera system for independent filmmakers as well as commercial productions and corporate video, Panasonic has taken it to the next level with the AF-100. “This is a video camera, not a still camera that happens to shoot video” adds Crittenden Livingston.

The 4/3″ sensor, which has a similar field of view as 35mm motion picture cameras, allows for that shallow depth of field and selective focus that film guys have always known and loved.

Many lens adapters will be available so that just about any lens can be mounted to the camera. Additionally, DP’s and shooters who’ve used other Panasonic cameras will recognize the layout and menu functions of the AF-100.

In my opinion, the AF-100 offers the best solution for film and video professionals who love the images that can be achieved with HDSLRs like the Canon 5D Mk II, but are accustomed to the features of video cameras.

HDSLR killer? I’ll just say that for professional film and video applications, HDSLR’s have one foot in the grave.

You know the scenario:

You spend a ton of money on promo and get one lead !

Or NONE!

It’s a bloody shame !

You don’t have to put up with anemic marketing that’s sucking your marketing budget dry!

What if I could show you how to make your promotional dollars go four to eight times farther? You could get 4 to 8 leads for your marketing dollar, instead of one?

Wouldn’t it be great to get EIGHT responses instead of ONE out of a hundred (1%)?
The Association has perfected Optimized Market Research to produce four to eight times the industry average.

The Association’s Pay Per Click campaigns perform 4 to 8 times better than industry average.

Below is the Google Report: The Association’s PPC ads are converting at 8.48% !!

How do we do it?  We use proven, scientific marketing methods that WORK. So you can develop an effective marketing plan with data that really works. Our consumer analysis dials in your marketing message so you attract people more likely to convert…..not tire kickers.

Wouldn’t you like your email stuffed with leads in the morning?

Clients have literally asked us to turn off the marketing campaigns so they can catch up on the leads we generated.

Let’s say you spend $100. on your promo marketing. Let’s say you make a $100. on each close. Well, if you only get one reach out of the hundred (a 1% return), that reach cost you $100.

If you close that one lead, you make $100. So, you break even. If you don’t close that reach, you just lost $100. This is why people stop marketing. THEY’RE LOSING MONEY. DUH!

There’s NO WAY you can EVER, EVER, EVER make money with anemic marketing. Period. But we still see people throwing money away on marketing that only gets a 1% response.

Applying this to the example above, instead of a lead costing  you $100, get 8 leads which cost you $12.50 per lead.  If you close a $12.50 lead, you make $100 (you pay back your marketing investment of $100). But here’s the good news. If you close two $12.50 leads you pay back your marketing expense and you make another $100. If you close three you made $200. Profit. This is the secret to paying for your marketing and making a lot of money. This is “power marketing”!

This is the time to grab market share, when everybody else has cut back. Power Marketing will give a better return on your marketing dollar and increase your profits. Break out of anemic* marketing before it sucks your marketing budget dry.

*(def. anemic – lacking force, vitality or spirit.)

**(def. anemia – Anemia is a condition in which you don’t have enough healthy red blood cells to carry adequate oxygen to your tissues. If you have anemia, you probably feel tired a lot. Etymology – anemia – 1824, from French medical term (1761), Mod.L., from Gk. anaimia “lack of blood,” from anaimos “bloodless,” from an- “without” + haima “blood”)

The Social Media Club

Social Media may seem like a breeze to the younger age group, but for anyone over the age of 35 that wasn’t born with a smart phone in their hands, this social media education can be really helpful. Along the way I’ve been collecting feedback about the class, which I thought I’d share for the benefit of those who haven’t attended yet.

I’ve found that implementing social media piece by piece is easier to swallow than trying to help someone understand a big chunk in 4-5 hours.  Too much information!  So the class really cuts it back to something manageable, and we have a good time.

Topics vary. Sometimes it’s tailored to the crowd that shows up. Sometimes we have a planned presentation that we announce before hand. If you’d like to attend. you may RSVP on Facebook by searching for “Really Simple Social Media” and clicking on the Events tab.

I’ve also created a resource for business owners interested in online lead generation. Since every online campaign starts with keyword research, we have a free Social Media Keyword Analysis anyone can use to their advantage. Just click on “Request a Free Social Media Keyword Analysis” to submit a request. For anyone still curious if social media is a good idea, click on “The Seminar” for a series of short videos giving an overview of why social media is so vital in today’s world.

The Club is all about implementation, not just endless blathering at the front of the room. We really dig in and get our hands dirty. The whole point is that you learn to do it so you can do it on your own. After all, the tools are free. Why not invest in learning how to use them?