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Tag: Chris Brogan

  • Chris Brogan Says if Your YouTube Videos Are Boring… Emote!

    Chris Brogan Says if Your YouTube Videos Are Boring… Emote!

    Marketing guru Chris Brogan offers some advice on how to make interesting videos for business owners that produce YouTube videos:

    The Medium Requires You to Amp it Up

    One detail that I see repeated over and over and over again in your YouTube videos is that you forget that this medium requires you to amp everything up a little bit more than what’s probably your normal delivery. When I’m talking normally to other people I still use my hands but not as much as I do in a video.

    One other difference is I’m very vividly aware of this frame. I’m making sure that I have everything such that I’m paying attention to the frame. I’m looking at the lens which means I’m looking at your eyes and I’m paying attention, but what I’m also doing, and this is where it gets important, is I’m emoting.

    You’re Performing Whether or Not You Want To

    I could talk to you about the data, I could just say you know it’s really important to emote, emoting is good, you should emote. But in video, you’re performing whether or not you want to. Notice a difference in how I was talking. When I just kind of talked normal, one of the things I do is there are not really many pauses. It’s just kind of walking along and getting the words out as fast as I get the words out.

    When I’m performing, there are a few more clear pauses and I’m doing a little bit more enunciation and I’m changing and validating and varying all the different pieces of the words so that you can catch up.

    Keep Your Energy Level High

    I’m trying to keep it audibly interesting and I’m trying to keep the energy level high because that’s what we respond to in video. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen some of my friends talking on video and they seem sort of like they’re just being held at gunpoint. No one wants it and so you have to deliver.

    It’s performing, its producing, it’s creating something for someone. It’s not fake. It’s just a way of making sure that everything gets pushed forward a little bit, notches it up. You do this kind of thing when you make a selfie. You might image adjust a little, you might wipe out a zit or something, you might whiten your teeth, who knows. Do the same with your video, produce. Also, when you’re creating a background for your presentation you have to pay attention to that as well.

    I’ve been talking mostly about voice and emoting, but I wanted you to feel and understand how this all connects. You’re not just delivering the information, you have to amp things up a little, you have to push. This is coming from a guy who deals with mild clinical depression. My normal energy level is low, but if I don’t deliver like this then you don’t pay attention.

    Be Like You… Plus

    I learned some of this from watching some of my friends and my kids YouTube videos. My kids watch these people who when they get excited they shout and they scream. You say, but Chris, I’m not that kind of person, I don’t emote normally. I’m not asking you not to be normal, but I am asking you to be like you… plus. Can you be just a little more you for the video? If you’re super quiet and super non-emotive, be just a little more emotive. That’s gonna help a lot.

  • What The Industry Thinks About Google Reader’s Demise

    Google recently dropped the bombshell that it is closing down Google Reader, much to the chagrin of its loyal user base. I’ve done my share of ranting about it, and discussed why some businesses may want to be more strongly thinking about their email strategies. We’ve since reached out to a handful of prominent bloggers and industry professionals for some additional perspectives on what the closing of Google Reader means for blogs and publishers.

    What impact will Google Reader’s demise have on blogs and news sites? Let us know what you think in the comments.

    “I think it’s net positive that Google is shutting down its reader,” Automattic/WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg tells WebProNews. “It encourages people [to try] the great new experiences that have been developed over the past few years, including the WordPress.com reader.”

    According to Mullenweg, the open source WordPress software is used by 16% of the web.

    And trying new experiences we are. Feedly, for one, is getting a great deal of attention since Google’s announcement. Two days later, Feedly announced it had already seen 500,000 new users coming from Google Reader. At times they’ve had trouble keeping up with the demand.

    “I think that Google Reader is a standalone technology and not indicative of whether the world will shift away from RSS,” says Human Business Works CEO and all around popular social media guy Chris Brogan. “The notion that social networks and human sharing has replaced RSS is like saying that fireplaces have replaced central heating. Quaint, but not effective.”

    Not everyone quite agrees with that sentiment, however.

    Jeremy Schoemaker, author of the popular ShoeMoney blog, says he has about 70,000 RSS readers but that the amount of traffic from them has dropped significantly.

    “For me Social Media has become the new RSS,” he says. “I use a free service called Twitter Feed, that automatically posts my new posts to Twitter and my Facebook personal and fan page. I see far more traffic from that then any news reader. I haven’t thought of it until now but I haven’t logged into my Google Reader account for years. I don’t ever think RSS will die, but it will used more as an API like tool to interact with websites than a reader.”

    Long-time blogger and EVP/Global Strategy and Insights for Edelman, Steve Rubel, tells us, “The majority of large sites won’t see an impact. Most of their traffic now comes from Twitter and Facebook. In addition Google (search) is a large source of traffic. The smaller sites, however, will be impacted. Their more dedicated readers are using Google Reader. These sites will need to gravitate to other forms of distribution such email newsletters and other vehicles.”

    “It’s hard to say,” says Search Engine Land and Daggle blogger Danny Sullivan about the impact of Reader’s demise. “Technically, all those readers can easily continue to be readers by taking their feeds elsewhere. In practice, some might not make the effort. I expect that some blogs that see traffic from RSS are about to take a hit, though it might not be anywhere near as bad as they fear. We have, of course, been through this before after the decline of Bloglines.”

    TopRank Online Marketing CEO Lee Odden tells us, “It’s a disappointment and a little puzzling that Google would shut down reader. What’s next, FeedBurner? Probably. Google is a data-driven company, so clearly they have their reasons. The cost must now outweigh the goodwill created by offering a free and useful service like reader. Still, I have to wonder if there isn’t useful usage data with reader that Google could use?”

    “For content marketers, the main consideration is the impact on reach of content,” he adds. “If a substantial portion of a blog’s readers are using Google Reader, it’s a big deal. The blog would do well to point those readers to another service like Feedly.”

    Zee Kane, CEO of The Next Web, says, “I think older blogs, perhaps primarily ‘tech blogs’, might experience a degree of negative impact as many (ourselves included) have hundreds of thousands of RSS subscribers. Many of our readers our early adopters and geeks who consume (technology) news as though their life depended on it, Google Reader is/was an undoubtedly brilliant way of doing so. With Google Reader disappearing, we’ll see an even heavier focus on social as a means to distribute stories, as a way to rank stories and as a means to increase readership.”

    This is, of course, a small sampling of industry opinion, but it’s interesting to hear people’s different takes on the effects. Really, we won’t know what impact it truly has until Google Reader is finally gone. In the meantime, other services will pop up, and existing alternatives will strive to improve and outdo their peers.

    There for a while it was starting to look like Google was really pushing for an end to the RSS format, as even its RSS Subscriptions Chrome extension disappeared from the Chrome Web Store. Thankfully, that was said to be a mistake, and it came back. Meanwhile, Google is phasing out links to Google Reader from its other properties. We’re still waiting to find out if Google will keep the RSS option alive in Google Alerts, which seems to be experiencing its own negligence from the company. Interestingly, Google is giving advice on how to build news readers for Android.

    RSS.com is currently on sale with a $200 million asking price.

    Will you miss Google Reader? Let us know in the comments.

  • Google+ “It’s already good for rankings”

    Google+ “It’s already good for rankings”

    Google+ hasn’t even been around 6 months yet, and it’s considered a major player in the social media realm. It regularly draws comparisons to both Facebook and Twitter. But, Google+ does have one thing going for it that currently Facebook and Twitter doesn’t: it’s good for rankings… in Google. Imagine that.

    At the BlogWorld Expo in L.A., Alltops, Guy Kawasaki and Human Business Works President Chris Brogan had a very interesting discussion about all things Google+.

    During the session, a question was raised “Is there now connections between google plus and search rankings?” Brogan stated that:

    “Google doesn’t index all of Facebook right now. It’s a lost cause for SEO, they’re also no longer indexing Twitter. Google does index anything publicly for Google+“

    It should be noted that Facebook doesn’t allow it. Kawasaki chimed in that this is probably a direct result of the relationship between Facebook and Bing.

    If you Google Chris Brogan’s name, you’ll see his Google+ stuff shooting up the rankings. The same holds true for anyone. When you post something publicly it’ll begin working for you, he states “It’s a Google thing”.

    Brogan would go on to say:

    “Google has such advantages, I don’t see how they can’t be a success with Google+ … I’m amazed that people are so skeptical, especially those in the tech press”.

    It’ll be interesting to follow this and see if Google+ does reach the level that both Brogan and Kawasaki think it can.

    For 5 years, WebProNews has partnered with BlogWorld and New Media Expo, the world’s first and largest new media conference, in an effort to broadcast how new media can grow your business, brand, and audience. Stay tuned to WebProNews for much more exclusive coverage.

  • Steve Jobs on iCloud in ’97, HK Apple Store & Social Good

    Today’s video round-up features a vintage Steve Jobs clip, some location-based marketing advice from social media guy Chris Brogan, some thought-provoking discussions from Mashable’s Social Good Summit and a few other goodies.

    View other daily video round-ups here.

    Steve Jobs describes iCloud in ’97?

    Apple Store opens in Hong Kong:

    Chris Brogan shares location based marketing for dummies:

    A man attempts to do 24 different accents in the English language (via Jeremiah Owyang on Google+):

    TV watching record to be broken?

     

    Mashable shares some interesting videos from the Social Good Summit:

  • Who’s Got the Time for All This Technology?

    Who’s Got the Time for All This Technology?

    In a recent article, we asked how business owners and CEOs can keep up with new technologies and strategies in the digital age. It’s a topic we discussed with a few people at Pubcon in Las Vegas. 

    "The pace of change is frightening," New York Times tech columnist David Pogue told us. "In the last three or four years…it’s becoming overwhelming for me. I mean, it’s my job. I eat and breathe keeping on top of tech, and people will say ‘what do you think of…’ something I’ve never heard of and everyone else has, and it’s like oh my god, now I’m behind. So I don’t have any idea how a CEO is supposed to keep up."

    "Obviously there’s people like me and websites, whose job it is to filter stuff for you, and bring to you what’s important," he added. "That would probably be one way to do it, but I think it explains why in general business is always behind the curve." 

    A similar subject also came up in a conversation with well-known consultant Chris Brogan, who says, "What I look at is, I try to stay with a product or sale solution mindset, and I say, ‘Is there a reason this is gonna add to what I’m working on right now?’ and if I go try this new social network, is that likely to be where my new target audience is gonna be?"

    "Honestly, it’s really interesting," he adds. "Everyone’s always chasing the new thing. I think you go backwards and look at the old things. I’m amazed at who’s not searching inside eBay or who’s not searching inside of Amazon or whatever…who’s not really working their email marketing lists, as opposed to just beating it over the head with automated stuff."

    That’s a great point. The rate at which all of this stuff comes out is unreal, and a lot of people try so desperately to stay on top of the latest and emerging trends, that they leave behind proven and established opportunities. 

    "I think with time management, you just have to keep going with the mindset of what you real goal is, and keep paring away," says Brogan. "It’s like I’m a priest and I give absolution all the time. I’m always like, ‘You don’t have to try Quora just because everyone’s always inviting you to it.’ I haven’t said yes to that invite yet. I’m sure it’s gonna be great. Whatever. You know what? I stopped reading TechCrunch and Mashable because my friends will tell me when something really cool’s coming. I read their sharing of TechCrunch and Mashable, because then I get the story I really care about."

    Brogan is certainly not alone, which is why social search is bound to become much more integral to the way people interact with information on the web (good news for Microsoft, given its recent deal with Facebook to integrate social data into its search results). 

    "So then the other thing with time management is – I keep telling people this – in the Internet space, there’s more work than there is time in a day, and there always will be," Brogan adds. "If you don’t put the gate down and you don’t say, ‘Time is up,’ it’s you. It’s your doing. You know, if you’re missing out on family life, it’s your choice."

     

  • Social Media

    Social Media

    It’s easy to imagine that social media will be around forever; Facebook and its 500 million users are hard to ignore. On the other hand, everyone’s also watched sites like Friendster and MySpace fade over time. So at PubCon, a keynote panel addressed the question of whether social media is relevant or just a passing fad.

    Coverage of PubCon will continue at WebProNews Videos. Stay with WebProNews for more notes and videos from the event this week.

    Chris Brogan, the president of New Marketing Labs, began by suggesting that social media is a mechanism through which people can try to build a business. Indeed, he feels the best way to “sell” social media is by using traditional metrics that businesspeople are comfortable with.

    Otherwise, Brogan recommended that social media users promote other people’s good ideas more than their own companies, and noted that people generally get out of Facebook and Twitter what they put into them. In his case, Brogan’s been able to use his social media prowess to sort of bypass SEO, having on occasion seen retweets his search engine ranking with amazing speed.

    Sarah EvansSarah Evans, the owner of Sevans Strategy, spoke next. She maintained that social media represents a natural progression of Internet marketing. At the same time, one thing Evans said to watch for is pushing too hard, too fast, and she acknowledged that time management can also become a problem. So “work for what you believe in,” Evans advised.

    Then Scott Stratten, the president of Un-Marketing, took control of the conversation. He argued that social media is nothing new, and doesn’t fix anything on its own. It’s just talk, according to Stratten, and simply amplifies. And social media might even already be breaking down as it becomes more and more work (the issue of time management came up again here).

    Still, on a more optimistic note(s), Stratten said that he joined Twitter because he wanted to be above SEO, and also said one of the great things about being an entrepreneur is that it never stops.

    Brian ClarkBrian Clark, the founder of Copyblogger, then finished off the session. He contended that most marketing is about making people familiar with a product or service, so it’s silly to talk about the ROI of social media. But there are important connections: some of the sharpest people in social media are SEOs. Google has to factor in Twitter. Google wants to rank good content. So SEO and social media are one continuum.

    Also, Clark feels that the entire Internet acts as a direct marketing platform, and that content is marketing. So to create meaningful connections with people using social media, he said, “Put the audience first always.”

  • Social Media’s Relevancy Debated At PubCon

    It’s easy to imagine that social media will be around forever; Facebook and its 500 million users are hard to ignore. On the other hand, everyone’s also watched sites like Friendster and MySpace fade over time. So at PubCon, a keynote panel addressed the question of whether social media is relevant or just a passing fad.

    Coverage of PubCon will continue at WebProNews Videos. Stay with WebProNews for more notes and videos from the event this week.

    (more…)

  • Why Email Marketing Still Trumps Social

    Social media has been at the center of marketers’ attention for years now, as many still grapple with finding their ideal strategies. There’s no question that social media has opened up many new doors, and should not be ignored. That said, email marketing is still one of the most effective channels.

    Have you had more success with social media or email marketing? Comment here.

    WebProNews recently had a chat with Chris Brogan at the Inbound Marketing Summit, and while most of the discussion centered around online video, email marketing came up, and some pretty good points were raised.

    As our own Michael McDonald noted, “Social’s great, but not everybody goes to Twitter everyday, and maybe I have Twitter and Facebook, but not LinkedIn…but all of these people have email, and they check that every day.”

    “I’ve got a stat like that for consumer brands,” said Brogan. “93% of people have a daily opt-in relationship with at least one consumer brand. 15% on Facebook. 4% on Twitter.”

    “93% of people say, ‘I would like to get mail from this company every day…15% Facebook. 4% Twitter,” Brogan reiterated. “…and there’s no age skew in that. It starts at age 13, I think, in the study. And it’s young people just the same…maybe don’t want to be friends with Coke, but they do necessarily want the deals…”

    “Send me an email, and tell me, you know, if I can get a deal on Mello Yello this week…” Mike agreed.
    (more…)

  • Chris Brogan Talks Online Video’s Ongoing Evolution

    Online video has come a long way in the last few years, and it’s only going further. With the release of new devices and formats, online video content production is going to do nothing but grow. WebProNews recently spoke with Chris Brogan, popular social media guy, President of New Marketing Labs and part of the Pulse Network, about where it’s all heading and where it already is. 

    "To me, the whole future of what device is going to be shooting the signal across is changing a lot," says Brogan. "I think that just as we started thinking we were going to get used to a three-inch screen, you know, first the HTC EVO and then the Droid X and all these kind of big ol’ phones showed up, then the nine-inch and the six-inch or whatever tablets are all there, and I think that 1. it’s going to be back to ‘holy cow, there’s a lot of formats I gotta get it out to’ mode, and then there’s the whole Flash or not…"

    "I think that one of the things is, you know, after you address the whole IP addresses wearing out problem, and then you’re gonna have the whole addressable bandwidth moving around with you stuff, and I think that’s coming up," Brogan continues. "I think that there’s, you know, the backbone Internet, and then there’s the  wireless Internet, and that’s another whole story, but I think that we’re getting closer and closer to the 3G than the 4G."

    Good Quality Content will rule in online video"As we’ve all embraced the YouTube level, I think we’re now starting to go backwards and say ‘we want more HD," he adds. "Consumption of HD is going to go up and up and up as our pipe is getting better, as more people are bringing T1’s to their home…see to me, the mobile one is where the real game is, because we’ve untethered. We’re all laptop users. No one says, ‘Man, I bought a great desktop the other day,’ you know? So, I think that’s one, and I think 2 is, we’re actually going to start consuming more Hi-Def…"

    It’s not always been clear just how important HD was going to be to online video. Brogan recalls, "A year and a half ago, I’m talking to Abby [Johnson of WebProNews] and I’m saying, ‘I don’t think you need HD. No one’s processing it. Nobody wants it. It can’t parse. It’s not worth your trouble shooting it.’ And you know, everyone proved me wrong."

    One thing that’s pretty much always been clear, however, and one that will never change is that content is important. "Good quality content’s gonna rule…and making those distribution deals."

    "Nobody’s buying smaller monitor screens for their desktop, and nobody’s looking for lower res, so if you’re not getting closer and closer to 1080p and beyond…We could have a bunch of cameras in our pockets and be doing just fine," notes Brogan.

    Of online video’s recent and ongoing evolution, Brogan says, "There’s a lot of people just into the ‘now what?’ stage. You know, ‘gee whiz’ was a couple years ago, and ‘ok, we’re ready to start’ was last year. This year’s ‘ok, I need real serious numbers. I need real conversion."

    That’s why we’re likely to see more and more solutions emerging to help video content providers crunch the numbers. In fact, just today, Brightcove launched its latest version with a great amount of emphasis on analytics.