Tag Archive for: video apps

VIDEO AID IN THE TIME OF CORONAVIRUS – How Software Providers Are Helping Us Connect & Communicate

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Coronavirus has truly changed everything. ​
​We are all in this together.

As online video software provider, Loom said, “Inaction Felt Wrong.” Or, as Chris Cuomo said recently on CNN, “sitting on the sidelines is not an option.”

​In this episode of Video Mojo, I shine a spotlight on three online software companies who are examples of companies who are doing what they can (based on their company’s culture and values), especially in support of educators who are teaching online, using video, for the first time.

About Video Mojo

​Video Mojo is a weekly video blog and podcast hosted by award-winning media innovator, Jon Leland. It combines timeless marketing principles with a playful exploration on the “bleeding edge” of digital video & social media.

Resource Links from this episode:

If you want to check out ConvertKit as an email marketing platform:
https://app.convertkit.com/referrals/l/cb9d89ab-194a-4937-b1c4-7027fd850bf2
(affiliate link) Please let me know if you have questions.

I’d love to hear what works for you and if you find this program useful. If you’ve got questions, feedback or suggestions, please comment below, or let’s connect (and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever):

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

VIDEO AID IN THE TIME OF CORONAVIRUS – How Software Providers Are Helping Us Connect & Communicate

Hi there and welcome to Video Mojo!

My name is Jon Leland and this is a video blog and podcast where we combine timeless marketing principles with the bleeding edge of video communications, social media, and digital marketing.
So we’re living in strange and interesting times. But it is an area where video can make a difference and help to connect us all, as I’ve been talking about week after week; human connections through video. This is an episode about how video software providers and an email software provider are really providing support for people to be able to take advantage of the fact that we’re staying at home and working at home. Many people are really cutting down on all kinds of travel and person-to-person interactions, so we want to make more of these human interactions. And when we make human interactions, it really becomes a matter of empathy, caring and wanting to make a difference. That’s why there’s this beautiful theme here between video connection and people making a difference in making offers.

Today, I want to shine the spotlight on three different software providers that are doing offers to help support people in this time of need.

Loom

The first one is Loom. I have actually become a fan of theirs even more since the video that I did in February where I talked about 4 video tools to help improve video fluency and connection. The folks at Loom have dramatically illustrated how this changed, because of the coronavirus and people working from home, is impacting the amount of video that we’re all using. They posted these charts both from China and from Italy showing how increased use there is where people are being most negatively impacted by the coronavirus.

The first thing that I want to say about Loom is I really love their culture and the fact that they felt in the presentation video on the page where they announced their response to the coronavirus they said “inaction felt wrong.” I really salute that spirit, and I feel the same way. I really think we need to be there more than ever for each other even though we can’t be there in person.

The other thing I want to say about Loom is that when I did a video in February about four tools I talked about Loom and I found that I have become even more of a fan of their platform since then. One key advantage is that when I record Loom videos they’re instantly available on the web. Some of the other platforms require you to upload the video within the application. For example, on Snagit, I have to wait for it to upload. It’s great the way it gets shared quickly, but with Loom it’s instantaneous.

In terms of the coronavirus, they’ve extended the terms of the already free version of Loom. It used to be that there was a limit of 25 videos when you had the free platform, it’s now unlimited through July 1st. And for everyone they’ve made the platform half cost. It was $10 a month for their pro platform, it’s now $5 a month. I recommend checking out Loom in any case because the free platform is quite powerful. And the most important part of their offer is for educators. Anyone in an educational institution a teacher, an administrator, or whatever they can get the Loom platform at the pro level for free forever. Not just the July 1st temporary offer.

Bomb Bomb

The second platform that I want to talk about in terms of a response to doing more video with the coronavirus is Bomb Bomb. They talked about rehumanizing your communications. I think if you’re a teacher and now need to teach online, part of that process is going to be the interactions that you might have done in office. Things that you will do now by email. Bomb Bomb is a very sophisticated application for doing video in email, particularly with Gmail. Normally it’s relatively expensive, starting around $30 a month per user. But for educators, it’s now free and they did not put a time limit on it. So if you think that you would benefit as a teacher delivering your communications as close to face-to-face that you can get. Really making eye contact with your students and doing that by email, this offer from Bomb Bomb is worth checking out.

Now I will put one caveat. I experimented with Bomb Bomb and in addition to the cost, there is a learning curve. It is an application. You could manage an entire class’s email list within the Bomb Bomb application and follow up with each student and have all of that readily available. So that’s something that I think educators might want to check out.

Convertkit

The third thing that I wanted to talk about is Convertkit. Convertkit is an email platform like MailChimp. Though, there are a lot of things that I like about it better. One of the things is their culture and that they specifically designed their platform and market to creators. What Nathan Barry, the CEO, has done is to create a “Creator Fund” and has funded it with $50,000. They’ve already gotten close to $150,000 as of a couple days ago and I’m sure it’s going to go beyond that. They are getting tons of applications but as we all know a lot of people are taking some very serious financial hits because of what’s going on with the coronavirus. So they’re creating a fund for creators who need help with their rent, health expenses, groceries, and those kinds of things.

People do really care. I really applaud these software companies that are doing something about the situation that we’re in. More and more I think we’re going to be learning to be video savvy and connecting via these kinds of video communications.

I look forward to your feedback. Thanks for any input that you can provide, for sharing, for subscribing, and all that good kind of support. I look forward
to seeing you next week!

Improve Your Video Connections with These 4 Recommended Video Software Tools

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Are you looking to up your video communication skills?

Whether you are using video for marketing, to share software tips with those you work with, or to share valuable information via social media, you have choices to make in order to find “the right (video) tool for the job.”

​I’ve got recommendations! The episode of Video Mojo (video below) will help you by offering a quick overview of four video software tools that I have used to create casual, but informative videos, especially for clients and colleagues.

Click above to watch this week’s Video Mojo video blog & podcast episode.

The first three apps are particularly useful if you need or want to share your screen, including if that screen is sharing a presentation. The fourth video software tool is particularly useful when you want to make a more powerful video connection via email. Links to all four video apps are below (FYI, none are affiliate links.)

​About Video Mojo

​Video Mojo is a weekly video blog and podcast hosted by award-winning media innovator, Jon Leland. It combines timeless marketing principles with a playful exploration on the “bleeding edge” of digital video & marketing.

Resource Link from this episode:

I’d love to hear what works for you and if you find this program useful. If you’ve got questions, feedback or suggestions, please comment below, or let’s connect (and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever):

* Video Launch Pad: https://go.combridges.com/video-launch-pad​
* YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/jonleland​
* Video Blog Home: https://www.combridges.com/blog​/
* Podcast Home: https://anchor.fm/video-mojo​/
* On Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/video-mojo-jon-leland-tips-strategies-for-better-world/id1489867374?uo=4​
* On Spotify Podcasts: https://open.spotify.com/show/1ORM2qja8iMWM9ykwvhaXk​
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joncombridges/
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/joncombridges​/
* Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/combridges.fb​/
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonleland/

Thanks!

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

Improve Your Video Connections with These 4 Recommended Video Software Tools

Hi and welcome! 

My name is Jon Leland and I’m a digital marketing strategist and the host of Video Mojo, a weekly video blog, and podcast that connects timeless marketing principles with the bleeding edge of video communications, technology, and marketing. 

So today we are going to talk about four applications that can really help you get more fluent in the language of video and increase the power of the connections that you make via video. As you may have heard from other episodes of this video blog and podcast I’m a big advocate of the practice of video. I am passionate about learning by doing and experimenting, but most of all getting yourself out there so you develop the video muscle. These are four applications that can help you do just that in order to make better connections with the people that you are working with or that you want to influence. 

I will include all of the links for the applications that I’m talking about and some other resources throughout the description.

Loom

The first application is called Loom. Loom is very popular because of its simplicity and also because of its free level robust application. It operates both as a Chrome plug-in and as a desktop application. I’ve only used it as the Chrome plug-in because I find it really convenient. When you use Loom the limitation is that you do not have many customization options. Your talking head video will be a small circle in the lower-left corner. You then will be able to share your screen and show people what it is that you want to communicate about. We use it frequently and I’ve seen it used to explain things that are going on within software or websites. It’s very powerful and relatively easy to use. 

Snagit

A step up from that is Snagit, which is a kind of a Swiss Army knife of video tools. It has both the ability to do still frame captures as well as various forms of video interaction. It introduces the sophistication of being able to switch back and forth between a screen share and the full live-action video talking head. I got turned on to Snagit by Steve Dotto of Dottotech. He is a resource that I recommend and I’ll also include a link to his video review of Snagit for a lot more detail. Snagit is a paid application. It is a one-time fee of about $50 unless you get some kind of discount. It will give you a more sophisticated ability to produce videos where you’re switching back and forth while recording but NOT in post-production. 

Wistia’s Soapbox

I really like the third tool, Wistia’s Soapbox. Wistia is a video hosting application that I do recommend to get away from the YouTube noise that happens when you host videos on YouTube. For example, on my landing pages for the video launchpad, I have embedded videos that will not recommend other YouTube videos by using the Wistia platform. Soapbox is an application that Wistia has developed and is also accessible by a Chrome plug-in. It has a really clever post-production editing interface. You record once and then in this editing interface you have the ability to switch between the live talking head and the screen share as well as a  third view which is one-third talking head in two-thirds screen share. So if you’re doing “mini-tutorials” soapbox is a pretty cool application that will enable you to produce a kind of presentation that looks like you’ve used much more fancy editing software that has a nice combination of the live talking head human presence and the screen sharing. 

BombBomb

Then if you want to move up to the next level BombBomb is a really cool application, particularly if you’re doing a lot of email outreach and you want to move to a more sophisticated level. For example, if you are a real estate marketer that wants to stand out above the crowd in how they communicate with their prospective customers, BombBomb integrates with email like nothing else that I’ve seen. The way that they do that is when you record a BombBomb video for somebody the first two seconds is an animated GIF that can be embedded into an email. In fact, they have a whole email integration for outbound marketing. That means the learning curve is higher and the cost is definitely higher as it’s a professional application. But it will give you the ability to communicate via email and really make personal messages that can attract and engage in a very powerful way. 

So there’s a quick overview of four tools that you can use to increase your video muscle. You know, it’s a practice. It takes determination and perseverance to stay with it. Each one has a learning curve starting with something like Loom (it’s simpler), and walking up the ladder to something like BombBomb (it’s much more complex). Whatever you do I really encourage you to get out there, make yourself more visible, and do the kind of engagement that these kinds of video tools enable. 

Thanks again for your kind attention. I really do appreciate you being here and I’ll see you next week!