There’s a lot of pressure out there to blog, to Twitter for business, to at least have a Linkedin profile for goodness sakes! And it’s true, you can’t “sit this one out” and “see where it goes.” Oh, it’s going. Our social lives and our business marketing will never be the same. Your business must participate in the online social sphere.  I’m just one more peer here to say, go on, try it.

It’s a curious feeling, even just posting photos that anyone could see, never mind a status update. So start slow. One site at a time, one profile at a time. Linkedin is an excellent place to begin, since it’s business oriented. When you’re ready to advance to the next level of posting videos on YouTube or setting up a Facebook page for your business, think of it as just that: for your business. It’s true, there’s blurring between the personal and the professional lines, you will be out there with your business – but take comfort in the fact that so is everyone else. That’s right, everyone is doing it.

As you get more comfortable, you’ll enjoy networking online because you’ll be finding old friends and new contacts. Your website will attract more traffic from the additional visibility. It will be worth it. And then there will come a day when you post on a blog and it gets some seriously snarky responses. And you’ll cringe and wish you had never set foot in cyberspace. But so what? It’s just people’s opinions and it will pass. And as they say, all publicity is good publicity. Just stay true to yourself, on message with your company, and keep making connections – online.

We recently finished a fun video project for a client’s annual meeting in which we incorporated live action footage with motion graphics and still images. I went along with the videographer on a one-day shoot for some various footage we needed, and boy, had I forgotten what was involved in filmmaking!

I should tell you that I am a refugee from the film world. Before embarking on the graphic design path, I worked as a costumer in the film and television industry here in New York. There can be a lot of excitement, if “excitement” is another word for “stress,” but glamorous it is not. (Unless freezing in the cold for 16 hours or more on a night shoot is glamorous.) It’s really hard work. With an amazing amount of details to coordinate to get even 10 seconds of the movie right.

As we threw ourselves into the work, those details came rushing back. Such as the importance of finding the right location. This location has too many cars parked, that one has telephone wires strung everywhere, we can’t get a clean shot from this angle.� And the lighting! Well, we didn’t have any lights because it was an exterior shoot, but the day started out really gray and cloudy. It eventually brightened up, but as we worked, our light source (the sun), kept moving across the sky, requiring the videographer to make continuous adjustments. Those were just two examples of how much there is to control in order to get the image you want.
It all worked out, but it was not a walk in the park. Between the equipment, the schedules, the crew needed, the planning, and the time it takes – it’s no wonder movies cost what they do. It’s not all the star’s salary. It’s just what it takes.

Maybe some of that doesn’t apply to shooting a simple interview in a corporate setting, but the general sense that making a professional, well-lit video with decent sound requires a lot of coordinating and proper equipment does apply. And that can take time and money. Sure, people are shooting whatever and throwing it where ever, and we can too. But if we want to rise above all the clutter, we have to look our best.