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This blog is about helping businesses and individuals increase their visibility, engagement and profits by communicating messages with a human touch.

Twitter & Website Grade

See a Bug?

This is your site, too, so if something's not working or looks buggy, tell me. Click on the bug and I'll do my best to move these little critters out of here!

Tom Co-Authored "Age of Conversation" Books

Taking the "yawn" out of business communications
Director Tom- Corporate Filmmaker.jpg

Content Marketing Institute

Fast Company "Expert Blogger"
Leadership column: "Mindful Media // The Quest for Engagement"
Recognition
Power 150 is a ranking of the top English-language media and marketing blogs in the world.


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Featured in six categories: Marketing / Twitterati Filmmaking / Content Marketing Branding / Small Business

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Entries in ebook (2)

Wednesday
Aug262009

How to Create 11 Media Products in 3 Formats from 1 Video Interview 

Let’s say you’re about to bake a cake. You have a dozen eggs, 1 lb of flour, a carton of milk, etc. The recipe only calls for 2 eggs, 1 cup of milk, 2 cups of flour. What do you do with the remaining ingredients? Throw them away?
Um– I hope not!

But that’s exactly what happens when most people finish their video projects.

They use what they need from the interview and throw out the rest of the conversation. What a waste! Let’s see if we can turn this situation around into something profitable.

When you finish a video interview, two things pop into your head:
1. You cross your fingers and hope you got what you needed.
2. You know all those great quotes from your guest will wind up on the cutting room floor.

Leave all those great quotes on the cutting room floor?
That’s the last thing to do. Remember those left-over cake ingredients? You didn’t throw those away, did you? Well, in the land of video, this happens a lot. Why?

Everyone is focused on the “one big project.”
The “one big project” blinds us from seeing other ways of extending the conversation. It’s tempting to just ask enough questions to get answers for your one project. But there’s another way to approach your project.

Turn your “one big project” into “several mini-projects.”
Before you begin any video interview, determine ahead of time what other areas your interviewee could talk about. It may only take an extra 15 or 20 minutes to record the answers, so you might as well go for it.

If you do go for the extra recording, chances are great you will capture enough information to create 11 media products in three formats:
1. 1 e-Book
2. 5 Video podcasts
3. 5 Audio podcasts

Will creating all this extra material break your budget?
You would think so but that’s not the case. Since you’re already recording the interview, you just need to budget a little extra for the transcript (which you should be doing for all your interviews) and a few hours of audio and video editing.

Let’s take a look at an example.
You just finished interviewing your guest. The first thing to do is get the interview transcribed onto paper. You’re now on your way to creating several media programs.

1. e-Books
Once you have your video transcribed, your e-Book is 90% finished. Go through the transcript, edit what you don’t need, get rid of the “um’s” and “ah’s,” apply your branding guidelines. Voila! An instant e-Book. Now available to distribute to employees, customers, vendors, etc.

2. Five 60-Second Video Podcasts
Take the transcript and highlight five answers you can use in other areas of your company. Create simple title graphics to begin each video. You can use graphics whenever you get stuck making transitions in-between thoughts.

3. Five 60-Second Audio Podcasts
Highlight five answers you want to use for the other projects. Find the answers in the video interview using the transcripts. Edit the five answers. Add some music. Create your MP3’s. Distribute as needed.

See how easy it is?
You now have a simple process to take one video interview and turn it into 11 media programs in three formats. And this process is from just one interview. Can you imagine how much material you would be able to create if you interviewed five or six people?

Now about that cake. Save a piece for me, ok?

---Tom

Monday
Dec082008

I'm Featured in The Twitter Survival Guide

No. No. No.

I'm not joining Twitter.

Ever.

Less than a year later, I'm profiled in an eBook about Twitter. Go figure.

If you're as skeptical as I was about using 140 characters to communicate, there's good news.

Bob Walsh and Kristen Nicole just published a fabulous new ebook on getting the most out of Twitter. It's called, "The Twitter Survival Guide: How to Use Twitter to Make Friends, Get a Job, Sell Your Brand and Have Fun."

I'm featured in the Power Profile chapter along with some other cool folks, like Guy Kawasaki, Darren Rowse, Jeremiah Owyang.

The eBook is 90 pages and packed with tips, techniques and links to help you uncover the marketing, branding and conversation possibilities Twitter offers.

Here's a peek at the chapters inside:

1. Why should you care about Twitter?
2. Twitter: What, How, Where and Why?
3. Creating your Twitter presence: A checklist
4. Twitter tools
5. Where does Twitter start and blogging end?
6. What can you do with Twitter?
7. Twitter Power Profiles
8. Conclusions

If you're looking to develop your brand, further your online presence, discover your "voice" or connect with new people, Twitter is an amazing tool.

Oh, yeah. Feel free to follow me on Twitter. Thanks!

--Tom