These stories are Facebook’s way of inferring what content users would most like to see when they first log in. Facebook explains the formula they use to decide which posts appear:

We determine whether something is a highlighted story based on lots of factors, including your relationship to the person who posted the story, how many comments and likes it got, what type of story it is, etc. For example, a friend’s status update that might not normally be a highlighted story may be highlighted after many other friends comment on it.

Facebook Help Center: What is a highlighted story?

For those of us managing Facebook pages, this may mean that some fans will not see our content unless their friends are also interacting with us. Our content may also disappear from their News Feeds if they haven’t interacted with us recently by clicking on shared links, commenting on or liking our posts. In fact, comScore found that “[...] users are 40-150 times more likely to consume branded content in the Newsfeed than to visit the Fan Page itself.” (The Power of Like, July 2011)

How can we ensure that fans stay active? A few suggestions:

• Encourage feedback: Rather than only posting links, ask for opinions from your fans. Take a poll using Facebook Questions. Run a photo caption contest.
• Choose relevant and compelling content: This may seem elementary, but remember the audience you’re trying to reach. If it’s current students, provide campus news and bring up common milestones (the Beanpot; the end of finals; a department-wide social event). Check your Facebook Insights regularly to see which pieces of content are getting the most feedback. Patterns here may inform your decisions as you go.
• Encourage visits to your Facebook page elsewhere: Do you have sharing functionality built into your website? Are you promoting your Facebook page through your more traditional marketing channels?

How have you been promoting activity on your Facebook page?

Related: 27% of Facebook Browsing on Newsfeed, Just 10% on Apps (Inside Facebook)

In last month’s BU Social Media Communicators meeting, Nathaniel Boyle of Interactive Design presented on the challenges of maintaining BU’s brand identity standards (outlined at bu.edu/brand) on social networks. I asked if he would discuss some of these guidelines here. Nat, take it away!

Brand standards can be tricky and at times seem heavy-handed. The instinct is often to do your best within the guidelines established. Despite the best of intentions, this approach almost always winds up violating the guidelines.

In order to avoid degradation, distortion, or improper spacing of the BU logo or seal, and to maintain a suite of social presences that are presentably cross-branded across the University without any confusion as to what’s official and what’s not, we have established the following social media brand guidelines for University-wide usage. Following these guidelines will ensure you’re representing the University on third-party social media platforms appropriately.

Here’s the approach you should take:

• Consider your avatars, profile and background images to be extensions of your web presence.
• If you do not have a visual aesthetic to your web presence, consider social your opportunity to give yourself a consistent, recognizable look and feel.
• These are your social media accounts, so please consider the social “personality” you want your aesthetic to convey. And don’t be afraid to have fun!

To make this easier, we’ve compiled a series of themes that you can download. Each theme includes a Twitter avatar, Twitter background, and Facebook profile picture. I would recommend at least downloading one to get a sense of visual identity consistency, and also image sizes, etc.

And never forget the most important rule: DON’T use a BU logo as your graphical representation, unless it appears in a photo.

Tips for Event Photography

• Pack well: Extra batteries, memory, and accessories all in one place, easily accessible
• Create a shot list ahead of time: Group shots, details of the event. Make up the list beforehand so you don’t find yourself missing shots afterward
• When you arrive, assess the scene: Lighting conditions? Where will subjects be? Determine approximate camera settings ahead of time and test, test, test

• Be aware of your backgrounds: Distracting details behind the scene? Can you change your angle to avoid them? Are there objects that may interfere with the subject’s head (poles, etc.)? Be aware of auto focus’s tendency to grab onto repeating horizontal & vertical patterns — fences, building structure
• Auto focus is your friend: Fast and reliable. Remember to focus on the eyes of your subject.
• 1/60 shutter speed is minimum for stopping motion in low light: Do you need to accommodate for this with your camera’s settings?
• Photographing groups: Take LOTS of photos — you will not catch blinks or distracted group members on your camera’s screen.
• If using off-camera flash, try bouncing it off a ceiling or wall: Makes photo subjects look less harshly lit; creates different feel for the shot
• Try to shoot people at eye level: This applies most to children — works great to kneel down to their perspective
• Shoot details as well as overalls of the scene: Think of purposes in your marketing materials.
• Back up your data: Use a uniform file naming format and back things up regularly (external hard drives are affordable and a great asset). Keep backups in a different location from the computer itself.

Photo Composition Ideas

• Use diagonal lines to break up your frame
• Do not center your subject in the frame. Try using the Rule of Thirds or the Golden Mean as a guide.
• Use clean uncluttered backgrounds
• Don’t allow background items to intersect your subject (fence posts, telephone poles, branches, etc.)
• Use selective depth of field to emphasize the subject
• Try shooting from different angles: Lay on the ground, shoot straight down on subjects, etc.
• Build layers within your image so there is a foreground, middle and background

Katherine also discussed equipment recommendations, which we will outline shortly in a follow-up post.

Image courtesy Steve Keys on Flickr.

Highlights:

• Blogging is a cornerstone to SM campaign
• Focus on “combined relevance” which should tell you the reason your content matters – also, “personal relevance” which is why content is important to your specific audience
• Content should, first and foremost, be audience focused and not vehicle to push information about one’s self (on blog as well we other SM platforms)
• Potential audiences are looking for a “point of view” on blogs
• Use “Social Proof” to verify your content by embedding SM buttons and prove to audience the relevancy of posts
• Grammar and writing quality matter
• Weekends are ideal for sharing content
• Custom designed formats are ideal
• Make blog post titles descriptive to drive appeal on SM sharing sites
• Multiple blog authors, with profiles, is preferred
• Limiting categories can help page organization
• Avoid “TLDR” (too long, didn’t read)

Want to watch the webinar yourself? Dan’s talk is hosted in its entirety on HubSpot.

On Tuesday, December 7th, we met with Bob Heim and Lisa Zelig of Boston Digital Editing for a crash course in video production. In Part I, Bob

Our recent meeting on the basics of video production has helped me to learn a little about and the kinds of video projects the various departments of BU will be producing in the short term. Based on what we discussed, I think I can make several equipment recommendations.

I realize that the Flip Camera, for better or worse, is the primary camera used by the majority of the personnel. The main concern of mine regarding this camera is the acquisition of sound, specifically the quality. The camera, in its current form, does not allow for the connection of an external microphone. That being the case, I recommend that all recordings with the Flip camera follow some basic guidelines.

1. Record in an environment where the audio can be controlled, indoors if possible.
2. Make sure the interview subject in no more than 4 – 8 feet from the camera.
3. The interviewer should be aware that his/her questions are going to be MUCH louder than the interview subject. (Obviously if the interviewer is the one holding the camera…)

If budgets allow, I would recommend camera such as these:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/662839REG/Aiptek_ZHD11K_CS_Action_HD_GVS_1080p_HD.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/697080-REG/Aiptek_EHD11X.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/671645-REG/Canon_4355B001_VIXIA_HF_M30_Dual.html

These cameras are all very inexpensive and provide a jack for an external mic. The last one has a headphone jack so that you can monitor what the audio sounds like as it is being recorded. These are by no means the best cameras on the market, but they are MUCH better than the Flip Camera for what BU will be using them for.

If one of these cameras, or something similar, is purchased, then I would recommend this external wireless microphone:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/618745-REG/Sennheiser_EW_122P_G3_B_EW122_p_G3_Camera_Mount.html

This isn’t the cheapest, but I have found to be the most reliable for the money.

As for lighting, I think you can either continue to utilize the ambient light during your interviews or contact to learn about compact light kits:

Name: William Mintzer
Company: Rule
Email: Click to view e-mail address.
Phone: 508-361-9633

Mr. Mintzer can also help you with recommendations for cameras, tripods, etc.

Editing your videos presents an entirely different set of challenges. Like I said at the presentation, to be truly good at something, you have to do it all of the time. This is especially true of editing. If editing is daunting to you, please call either Nancy Marrs or myself to assist you in the editing of your projects. Otherwise, you can try your hand at iMovie, Adobe Premiere or Final Cut. They all have a learning curve, but are relatively intuitive, so the basics can be learned pretty quickly…

I hope this helps and feel free to contact me with any questions!

Bob Heim
Boston Digital Editing
617-319-3434 / Click to view e-mail address.

Photo courtesy Reinis Traidas on Flickr.

UPDATE: Nancy Marrs of BU Productions also has recommended the Kodak Zi8 as a Flip-like video camera alternative.

On Tuesday, December 7th, we met with Bob Heim and Lisa Zelig of Boston Digital Editing for a crash course in video production, as many of us are now tasked with creating video content for our websites and social media channels. Bob made recommendations on equipment and making the best of different lighting and sound setups. He has forwarded us fifteen tips on a successful shoot, which he has kindly allowed us to post here.

1) No Shaky Shots!
Get a tripod and use it. Helps with camera moves. Make sure the camera you have fits on the base of the tripod you have.

2) Be Still
Only move the camera when you have: 1) a reason and 2) the opportunity. Don’t let needless adjustments ruin your shot. Make sure you have at least 10-20 seconds of usable footage for each piece of B-Roll. All pans and zooms should be slow and controlled.

3) What You See is What You Get
Don’t push record until your shot is perfect. It should be visually interesting and follow the rule of thirds. The rule of thirds is when you imagine your image is divided up like a tic-tac-toe board. The subject’s eyes should be on the top line and their gaze should follow to the other side of the frame (where the interviewer would be).

4) Check the Shot
Now that everything is HD, it’s more important to make sure the background of your image doesn’t have anything that shouldn’t be there like extension cords, random paper, etc. Make sure your shot is balanced.

5) Anticipate
When you frame your shot, anticipate what you are editing in. Leave space for things like titles (lower thirds), logos or images in the corners, etc.

6) Focus
Check your focus anytime you change focal lengths (zoom in or zoom out) or make a camera move.

7) Clothing and Makeup
When you can control it, avoid clothes that have intricate patters, small stripes, and logos. If you are using a green screen, make sure your subject does not wear green. White and black generally don’t read well on camera. White is difficult to light.
Have translucent powder/foundation on hand to reduce shine, especially if your subject is bald or oily.

Get to Know Your Camera
Learn your camera menu options. The functions you’ll use the most are white balance, iris (f-stop, how much light comes in the camera), how to switch between 16:9 and 4:3, and how to assign your audio channels.

9) Think of the Final Product
Know how you want the final piece to play out and be consistent with the questions you ask. If you want to multiple subjects to tell a story, make sure you get all of their point of views from beginning to end. Asking subjects the same questions will help with transitions. Don’t go in without a plan.

10) Audio
When using a boom, make sure to point it directly at the speaker. Be aware that jostling the boom pole will produce unwanted noise. With a hardwired or a wireless lav make sure it is secured and that there’s no noise. Have the subject remove any jingly jewelry and avoid clothing rustling. It’s better to have the lav visible and picking up clear audio than hidden and picking up clothing noise. Avoid coiling cables or overlapping them with power cords. When all these cables touch it creates buzzing. Always do a sound check to set levels.

11) Breathing Room
When you first hit record at the beginning of an interview, allow a moment before you ask the first question. This way the editor has room to work with. The same applies when the question is being answered. This avoids the answer stepping on the interviewer’s next question.

12) Lighting
Traditional 3-point lighting has a key light, a fill light, and a back light. It looks nice if you can get an eye light, where you see the reflection of the light in the subjects eyes. Make sure the lights don’t overpower the subject. Skin color and clothing color will affect your lighting.

13) Monitors
There’s a reason that people buy very expensive monitors and don’t rely on their viewfinders. See how it looks to your eye first and foremost. Figure out a system that looks good and follow it as consistently as possible.

14) Interview Tips
Make sure your interview subject is in a chair with a non-reclining, upright back. Make sure the chair doesn’t not swivel or have wheels. Have the subject speak directly to the interviewer who should be sitting on either side of the camera. Also have your interviewee include the question in their answer, unless you intend to hear the interviewer asking the questions. It’s a good idea to have them spell out their full name to avoid spelling errors in lower thirds.

15) Be Prepared! (Grip Bag)
Make sure you have batteries for your audio as well as for your camera. A pen and paper is always useful. Make sure you have enough tape, the right cables, and any props to dress your set. Label your tapes and keep track of them. Take care of your equipment, it’s expensive.

UPDATE 12/10, 11:40 am: Bob’s product recommendations (cameras, lighting kits, etc.) has now been posted in a second entry here.

Photo courtesy daveynin on Flickr.