4 Useful Apps to Enhance Images for Social Media

Posted on December 14, 2012 Leave a comment

Images are a key part of the success of Digital Marketing Campaigns. Internet users expect posts, websites and online advertising to be visual, quick and easy to understand and to look professional and polished. No one likes a rough, pixelated image or one that looks over saturated. The images you use on your website and marketing campaigns affect the overall impression customers have of your brand. Here are some useful apps that can be used quickly on a Smart Phone to make images look just that little bit more professional.

1. Instagram

No photography app checklist is ever complete without Instagram. And although this photo
enhancement tool does not have the tools needed to adjust or tweak the image, still, it has necessary features to turn out a rather boring image into an exciting work of art. If you are looking for an app that you can use to give your photos an instant flair before hitting share, then Instagram is right for you.

2. Photosynth

Microsoft’s Photosynth is one of the tech giant’s latest and so far, most popular contributions to the mobile world. Its most excellent feature is the panorama-capturing and sharing apps. And what’s even better is that Photosynth can capture a 360-degree image, whether you’re on the horizontal or vertical side. Thus, you can enjoy taking the entire scenery, no matter what point you’re in. This is something that other panoramic photography apps don’t have! Aside from its user-friendly feature, Photosynth also boasts of its blemish-free and flawless results to really wow you.

3. Adobe Photoshop Express

PhotoShop’s offering to mobile users, this well-known photo-editing tool has indeed reached out to the mobile users, enabling them to edit, crop, straighten and rotate images, anytime, anywhere and right in your mobile format! Although not as complete and as sophisticated compared to its desktop format, PhotoShop Express also boasts of exposure, saturation and contrast features that will surely transform any drab-looking image into perfect snapshots. It’s also FREE!

4. PicSay

PicSay is a powerful photo enhancement tool that lets you correct color, crop images, add text, whether you want it in word balloons or titles. You can also add special effects, as well as sticker-like graphics. The interface really works so well that it’s really not a hassle to edit photos using PicSay. Available for around $4, this Android app is worth the money since it really erases red-eye and apply more professional effects, including cross-processing and color splashes.

5. FXCamera

FXCamera is another versatile photo-editing tool that works well in almost any format. It boasts of state- of-the-art functions that will make your Android camera really worthwhile. It features a Fisheye setting, Polaroid and SymmetriCam, which lets you show off an upside -down version of your image, right next to the original.

If you’d like advice on the right types of images to use for your social media campaigns, website or banner advertising, I Say! Digital can advise you.

About the author – Marilyn Moreno is a caterer and writer. As a writer, she greatly understands the importance of incorporating visually appealing photos to the articles she wrote. She recommends that you use the following apps to enhance photos. She also writes tips on how to effectively manage catering businesses through the aid of a comprehensive software for catering.

Wii U – The Social System

Posted on November 23, 2012 Leave a comment

Today, we let Lewis loose on the blog, to have a geekout about the latest development in Gaming from Nintendo, the Wii U; a platform close to his heart, which has implications on what we love: Social. Enjoy!

Next week, Japanese entertainment giant Nintendo will unleash the Wii U, their latest home console system, onto the UK market. While the key appeal of this new bit of hardware is the Gamepad (a tablet-esque controller) and the significant boost in power, what we’re interested in today is the Wii U’s own dedicated social network, dubbed ‘Miiverse’. This network is an integral part of the machine (not just an additional application) which will not only enhance gaming experiences; but it may also bring some interesting new ideas to the ever-growing landscape of social media.

Covering Everything

Miiverse operates as some sort of bizarre crossbreed of several different social networks. Users can use either the Wii U or their phone to share advice, personal experiences, or simply their general thoughts, in the form of short comments that resemble tweets. The more creative can even draw fun little sketches and messages with the Gamepad’s stylus; and video chat can be initiated by simply clicking on an icon next to a username, making what would have been a standard reply a lot more personal. However, Miiverse activity does not only come though one feed in the vein of Twitter or Facebook, it instead uses community pages (similar to Google+’s circles) that are based around a game, TV show or film, with posts appearing in a social stream alongside information on the subject of the community.

On top of all this, screenshots can be posted from whatever a Wii U owner is playing or watching without having to pause, which is far more useful for those who wish to share information or ask questions, as a separate device is not needed – everything is tied together and works instantaneously. This is most evident with Nintendo’s new TVii application, which fully incorporates the Miiverse network as a constant presence while you watch your favourite TV programmes and films. Could this mix of expanded functionality influence the features of future social networks? Can Miiverse become the go-to communication system for video game, TV and film buffs? Will it be as good for spreading the word about your favourite things to watch in comparison to sites like Snoox, which we looked at recently?

Play Nice

Nintendo, unlike their rivals who focus almost purely on a competitive atmosphere, want to bring people together by encouraging ‘empathy’ for one another. When you die and get a game over, or if you do exceptionally well on a particular level, the Wii U may ask you how you feel about the situation, and messages will pop up onto your screen from other gamers who had similar experiences, making you feel better about your failures, and validating your success. This results in a much greater feeling of true community spirit than what we have had with consoles up until this point, as it is more focused on emotional experiences than pure competition.

Getting Closer

It is common practice now for multiple people in one room to be viewing different screens. TVs, phones, tablets, PCs… one room can be filled with a whole family who are not sharing experiences. With the Wii U, the TV and the smaller handheld screen are constantly linked. This would for example, allow a teenager share a funny YouTube clip with their family during the adverts in the middle of I’m a Celebrity!, simply by flicking it up onto the screen from their Gamepad; thus turning what would have been a closed-off experience into an open one – a more direct and traditional social experience. These kind of hardware features, combined with the robust Miiverse, could be a sign of things to come.

Nintendo’s network may inspire some of the more prominent social media giants to really think about the way that they connect the experiences of their users, to create much closer communities that are truly social in a more conventional sense. Let’s hope that large social networking companies never become complacent, and continue to challenge our perceptions on how people can interact and exchange information in the internet age. If you’re curious about how to best engage with potential customers in your community, we can offer you advice on how to manage your social media accounts.

Snoox, Google+ and How Social We Really Are

Posted on November 21, 2012 Leave a comment

What is Snoox?

Today I read about Snoox; a new social network which allows you to view recommendations from your friends on things like films, books or places. It is very similar to a network like Letterboxd which does the same, but specifically for films. Snoox goes further than Letterboxd with what you can recommend, but isn’t quite as focused on being a timeline or personal history.

Snoox allows you to follow others, whether you know them personally or not (nothing new there). Twitter took the Facebook status and amplified it into its own model. Similarly, Snoox adopts the ego-maniacal activity of “liking” a film or TV show on Facebook to show that you’ve watched it and/or are cultured and/or hip. If it can remove the necessity for all those Netflix updates on Facebook courtesy of friends, providing a specific place to go to find out what people are listening to/watching etc., then all the better.

Would You Trust Your Friends?

Snoox and its facility to recommend provides the opportunity to users to write a mini-review in the same vein that Google+ Local invites users to rate local businesses. This got me thinking about how much I would trust my friends’ opinions. As someone who has a very diverse set of online friends in terms of socio-economic status, location and tastes, this would probably not help me find something I like. Taste isn’t based on these factors exclusively of course; a good film is a good film, and transcends barriers. However, I definitely have those friends who I would consider as having “bad taste”. I like most of my friends for the people they are, and not what they watch. There are a handful of exceptions; those friends of friends who I can put up with because we have a TV show in common to save the conversation. Generally, though, I wouldn’t take the advice of a majority of my Facebook or Twitter friends about where to go to eat or which books to read, because there is a big gulf between what we respectively enjoy.

Google+ and The Question: ‘How Social Are We?’

Google and their outlook of ‘Search n’ Social’ seems to have this belief that we’re all a trendy bunch, with money to burn at the whim of seeing a friend post a five star rating for a bar; that we’ll jump straight online at a moment’s notice to find a restaurant at which to spend all this free time that we have falling out of our ears. This was parodied brilliantly when Google Glass was previewed earlier this year. That’s just not the reality for many of us, who are struggling to save money, like to stay indoors or just don’t live very interesting lives.

The social aspect of search seems more applicable to a wider segment of users (provided they are logged into a Google account) when it comes to essential services, like looking for a respectable plumber, than leisure. Indeed, this is one of the ways that we can help with managing social media for your business. ‘Social’ feels the wrong word for these services. Those who do leave constructive business reviews, are very much appreciated and this can make a difference; but in terms of empowering users to shape Search, its utility is somewhat limited.

Instagram For Business: Power of the Visual

Posted on September 27, 2012 Leave a comment

We’ve recently jumped on the Instagram-wagon (terrible, we know). As well as making us all point our smartphones at our meals or look like tourists in the street, we’ve unlocked some great possibilities when it comes to producing content for clients.

We all know the famous line ‘content is king’; or ‘content is kingmaker’ as Yousaf Sekander recently stated at Brighton SEO. For people to actually follow you, you need to have your content reach them, and to do that you need to encourage those who do follow you in the beginning to spread it around. If you can produce something completely unique that can transcend the field or niche you’re in, you’re onto a winner.

Instagram has a bit of a reputation as being the tool for wannabe photographers who think adding a filter to any old photo makes them trendy. Yes, those people do exist but Instagram also an easy and free way to jazz up an image. It can separate you from the hundreds of images that an individual sees each day. It also feels a bit more personal and the filters can stir feelings of nostalgia which people instantly gravitate towards. Unlike something like a YouTube video which requires you to put in time to consume, a picture is a bite-sized chunk.

I also came across Pinstagram, where you can actually view your photos on a desktop which you can’t do at the moment through Instagram alone. You can also easily upload these to Pinterest. On these kinds of sites, with the right bit of filter-magic, mundane products like door locks, which we take for granted, can be transformed into gothic masterpieces.

So who could Instagram benefit? Well, like Pinterest, those who work in a field whereby their product or service relies on the visual, would benefit largely from a presence here. Those services where the finished product captures an audience and floods them with possibilities in their own life. Interior design or home improvement sites give themselves up to material which can instantly stir a reaction in someone and prompt them to click ‘Like’ and want to share it with others. And as we were taught at Brighton SEO, if you can get in with the right “influencers” to relay your content, you’re onto a winner.

That’s what is so great about social media, especially for business. Many incorrectly view it from the outside as something which teenagers sit on updating each other about what sandwich they’ve just made. YouTube is a social media site or at least is a video-streaming site which has integrated social media aspects into it’s interface so you can follow or subscribe, comment back and forth, create your own profile and more. The active element sometimes gets overshadowed by the passive nature. For businesses, there is a wealth of tools available (and more being made every year) to be utilised and get your message across.

So think about the possibilities for your business to make an impact through a visual form. Words are important in the form of web-copy and article-writing, but there are many other avenues to go down.

Four Things That Turn Off Twitter Followers

Posted on September 21, 2012 Leave a comment

If you’re trying to get ahead on social media, specifically Twitter, you need followers. To encourage those followers to jump on your bandwagon, there’s a few things you can do to attract them, and have your tweets spread a bit further. However, there are just as many things you shouldn’t do. Without going into too many boring details and giving away our services completely, here are a few to start you off:

1) Re-tweeting Everything

People want to follow you; not YOUR followers, otherwise they would just cut out the middle-man. While it’s always acceptable to re-tweet the occasional good read, consider whether a strong majority of your followers would enjoy it too. What do they want to get from you? If you want to RT something that you personally like, then fine; but accept that not everyone will want their feed constantly cluttered up.

2) Tweeting Too Much

Originally I thought Twitter was just the Facebook status, and that was about it. Well it is to some extent, but I now appreciate it more as a quick chunk of bite-size information or entertainment. Just like on Facebook, tweeting every little detail in your day is incredibly boring. Move on!

3) Bad Hashtags

Hashtags are great for specific events so conversations and comments can be collected and viewed together in one go. However, if you’re in the habit of coming up with really convoluted or overly long hashtags, these can be a bit silly and unnecessary. Hashtags should be phrases that deserve to catch on, a bit like a mantra or ideology. It could be a joke, though only if your followers will ‘get it’ (and even RT it). Be careful to confine hashtags to Twitter, as using them on other platforms reeks of blind posting.

4) Speaking Generally

Saying ‘Hey followers’ is quite formal and general. It puts a barrier between you and your followers. If you have an idea who follows you, like a certain demographic, speak to them in their language. It’s not a bad thing to tweet specifically to them every now and then. It expands your reach and appeal, and shows to those you’re not addressing that you’re a popular Tweeter.

We are currently offering a free Twitter drop-in session for anyone to come along and learn the basics, with professionals who use this daily for work and place. Come along, network, eat biscuits and learn how Twitter can help you; whether as a business owner wanting to improve their publicity in 2012, or simply as an individual wanting to learn something new and show off.