by Karen Davis Burton
With photo and video cameras so readily available, I've been wondering why I haven't seen more AEC and design firms sharing pictures and videos of their work more frequently by uploading them to their websites and social media sites. Photos and videos are great marketing tools for AEC and design businesses. We are such visual professionals: our audience can not only see the results of our work, but we can show them works in progress.
It concerns me that I see so many AEC websites that use many, many words and very little visuals. Vocus, a leading cloud marketing software company, says "A minute of video is worth 1.8 million words of text."
What could you show?
- Sketches
- Presentations
- Construction documents (No, you don't want to give away your work content, but you do want to show you capabilities.)
- Buildings under construction
- Building products
- The final built product
There are so many options now and it's pretty easy to upload photos and create video. Most of you are carrying a camera and video recorder with you (in your cell phone), so why not play around with it?
Take photos with your camera and upload them to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Google Plus, or foward them through email or your company's e-newsletter. You could also upload them to photo sharing sites like Flickr and Picasa.
Use the video camera on your phone or tablet or a small handheld video camera and upload the videos to your website, YouTube (on the iPhone, this feature is already set), Vimeo or your social media sites. Or you could you use apps like Vine (6-second limit) or Instagram video (15-second limit).
Creating video on your computer has become relatively simple, too. Even if you don't have a webcam, you could use your photos to create a video montage using Windows Movie Maker (for PC), iMovie (for Mac), or Animoto.com. (Here's a video I created a few years ago to promote an eBook. I used Animoto and then uploaded it through their site to YouTube.
I recently visited Florida Southern College in Lakeland, FL where they have the largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture on their campus. Take a look at some of the videos I shot using Vine (the app is available for iPhone and Android). This was my first attempt at using the app, so I didn't realize that the video had to be taken in the portrait orientation. With landscape they appear rotated 270 degrees, which is okay if your looking at them with your phone. (Find and follow me on the Vine app at Karen Davis Burton). The videos may not be perfect, but the point is that I tried it. I'm showing three of them below. Click on the photos/previews to see the video.
The rest are here:
My first look at the campus
The Water Dome, Administration Building and a recent addition to the Roux Library (My husband gets in at the end.)
Another shot of the Water Dome and Roux Library
Look for upcoming posts on photo and video apps and how-to's for the AEC and Design industry. I look forward to seeing your photo and video creativity online. Share them with me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn or by email at kadburton@buildingsource.net
