What is Animoto? And how can it help you in your business? Animoto’s motto is “The end of slideshows.” How is this true? Simply put, Animoto is an online service that allows you to create video productions as easy as 1-2-3. All you have to do is upload your photos, choose a song …. either from their bank or one you upload. So how can these videos help you? Here are a few thoughts.
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I first heard about Animoto on Twitter around the time CK asked me to help put together this video for Blogger Social, taking place this April in New York. Armed with an easy-to-use video production service, the BS08 trailer was sure to be a hit. Response to the video has been so positive, it got me thinking about Animoto’s business implications. If used right, the service can help you look like a champ, too.
What is Animoto? Animoto’s motto is “The end of slideshows.” How is this true? Simply put, Animoto is an online service that allows you to create video productions as easy as 1-2-3. All you have to do is upload your photos, choose a song …. either from their bank or one you upload. Animoto takes it from there, creating an effects-heavy movie in minutes, one you’d likely be incapable of making yourself, either because of lack of time or talent.
So how can these videos help you in business? Here are a few thoughts:
1. Create intro videos for business presentations
With Animoto, you can set the tone for your presentation, pump up your audience and let them know off the bat that your talk isn’t going to induce sleep. And now that you can download your videos to your hard drive …. a new feature …. you don’t have to be online to access it. Just make sure that what follows the video lives up to the expectations it’ll help you set.
2. Feed your blog and social networking accounts with original content
Animoto allows you to post your videos all over the web directly and seamlessly. If your blog or social network isn’t supported, just grab the embed code and post it yourself. With this option, you can give your readers/followers something fun, intriguing or useful to watch and, if you’re so inclined–
3. – you can help others spread the message on your behalf
Why not make the embed code available so your colleagues and friends can spread the word for you? If your video is worth the attention, others will be happy to help share your message. That’s exactly what happened with the Blogger Social video.
4. Juice up your Facebook groups
Let’s say your business has a group on Facebook, for example, that people have been posting pictures to. Imagine taking those pictures, uploading them to Animoto and making movie magic out of them. You’d be creating value for the group and validating all the effort of your fans …. the people who are sharing their pictures in the first place. You’d also be giving people a fresh reason to drop by and check things out, as you give new life to the pictures.
5. Get to know your people and prospects better
The first things I’ve seen people do with this service is create videos of their family, dogs or other interests. It’s a natural …. you want to see the pictures on your hard drive come to life. So if you’re running a business, why not put up a page where your employees can share their life outside of work through these videos? This can create new bonds between colleagues and help your team get closer. When you become more comfortable, you can consider inviting your clients in on the fun as well. It’s all in the name of humanizing your organization in a different way than a blog or wiki can.
So these are five ways you can take advantage of Animoto for business gain. But I’m sure you can come up with a lot more if you put your mind to it. Before long, it could be you who will be saying, “Thank you very much-o, Mr. Animoto.”
Mark -
Your link goes to Animito.com, which is just pages of sponsored links.
Thanks for the tip about Animoto. Looks like a cool tool.
Cathy — My fault. Fixed the pesky link.
Mark — Animoto is truly video production in a box. Or desktop. Or whatever. I spent some time playing around with it last week , as you know, and I’m a huge fan of both the tool and the company. (Read their blog; you’ll get a sense of the personalities behind the technology.)
I’m a little worried that success will ruin it, though. So we might want to keep Animoto as a secret just between us… ‘k?
; )
Thanks, Cathy. Happy we now have thing all worked out.
Ann, I’m a little hesitant to call Animoto “video production in a box” just because it’s not really using video as a source. You can’t upload videos from your hard drive or create a live one on the site that will be included in your final video.
That’s why I think “Animoto” is the perfect term, as they animate your photos …. and nothing more.
Who knows, maybe this will change down the road.
Plus I promise not to tell anyone if you don’t.
Point taken, Mark.
And btw — welcome to the Daily Fix!
Thanks for having me here, Ann!
I was surprised to see so many positive comments. When I read the tag, “the end of slideshows,” i was very excited. The abuse of powerpoint has left a stale taste in my mouth for anything slideshow.
But upon further examination, it looks more like a series of pictures with music. This is great for introductions… but what about the slideshows used during a presentation? The part with the content?
Is this really the end of slideshows, or is it more a tool for making slick video intros and widgets?
Point well taken, Ben.
I think their tagline, “the end of slideshows” comes about because of iPhoto and similar services that allow you to take your pictures and turn them into slideshows, with music and simple effects.
I’m not sure that Animoto ever thought of this from the business/PowerPoint perspective.
But I share your pain, man.
Ben, just want to revisit that more reply to your comments. I’ve just read a post on the Animoto blog titled, “How did Animoto originate?” In it, they’re pretty clear about their intentions for the service. Here’s a quote:
“Another big motivation for developing Animoto is to find a way for people to stop sending us 18 minute long 462-photo slideshows of their trip to Maine. Nothing else really makes you just wanna shoot yourself than when you get those things. Besides, slideshows are so 1970’s, aren’t they?”
This whole post pretty much explains where “the end of slideshows” is coming from.
Here’s the link to the post:
http://tinyurl.com/3cs7ju
So, in fairness to the guys who run Animoto, I don’t think it was ever their intention to be a business tool. All I’m saying here is that there are some business applications for the service. Unfortunately, ending PPT slideshows isn’t one of them!
I love this tool and you certainly did us proud with the blogger social video (thank you!). In opening a presentation (that might be based in PPT), I could see using this to generate excitement with the audience–and also as a promo for various items…be they services, blogs, special webinars.
It’s amazing what a little motion + music can do.
psst: some other great online tools? http://www.slide.com for all sorts of self-running slideshows and to jazz up static pictures (it has 2 functions) and http://slideshare.net to post presentations online (and I understand you can add audio).
PS: Congrats on being a contributor; looking forward to all sorts of great content, tips and ideas!
Thanks, CK. I like your thinking about Animoto promotion uses.
And I love Slideshare. Not just for posting presentations, but for learning from others. I really think Slideshare is one of the most underrated of the social networks. There is so much you can pick up from that site, it’s insane.
Animoto certainly feels fantastic on first usage. I think it has some potential in small-business, where it could even become a tool to make some small ads or other ways of presenting things.
I’m just thinking of using it to present a small village in croatian coast.
Yet it can even be helpful for bigger companies to make a quick presentation with extremly low budget and fun way of doing it. I just don’t belive many of them will try it, since they will rather spend some more money on professional video.
Mark, thanks for this tip, it’s great!
Thanks for the feedback, Dusan.
Don’t you just love that? There are all these free tools out there and rather than experiment just a little, the inclination is to run and spend money. Or more money than necessary.
Loved it, Mark. Great tool for my speaking engagements. I’m going to make one. Thanks!
Enjoy, Elaine! Let us know how it works out for you.
Nice tool. Mac’s Keynote could give you much the same thing if you are a good designer. The problem with Power Point or even this tool is in the hands of the untalented there is still going to be some gawd awful productions making the rounds. software is no match for the creative mind.
Agreed, Ed, software is no match for the creative mind. But at the crossroad of a creative mind and unskilled hands is where this tool comes in most handy!
Beware for Animoto Facebook Users
I added the application to watch a friends video in which I was tagged.
Animoto is quite impressive and puts together a cool video.
However, the app went through my photos and made a video and sent it out to friends WITHOUT my consent or knowledge. Cool product but where are the privacy controls! I ended up removing the application! This is more of a trojan application the way it is currently set up on Facebook!