Action Movie FX for iPhoneThese days, there are more new video tools, smartphone apps and bright, shiny objects than you can shake a selfie stick at!  But some of these new visual toys can actually increase your online visibility, give you a higher social profile, and keep you in the spotlight where you belong!

Here are five cool tools to help you get that amazing “I see you everywhere” effect:

  1. Periscope – Now owned by Twitter, Periscope is a live-streaming app that lets you broadcast to the world from your mobile phone, or right from Twitter. You can share your live stream either publicly, or just to certain people.  Periscope has an interactive element as well. Going live will instantly notify your followers, who can then join, comment and send you “hearts” in real time. The more hearts you get, the higher they flutter on the screen.
  2. Meerkat – A predecessor to Periscope, Meerkat also allows you to stream live video from your mobile device.  Meerkat gives you the ability to live stream video from your phone to all of your Twitter followers at once. You simply press “Stream” and your live video stream shows up in your follower’s Twitter feeds. Like Periscope, the Meerkat app essentially turns anyone into a live tv/video “reporter,” so the possibilities are limitless.
  3. Magisto – This is a free web and mobile app that provides an automatic video editing service.  Magisto takes your unedited videos (and photos) and turns them into an edited video, ready for social sharing. It’s touted as a faster and easier way to edit your videos.
  4. BombBomb – This is a paid video email service (starting at $25 per month) that allows you to send unlimited and customized v-mails to your contacts.  You can record and send your video message from anywhere: webcam, smartphone, or even directly from Gmail.  It’s great direct outreach for those hard-to-reach peeps.
  5. Action Movie FX- Even with all the fancy video-making tools out there, sometimes you just want to blow stuff up!  And with the Action Movie app for iPhone, you can destroy just about anything in a number of deliciously destructive ways!  The app lets you add Hollywood-style special effects (explosions, hurricanes, alien attacks) as an overlay to any video you shoot.  You only need a few seconds of footage (of say that pesky guy from accounting who keeps questioning your expense reports), and then you can call in an air strike and launch photon torpedoes at him from the Starship Enterprise.  All in a day’s work!

The idea here is to get creative about your online visibility and start using these free or low-cost tools that are usually as close as your smartphone.  Video for fun and profit has never been easier!