Social media and digital marketing platforms have enabled businesses and individuals to grow their target audiences exponentially, their widespread usage and versatility making them some of the most effective channels for marketing today.

However, one of the prevailing principles in social media and digital marketing remains the need for authenticity, which essentially means creating a genuine connection between a brand and the target audience. This is especially key for modern-day digital content creators, like influencers, who use digital media platforms such as YouTube or Instagram to promote brands or products.

Andre Schoeman, head of product management and Intelligent Solutions at Jasco, explains that brands must ensure influencers align with their brand when choosing which influencers to work with, while influencers must remain credible when giving their reviews or opinion about a product.

“So, while the focus is mainly on being real and authentic, the content produced by influencers does not need to be substandard or look cheap and unprofessional. While many influencers may feel that they need state-of-the-art tools to attract thousands of followers to become profitable, this does not need to be the case,” he says.

“State-of-the-art tools can be prohibitively expensive and complex and often out of reach of many social media influencers and even small companies that seek to develop digital marketing strategies.”

However, instead of throwing in the towel or investing heavily into technology that may or may not prove effective, content creation tools such as Avid can be key for aspiring creatives and marketers to step into the digital space.

Jasco offers support for local integration

With Jasco’s longstanding partnership with Avid Technology to be the US-based software company’s local technology integrator in South Africa, Avid products are being leveraged in the television and video industry to create television shows, feature films and commercials. Media Composer, a professional, non-linear editing system, is Avid’s flagship product.

“Avid is reshaping the entire media value chain with powerful technology for creating, managing, storing, distributing and monetising film, television and music content. Avid’s best-of-breed tools and platforms empower more than a million users and thousands of media enterprises across the globe to tell powerful stories and build better businesses,” says Schoeman.

He explains that with enhanced collaboration, advanced automation, end-to-end integration and workflow orchestration, Avid can assist aspiring artists, creative professionals, production teams and media enterprises to thrive in the digital era.

“Avid has developed a solid a reputation for delivering innovation that provides advantages to every participant in media and entertainment. With Avid, users are able to modernise their workflows, standardise their infrastructure, optimise their operations and maximise the value of their content,” Schoeman adds.

“Avid powers creators who entertain and inform, as well as those who educate and enlighten. From the solo artist to the largest media enterprises, from music to film, from news to sports and TV to anything you can basically imagine.”

Avid’s technology has already earned a host of thrilling accolades and recognition along the way, including two Oscars, a Grammy and 16 Emmys.

The company’s creative tools, platforms and solutions are used by the best and most celebrated media professionals and artists to create their award-winning films, videos, music recordings, TV shows, news broadcasts and live concerts.

Host of awards and recognition

At the 2018 Academy Awards, every winner and nominee for film editing, sound editing, sound mixing and original score was an Avid user. At the 2017 Primetime Emmy Awards, every winner and nominee in the Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series category and the Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series category all used Avid.

“Avid’s achievements speak for themselves. As we can see, the world’s most prominent media companies, teams and creative individuals across film, television and music rely on Avid to entertain, inform, educate and enlighten audiences,” says Schoeman.

Avid Media Composer was the original non-linear editing suite and is still a widely used powerful editor for many professional editors in Hollywood and small production houses alike. It’s a robust all-around tool with keyboard-based editing and other pro features that make this a strong choice for editors who need fast, consistent turnarounds.

Avid Technology is a US technology and multimedia company based in Burlington, Massachusetts, which was founded in August 1987. It specialises in audio and video — specifically, digital non-linear editing (NLE) systems, video editing software, audio editing software, music notation software, and management and distribution services.