Kendall Pennington reviews snipping tool software, CloudApp.

1. The silicon valley tech company that I worked for (rhymes with goober) got hit hard
by COVID, so by the summer of 2020, I found myself working as a freelance copywriter and
content strategist out of my 198 sq. ft. apartment in Oakland, California.
The phrase "social media marketer" evokes eyerolls for a lot of people, and for me, that
specific combination of words brings to mind obnoxious buzz word use and cringe-y
hashtags. Maybe for you it’s that one guy we all know from high school who exclusively
posts a combination of cryptic relationship updates. motivational quotes, and whatever
pyramid scheme he's pitching to his timeline that week.
But I learned it doesn’t have to be that way.
Baby steps into social media marketing
I got into social media marketing out of necessity. I had already started networking into
advertising and influencer types in the Bay Area and had amassed a decent number of
Twitter followers during college by sharing relatable, teenage girl-type material. I also had
experience ghostwriting jokes for comics in the Boston stand-up comedy scene.
My background coupled with a streak of raw creative passion and what my previous
employer described as a "natural knack" for social writing made social media marketing the
shortest path between me and monies. And so it began.
The reality of social marketing today is that although the bad content can be bad—and by
bad I mean ​bad​—there's a heck of a lot of great stuff too. By all accounts its role in agencies’
and brands’ digital strategy is increasing and will only continue to grow more essential.

2. Social media software learning curve
During my first few gigs I worked with professional athletes with large followings.
Excitement quickly turned to intimidation as the first hurdle I faced was having absolutely
no experience in visual editing. My technical skills and familiarity with the tools that it takes
to convert passion to performance were lacking.
Putting together a compelling video ad for a Twitter feed or editing a product placement
image for a client’s instagram story were a little beyond my reach. After watching quite a few
YouTube videos I buckled down with some popular creative software and photo-editing
tools.
After that I had no issue coming up with the ideas for posts or partnerships, but I would
struggle to communicate my full vision to the team. Working remotely I felt like a Zoom
call could only go so far. I struggled to make our schedules work with different time zones.
A bunch of my meetings were being perpetually rescheduled, defaulting to follow-up email
and/or Slack threads to send content and feedback back and forth. I needed to bridge the
gap with an efficient collaboration tool that worked for teams
CloudApp saved my bacon
CloudApp allowed me to quickly share image and video content from my screen. This may
not sound like that big of a deal, but I've saved a crazy amount of time ​showing​ instead of
telling​. It’s been nice to be able to instantly share screenshots or talk through a screen
recorded video. Let me break down the specifics for you.
First off it’s free to download. If you’re broke and 22, like I was, free is good. Even if you’re
not, who doesn’t like free? I’m a big fan of options with no down sides. All I had to do was
create an account with my email and install the software locally using a setup wizard (I have

3. a PC but it’s just as easy for Mac). If you do decide to upgrade to paid, there are a bunch of
fancy bells and whistles geared towards companies, but there’s no “gotcha” moment.
CloudApp comes complete with a quick onboarding for how to use the basics, and then
you're good to go. The whole process was super straightforward, didn't ask for anything
invasive or annoying, and took all of 2 minutes from start to finish.
My first impression was that the user interface was a big upside and about as easy as it could
be. As someone with no history of using visual communication software, I found
CloudApp’s dashboard intuitive with no learning curve..
A snipping tool that shares well with others
As a content creator and social media manager, I personally get the most use out of the
snipping tool​. I'm sure you already know how to screenshot on your respective devices, but
CloudApp is a game changer when it comes to sharing.
Screenshots are automatically uploaded to your account and present you with the options of
copying the link to share, copying the image itself to share, and backing up your media
locally. This tool makes sharing wildly efficient and I use it daily.
Another feature I'm super into is the screen recording tool. It’s something I really had never
done in any capacity, but now that I use screen recording software—especially while we're
all, ya know, working from home for the foreseeable future—I can't imagine not using it even
in a post-COVID era. It's wildly easy to record, edit, and share videos.
And to make it extra squishy, the mac client can annotate video messages in real time, if
that's your thing.

4. So, just to paint a little bit clearer of a picture of what this really means to me as a
professional in social marketing: imagine that instead of painstakingly composing an email
every time you're working through client feedback on a pitch or detailing the specifics of a
creative campaign, you can talk through an idea as if you were sitting next to that person in
your office.
Did I mention that CloudApp supports screen-in-screen webcam recording?
For me, this cuts down the number of meetings I take and has saved me hours, while at the
same time eliminating a heck of a lot of the miscommunication that occurs in long-form
email. CloudApp is all of the cool things about having a face-to-face meeting without any of
the annoying or inefficient parts.
Sign me up.
Especially with the current work from home situation we're all experiencing, CloudApp
could play an integral role in the trend to shift to asynchronous remote cross-team
collaboration. CloudApp integrates with many of the other communication and task
management platforms I use in my day-to-day, like Slack and Asana. CloudApp was a
seamless transition and a no-brainer for me.
Where CloudApp comes up short
Now the downsides: I've had the occasional hiccup when recording videos longer than 10
minutes. CloudApp replaces the back and forth communication you would normally do
through email or Slack. I don’t use it for recording long-form video presentations.
I also would love to see a purely cloud-based software option but I haven’t found a screen
recording software option that does. If the saying goes that a picture’s worth a thousand
words, then I’m guessing it’s still worth the hours of your time you’ll save.

5. Final thoughts
If you made it through this post I hope you hear me cloud and clear (sorry) when I say that
this product has pretty much revolutionized the way I communicate with my team on
creative content. I really encourage content marketers or people who are currently working
in the social space to give CloudApp a (screen)shot (sorry, last one).
As someone just getting into this field it’s given me a lot of confidence in my ability to
effectively present my ideas to brands and influencers. With the help of CloudApp I've
personally accomplished everything from putting together the creative for Instagram ads for
NFL merch drops to coordinating pitches for brand partnerships for sports drinks on
Twitter.
Applying to virtually all industries, the possibilities for what can be created with the help of
CloudApp are seemingly endless, and I don’t plan on ever going back. Go ​check​ it out.
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