iPad Ad

While we’re waiting for the new version of ZimmComm.biz to appear please enjoy this ad for the coolest new product you’ll see this year:

iPad Announced by Apple

Apple just announced its newest creation – the iPad. There is an agricultural slant to this story. What is it? The continuing development of information technology that’s changing the way we market and engage our audience.

I can see me using one of these to participate in AgChat for example. Or do just about anything else I want to do on the web. Will it replace my Mac? No. Do I want one? Yes. I’m on the notification list for when they become available

A large, high-resolution LED-backlit, IPS display. An incredibly responsive Multi-Touch screen. And an amazingly powerful, Apple-designed chip. All in a design that’s thin and light enough to take anywhere. iPad isn’t just the best device of its kind. It’s a whole new kind of device.

The high-resolution, 9.7 inch LED-backlit, IPS display on iPad is remarkably crisp and vivid. Which makes it perfect for web browsing, watching movies, or showing off photos. It’s also been designed to work in any orientation — portrait or landscape. And because it uses a display technology called IPS (in-plane switching), it has a wide, 178° viewing angle. So you can hold it almost any way you want, and still get a brilliant picture, with excellent color and contrast.

AgWired Gets Top Ranking

PostRank Analytics says, “Over 80% of the engagement with your content doesn’t happen on your blog.” This is the hardest thing for today’s media buyers and marketing/communications people to understand. When it comes to social networking and influence the blog is often just the hub of the wheel while most of the activity is taking place out on the spokes. But as with anyone investing time and money they want a number to answer the question of “What is my ROI?”

That’s why you’ve got to look at the bigger picture and not get caught up in website visitors and page views anymore. They’re interesting but don’t tell the whole story. That’s where services like PostRank Analytics come in handy.

I thought I’d bring them up since I just learned that our AgWired site was listed as the #2 blog in the Science/Agriculture in 2009!

ZimmComm Year In Review

2009 was a busy year for ZimmComm New Media.

Between the two of us and our hardworking freelancers, we did 4310 posts on all websites, including Agwired, Domestic Fuel, Precision Pays and World Dairy Diary. We also did 176 podcasts and too many audio interviews to count.

We uploaded 11,282 photos to 48 Flickr photo albums and 88 YouTube videos.

The most popular YouTube videos on our channel in 2009 were Daryl Hannah at NBB with 6854 views, the new John Deere planter with 5876, the New Holland Celebrity Tractor Race 4557 and the tractor pull at National Farm Machinery Show 2872. Top stories on Agwired included:
John Deere Unveils Largest Planter
HSUS Challenges American Agriculture
HSUS in Nebraska (tops in comments)
Record Phone Calls on iPhone
Get a Rustler from New Holland

We visited over 60 different cities, from Panama City to Portland, San Antonio to Minnetonka, and San Diego to Boston. Read our travelogue here.

Best of all – our readership was up significantly on all websites:
Agwired – up 45% to 158,400 unique visitors
Domestic Fuel – up 15% to 269,000 unique visitors
Precision Pays – up 166% to 29,000 unique visitors
World Dairy Diary – up 68% to 110,000 unique visitors

Thanks to our of our wonderful friends in the industry for making 2009 a great year for ZimmComm. We look forward to continuing our relationships in the new decade.

Happy New Year!

Social Media Use in Business Growing Rapidly

For the third year in a row the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth has conducted an in-depth and statistically significant study on the usage of social media in fast-growing corporations. The study is titled, “Social Media in the 2009 Inc. 500: New Tools & New Trends.” I’m guessing agribusiness companies will follow this trend and it is a real trend since they now have good comparative data over several years. Here’s an excerpt from their report:

Social networking continues to lead the way. The technology that continues to be the most familiar to the Inc. 500 is social networking with 75% of respondents in 2009 claiming to be “very familiar with it” (compared to 57% in 2008). Another noteworthy statistic around familiarity is Twitter’s amazing “share of mind” with sixty-two percent of executives reported being familiar with the new microblogging and social networking platform.

Regardless of the particular technology, social media matters and is here to stay.
Forty-three percent of the 2009 Inc. 500 reported social media was “very important” to their business/marketing strategy. And an incredible 91% of the Inc. 500 is using at least one social media tool in 2009 (up from 77% in 2008). In addition, as they ramp up their usage, the Inc. 500 companies are also seeking to protect themselves legally, with 36% having implemented a formal policy concerning blogging by their employees.

Thanks to Podcasting News for the heads up.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

The ZimmComm team wishes you and your families a very Merry Christmas and Happy New year. We have had a wonderful year and are looking forward to the new one just ahead.

Supporting AG CONNECT Expo

ZimmComm is looking forward to the first ever AG CONNECT Expo and is a supporting online sponsor.

Additionally, ZimmComm will be live blogging the show in Orlando, FL on AgWired.com while also assisting AEM with social networking services. It’s a good example of how we can help a company or organization that needs to outsource some or all of their new/social media communications efforts.

Subscribe With News Reader or Twitter

I finally got around to adding this site’s rss feed to our Twitter feed (@ZimmComm). So posts from here will feed the Twitter account now. Remember that you can subscribe to the blog feed or to Twitter and keep up with our posts.

2009 State of the Blogosphere Available

The 2009 Technorati State of the Blogosphere is worth your time to read through. The final segment of the report will be released today. Here’s just a couple of tidbits from the report and you can listen to my interview with Richard Jalichandra discuss the report here.

The rise of the professional blogger continues. 70% of Part-Timers, Pros, and Self-Employeds are blogging more than ever . . .

Over half of the corporate bloggers blog to attract new clients for their business, while most part-timers (61%) want to make additional money and almost three quarters self-employed bloggers try to draw in new customers for their business. But no matter the type of blogger, the most important reason for them all is either to share their experience and expertise or to speak their mind.

After the Introduction you’ll find report segments on:

Day 1 — Who Are the Bloggers?

Day 2 — The What and Why of Blogging

Day 3 — The How of Blogging

Day 4 — Monetization And Revenue Generation, Brands in the Blogosphere

Day 5 — 2009 Trends: Political Impact of Blogging, Twitter Usage

ProBlogger At BlogWorld

I’ve been following Darren Rowse, ProBlogger, for years. The new media expert from Australia has been very active here at BlogWorld and I caught up to him at one of the final panel discussions today. It’s great to have a chance to meet someone you’ve only communicated with online. Darren is pictured on the left here.

Darren says that a blog allows you to build a community around a niche topic and that if you are successful doing so you’ll find advertisers who want to be a part of it.

You can listen to my interview with Darren here:

BlogWorld Expo Photo Album

Founder of BlogWorld and New Media Expo

The founder of the BlogWorld and New Media Expo is Rick Calvert. He says feedback from participants has been overwhelmingly positive. Attendance is way up too. He’s conservatively estimating about 2,200 at this point so the final count could be higher with walk-ins today. That says a lot in a troubled economy where many shows have seen a decline in participants. I think it’s just another sign of how robust the new media business is today.

He says the exhibit show has been packed and I can attest to that since I’ve had to wait at times to get an opportunity to speak with an exhibitor. He says next year’s dates are October 14-16 back here in Las Vegas.

Rick says that one of the beautiful things about new media is that it allows a company or an event to have a media outlet since most of us are in niche topical areas and it may not be big enough to even be mentioned on network television. He says new and social media “cuts out the middle man” and let’s you communicate directly which is how we naturally converse. It’s a tremendous benefit for small business.

You can listen to my interview with Rick here:

BlogWorld Expo Photo Album

Geeks Just Want To Have Fun

It is true that even geeks who live and breathe new media can have fun. The conclusion of day two of BlogWorld and New Media Expo was a party held at The Jet in The Mirage.

BlogWorld Expo Photo Album

Measuring Podcasts

If you’ve been podcasting for a long time or are just getting started, measurement has been a troubling issue. In a session on this topic, Leesa Barnes, Marketing Fit, helped clarify what you need to look at in terms of measurement. There are three main areas: numbers (subscribers, downloads, etc.), results (what action is your audience taking) and influence (is podcast building your brand and business). She says you can’t judge your podcast on numbers alone.

It’s relatively easy to measure downloads and subscribers with services like Libsyn or Blubrry. Results might require conducting a survey of your listeners to determine what they’re doing. For influence Leesa suggests looking at your social networking community with attention to things like Twitter follower growth. In our conversation we also discuss what sponsors or advertisers want to see to show their return on the investment they’ve made in your podcast.

You can listen to my interview with Leesa here:

BlogWorld Expo Photo Album

BlogWorld and New Media Expo Trade Show

The trade show kicked off this morning here at BlogWorld. I did a walk through video clip for you and for myself to decide which ones I want to go back and spend some time with.

Activity on the floor was great to get the show started.

BlogWorld Expo Photo Album

Social Time at BlogWorld and New Media Expo

During the evenings here at BlogWorld we have parties. Last night it was at The Bank in Bellagio, sponsored by TechSet. The party was packed and I’m betting some folks were off to a slow start this morning.

While we were at Bellagio last night we watched their famous fountain shows. I got one on video with my phone that I thought I’d share with you.

BlogWorld Expo Photo Album

State of the Blogosphere

Day two of the BlogWorld and New Media Expo is underway. We’re listing to Richard Jalichandra, Technorati, give a preview of this year’s State of the Blogosphere. It will be published next week.

They surveyed bloggers this past year and he’s showing us some selected statistics. He started out by saying that the blogosphere is very healthy and contrary to media reports otherwise, bloggers are blogging even more than last year. Of the professional bloggers, 40 percent have worked in traditional media. He says, “Blogs are media.” I fully agree with that.

I’ll do my best to get an interview with him and update this post if I do.

Post Update: I caught Richard on his way out after his keynote address and you can listen to my interview with him here:

BlogWorld Expo Photo Album

Blogs Are Your Search Marketing Tool

Chris Baggott, Compendium Blogware, provided the most clear reasons for why companies should be blogging that I’ve heard in a while. If you value how your business or brand shows up in search results then having a blog is the best way to improve your results. He quoted a study by HubSpot that showed that companies that have blogs have significantly higher traffic, link and indexing.

He says that not only do blogs increase your searchability but also your results because you’re making the searcher happier. He says to remember that social media is about people. It’s about human beings and blogs help articulate the humanity of the organization.

Chris is seen in the photo talking with some BlogWorld participants after his talk.

Listen to my interview with Chris here:

BlogWorld Expo Photo Album

ROI of Social Marketing

How do you measure ROI for a social media campaign? Boy that’s a loaded question. Are we talking “return on investment” or “return on influence?” Those are very different things.

I think most companies choose investment since they’ve got cash in the game. They want to know what they’re getting for their money. That goes for an ad buy on a blog all the way to creating their own social networks via tools like Twitter. I attended a session on this subject this morning and afterward spoke with one of the panelists, Jim Marks, Virtual Results.

Jim says the most important component is setting goals and expectations up front. What is it that you hope to achieve for example? Then he does place a lot of weight on traffic (to your blog, # followers, # friends, etc.) and conversion.

Listen to my interview with Jim here:

BlogWorld Expo Photo Album

Become Awesome With Social Media

Here’s the founder of BlogWorld, Rick Calvert, with opening speaker Laura Fitton. I’m going to find an opportunity to talk with Rick about how and why he started this conference.

After the opening session I did get to speak with Laura, Pistachio Consulting. Laura says that the main message she wanted people to walk away with was “Be Awesome.” She also wanted to plant the idea of using social networking mechanisms like Twitter to connect with other people and get your ideas out in the world where they might yield awesome results.

She says Twitter has helped take her from a busy stay at home Mom to giving the keynote here, publishing a book and launching her business. She points out how well Twitter works for business since there are so many Twitter tools.

Listen to my interview with Laura here:

Opening Session at BlogWorld and New Media Expo

The opening session of BlogWorld and New Media Expo features Laura Fitton, Pistachio Consulting. She’s challenging and inspiring us. And many need that after their first night in Las Vegas!

Part of her message so far is to be or become lucky and she’s telling her story of how she has become successful through her expertise in “microsharing.”

I’ve started a photo album for the conference which I’ll be adding to periodically over the next couple days: BlogWorld Photo Album