ZimmComm – New Media, LLC

One of the things I like best about doing event blogging is the photography. As a photographer wannabe for many years the web has allowed me to indulge a personal interest with work.

This week I’ve been blogging at the World Championship Appaloosa Show in Ft. Worth, TX. Pictures like this are to be found everywhere and I’ve got lots in the online photo album for the event.

I’ve never seen the American flag displayed in action on horseback while our National Anthem is being sung. It was very moving (no pun intended).

One of our latest projects is the re-design and build of a member website for the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council. EPIC had a static web page site that was password protected so that no one could enter without logging in. You could see a home page but not any other pages. It was also very difficult to update and required going through several steps each time new information needed to be placed on it.

So what we’re in the final processes of creating is an organizational membership blog which is open so that prospective members can see what they would have access to if they were members. All files are password protected. This way none of the content can be accessed without membership but it’s there for anyone to see. I think that makes membership more enticing.

I’ll be doing some staff training on how to manage the site. EPIC staff will be able to upload their own files that include pictures and documents. They’ll be able to posts announcements and other member information themselves and do it from wherever they are.

Another benefit will be the fact that the site is search engine optimized so after posting for a while it will be more easily found in keyword searches. The site also has the comment feature enabled so members or prospective members can ask questions, pose ideas and provide feedback. Members will know that the organization cares and with quick responses they’ll be treated much more personally than otherwise.

I think this is a great example of how blogging can be incorporated into an overall communications strategy.

Working with John Deere agency, BCS Communications, we’ve developed what I think is a showcase new media website called Precision Pays. This website is in the form of a blog and includes a podcast.

Welcome to PrecisionPays.com, a site specifically designed to bring you the latest information and resources on guidance and other precision technology for agriculture. In fields across the country, more growers are making precision farming a way of life, no matter how large or small their operation, no matter what the crop. With increased input costs and the pressure to do more with less, growers are continually looking for ways to improve farming efficiencies, production and profitability. PrecisionPays.com was created with this in mind.

ZimmComm’s own Cindy Zimmerman posts regular content onto the site. I think John Deere has taken a bold step here at joining the online conversation and realizes that their customers are using the internet no differently than the regular public. Even farmers without broadband access can enjoy Precision Pays since it’s built to be very fast loading without a lot of high resolution graphics for example. We use lots of images but they’re saved specifically for the web.

It’s too early to call the site a success but measurement tools are in place to keep track of visitors and audio file downloads.

Blogging an event. How many of you have heard of this? Probably not many. We’re pioneering a whole new concept in journalism. What do we call it? Online journalism? What do you call it when I attend an event and post numerous pictures, audio and even video files which are usually posted while the event is happening or immediately after it’s over?

To get an idea of how extensive this coverage can be check out the posts I did at the recent Syngenta Media Day in Raleigh, NC. Syngenta Biotechnology, Inc., through their public relations agency, Gibbs & Soell, sponsored my trip. That is, they paid me to attend and write about what I saw and heard. I took photos, used some they supplied me and interviewed some of their people. This event started around 8am and was finished around 3pm. I posted 20 times including over 20 pictures and 5 audio interviews and they were all on AgWired before the end of the day (same day). Many of the posts were done during the actual presentations.

I just did a Google search for the words, Syngenta Media Day. Of 256,000 results, AgWired was the #1 result above Syngenta’s own website! Not too shabby for a little old “new media” outlet, eh?

Syngenta can now point anyone they want, including customers or media representatives who didn’t attend, to go to AgWired and view the content and download audio or images. If someone needs hi-res pictures all they have to do is email me and I’ll return one to them immediately.

At the end of the event I burned all the pictures and audio to a CD and left it with them. They can post them onto their own website and it’s my understanding that is exactly what they plan to do. Their investment in this is minimal and yet they have immediate multimedia content that’s online before the other media attending even get home to their offices.

How’s this for a picture to get your attention? What a week it has been. Event blogging is really picking up. Check out my post this morning on our AgWired site about a 46 day event that’s being blogged as I write.

I started the week at the Clean Cities Congress where as of this point I’ve posted 64 articles, most with pictures and audio and even some video clips. You can’t believe the positive response the organization who held the event has received so far. I’ve got a feeling it won’t be the last event blogging for AFVI.

Then it was on to Indianapolis to blog the visit by U.S. Secretary of Energy, Samuel Bodman. It was his first visit and he even got to cruise the track in an Indy Car.

So, if you’d like to let your customers or members know what’s going on when you hold an event or conference remember the professional event bloggers at ZimmComm New Media.

How’s this for a great program at the National Corn Growers Association, “STATE AND NATIONAL CORN GROWERS ALL STAFF MEETING?”

Breakout Sessions 10:15 – 11:00 a.m.

How To: The Latest in Internet Applications
Chuck Zimmerman, ZimmComm New Media

I’ll be heading out early in the morning to conduct a short workshop which will consist of an online explanation and demonstration of blogging and podcasting using real world examples. If you would like to have a workshop for your staff or members please feel free to give me a call.

Here’s some business communicators who are using the new media tools. They’re the International Association of Business Communicators. Their annual convention is coming up in Vancouver, British Columbia. Can’t make it? Me either.

But you can keep up on it with:

IABC 2006 Convention Blog: In Session

IABC 2006 Convention Podcast: ConferenceCast

I think this should become a “standard” for organizations in the future. It’s a great use of new media tools. You don’t have to do it yourself. That’s why we’re here. Call on the blogging and podcasting experts to help you out.

Here’s some upcoming projects we’re involved in:

This week it’s NAMA. Besides AgWired, I’ll be blogging the annual conference on the NAMA Blog.

In May, it’ll be the Clean Cities Congress where I’ll be blogging it on Domestic Fuel.

In June it looks like I’ll be blogging the Nashville Fan Fair on AgWired.

In July it will be the Cattle Indusry Summer Conference on AgWired and Beef Board Meeting.

August will find me in Norway at the IFAJ Congress and posting on AgWired.

While this website continues to develop I’ll be blogging the BIO 2006 convention in Chicago beginning this weekend. Coverage on AgWired is being made possible by Rhea & Kaiser Marketing Communications. This is our first agency advertiser on AgWired and we’re really looking forward to working with them on the project. We believe AgWired offers agencies an excellent venue to promote their services and create new brand awareness in a very media-rich environment. This is going to be fun.