AgNite in Minneapolis was a hugely successful event, attracting over 3,000 people to The Depot.
ZimmComm was on the scene, publishing content on both AgWired and the AgNite Blog.
This is one of the over 300 pictures Cindy and I shot during the event. You can see 200 of them in our online photo album. We also conducted 12 interviews and produced 1 YouTube video. So far we’ve produced 15 stories from the event and counting.
That’s what you get when you bring in the agriblogging and farm podcasting experts from ZimmComm.
Gulf coast weather permitting, Cindy and I will be be live blogging AgNite during the Republican National Convention. This is going to be very cool and a lot of fun. There’s an impressive list of companies and organizations already supporting this opportunity to showcase American agriculture to a national audience.
You can count on seeing some live video via AgWired Live TV and lots of photos and interviews. My coverage will be sponsored by the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council and AgStar Financial Services.
In the last week I think I’ve helped bring almost a hundred agricultural marketing and communications people closer to an understanding of new social media mechanisms. If you weren’t one of them then you’ve got a chance next week. On August 6, I’ll be participating in a tele-seminar that’s being conducted by Mark Jewell, Aggie-Lance. I do like being called one of . . . “ag industry’s brightest social media minds.” Register here.
Tune your phone lines to a special event this August 6th, as some of the ag industry’s brightest social media minds converge in one jam packed tele-seminar. Hosted by, Aggie-Lance.com, founder Mark Jewel this seminar will feature Chuck Zimmerman from Agwired.com and Zimmcomm.biz, John Blue from Truffle Media, and Liza Markle from the National FFA Organization. The topic at hand: What is social media, and WHY do we need to be using it in the agriculture industry today? Expect to come away with a couple tangible ideas that you can apply straight away! (more…)
This week you can see both Zimmermans in action road blogging for two of our clients, National Biodiesel Board and Cattlemen’s Beef Board. You’ll be able to see the posts we’re doing on the National Biodiesel Conference Blog and Beef Board Meeting.com. They both represent an excellent and effective use of this new medium. Both are focused on annual events and essentially provide a frequently updated multimedia newsletter on the web.
Imagine having this done for your event or company.
Besides posting on these clients blog sites we’ll also be posting on our own, Domestic Fuel, AgWired and World Dairy Diary. These ZimmComm-owned sites provide you with a “sponsorship” opportunity to have online exposure even if you don’t have your own site to provide this kind of event coverage.
Let’s face it, there’s no more interactive, up to the minute, interesting, search engine optimized way to showcase your activities than with online coverage on the websites we create. Let me know if you’d like to discuss doing this for your company or group.
ZimmComm has joined the Facebook network. Actually, I’ve joined and created pages for our business units. I’m still in the process of getting them fully set up but within hours of creating my account someone had already written a note on my “wall.”
To view my profile and write on my wall you’ll need to have a Facebook account though. I’ve got pages created so far for AgWired and ZimmComm New Media.
The same is true with LinkedIn. If you’ve already got an account then visit me and let’s link up. I got started on this one from invitations from a few friends in the business!
Of course you can also just send me an email, text me to my phone (573-230-3024), call my phone, post a comment here or on one of my sites like AgWired, or contact me through my Flickr or YouTube account
Cindy and I and all the ZimmComm team would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and an early Happy New Year.
ZimmComm New Media has grown significantly this year and we want to thank all the wonderful people we get to work with. None of it would be possible without your faith and trust in us and your support.
We’re looking forward to a great 2008!
The long holiday weekend allowed me to get caught up on a few things here at ZimmComm World Headquarters. For example, our work stations have been upgraded to include Behringer mixers and JK Audio’s Podcast Host digital hybrids which allow us to record phone calls, something we do a lot of. There’s also some Sonex going up on the walls and all the usual software updating and hard drive backup-ing.
This just means that the audio we create from over the phone interviews will increase in quality. We’ve been delivering audio to broadcasters, websites and other content users for years. These new tools just help simplify the process while allowing us to produce an even better product.
Happy Thanksgiving from ZimmComm New Media.
We’re very thankful for all that the good Lord has blessed us with this year and that certainly includes the many people and companies we get to work with.
We wish a very safe and happy holiday.
When I first started posting video clips onto YouTube I got some very strange looks. I know they were thinking “He’s definitely off his rocker.”
Well, so far I’ve uploaded 73 video clips, mostly in just over the last year. Those clips have been viewed over 66,000 times collectively at this point. They vary from the highest one being the very first one I posted which has now been viewed almost 23,000 by itself to some as few as a dozen times or so.
One thing is constant though. The number of views keeps going higher for all of them. They stay archived in YouTube and I’ve made sure they’re all key word tagged with good descriptions which makes them very easy to find for people searching.
I was just showing someone my latest stats and he thought I ought to share them with you.
Membership is now open in the Association for Downloadable Media and I’m joined. I’ll also join the Association of Podcasters & Online Media Producers when it gets ready. I’m hoping to meet some of the people involved in these startup groups out at the Podcast and New Media Expo.
So why join and especially since they haven’t done anything yet? Because it’s a chance to get in at the beginning and have a voice and hopefully access to information that will help us and our clients. One of the things I can already sense is the need in this ADM to address niche topic/audience producers. When I joined they asked me to check a range of how many downloads my podcast gets in a month. The first choice was 1 - 50,000 and then they went higher! I don’t know about you but I don’t see this medium as a mass medium necessarily. In fact, if all they’re going to focus on is podcasting or other downloadable media content that’s just out to see how many downloads they can get then I think they’ll not only be making a mistake but missing out on what most of us are doing.
I produce podcasts for niche audiences. If my program is targeted to 40 people and I’ve got 40 downloads then I might be reaching my total audience. I don’t care about having thousands of downloads. It’s not just the total number of downloads but who those downloads represent.
So, it’s going to be interesting to see how this evolves. The traditional media buyers and agencies are so metric driven that they tend to overlook the quality of the audience. When you’re used to measuring CPM but now have a buy option that is only going to reach the target audience with no waste the numbers get a lot smaller but the message is making a much bigger impact and the cost is probably a lot lower. Of course then you have to ask, “How do I make a living on small buying fees/commissions?” Good question.
ZimmNews is the monthly electronic update of all things ZimmComm New Media. If you’d like to be added to the list to receive it please send me an email.
If there is one word to describe ZimmComm this year it would be BUSY! And we LOVE it! Our clients are just fabulous to work with and even though we are working hard we are really enjoying our safari in this new media frontier.
So, what have we been doing lately? For one, we have a few more contract part-timers helping us out. John Davis, a 20-year veteran broadcast news reporter, has been posting on Domestic Fuel since January. He has been a great help. Also, a new media world professional by the name of Laura McNamara is now trained to help us with on-site events with photography, interviews and posting. She helped out with the Indy 500 and quickly became an event blogging pro!
Where have we been lately? Since NAMA, we’ve been to Dallas, Memphis, Atlanta, Kansas City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Des Moines, Lexington, Indianapolis, Ontario, Nashville, Washington DC and a soybean field near Laddonia, MO. Some of the highlights include – interviewing Jay Leno, using a BIG boy lens to shoot some awesome photos at the Indy 500, covering the Country Music Association Music Festival, and watching soybeans grow.
Watching soybeans grow? Yeah – you’ll read more about that on AgWired in the weeks to come.
Where are we going? Upcoming trips include: the Iowa Corn Indy 250, the Fuel Ethanol Workshop in St. Louis, the National Appaloosa Horse Show in Oklahoma City, the Cattlemen’s Beef Board summer meeting in Denver, the Ag Media Summit in Louisville, American Coalition for Ethanol in Minneapolis, Farm Progress Show, and IFAJ in Japan.
Ag Media Summit will feature two ZimmComm workshops – Blogging for Business and Podcasting for Publishers.
Sponsor opportunities – currently available for Ag Media Summit, ACE, Farm Progress and IFAJ. Be our sponsor for online coverage of these events on our websites and receive the kind of coverage described below. You have access to all the content we create to use for your own post-event purposes which can include your newsletter, website, commemorative DVD’s, custom loaded iPods, etc.
Updated rate cards – now available for DomesticFuel, AgWired and World Dairy Diary. Please contact Chuck and he’ll send you one and a custom proposal if you’d like.
Some recent event coverage summaries:
Indy 500 – 52 posts (2 websites), over 1,000 pictures, 1 online photo album (222 photos), 25 audio interviews
CMA Music Festival – 34 posts, 635 pictures, 1 online photo album (236 photos), 1 online slide show w/music (79 photos), 11 YouTube videos, 19 audio interviews
Propane Days – 12 posts, 38 pictures, 1 YouTube video, 9 audio interviews
ZimmNews is being emailed to over 1,600 of Chuck’s agricultural marketing industry contacts. These are very influential people in the biz. Hey, you’re getting it aren’t you? If you’d like to sponsor ZimmNews let Chuck know and he’ll work out a sweet deal!
That’s all for this issue of ZimmNews.
May is proving to be a very busy month for ZimmComm New Media. I’ll be on the road a lot (already have) and of course I’ll be blogging all the way. Here’s a mostly complete list of the projects I’ll be working on this month:
National Press Club - Washington, DC - Ethanol Promotion and Information Council
World Ag Forum - St. Louis, MO - World Ag Forum
CBOT Ethanol Press Conference - Chicago, IL - Ethanol Promotion and Information Council
Elanco Sensory Briefing/Wet Lab - Des Moines - Elanco Animal Health
Syngenta Soybean Field Project Setup - Missouri - Syngenta
Alltech International Symposium/IFAJ Board Meeting - Louisville, KY - Alltech/IFAJ
Indianapolis 500 - Indianapolis, IN - Ethanol Promotion and Information Council
Blogging or podcasting are involved in most of these projects. But even more descriptive of the type of work I’ll be doing is photography, audio interviews and some video. These things become content in my posts but also have additional applications for each client including for internal and external public relations.
The latest National Agri-Marketing Association Conference & Trade Show is now history and it was a busy week for ZimmComm New Media. I managed our booth along with Ned Arthur and Aaron Gilbertie, Truffle Media Networks, and we talked to a lot of people who are very interested in new media tools. In fact, we’ve got several client presentations and proposals in the works as a result of our exhibit there.
This week Aaron and I will be making some of those presentations in Memphis, St. Louis, Des Moines and Kansas City. Can you say road time?
If you’d like to see what was going on then check out my AgWired site using this category to call up all my posts from the Conference.
This week ZimmComm New Media will be exhibiting at the National Agri-Marketing Association annual convention and trade show in Dallas, TX.
I’ll be blogging the conference on AgWired and also on the NAMA Blog. Keep up with our agricultural marketing efforts as we work with Truffle Media Networks to help spread the new media bug to many more communication professionals.
Most of the activities kick off on Wednesday but since some of us get in there early so the Truffle guys and I are inviting our friends to stop by and say hello on Tuesday afternoon. We’ll be hanging out in Monduel’s, the Hyatt Regency atrium bar and we’ll buy you a drink. We being yours truly, Ned Arthur and Aaron Gilbertie. (Aaron’s buying, right Aaron?). It’s easy to find. Just come in the lobby entrance and look up since it’s up a level by escalator.
When you stop by we’ll give you a card to bring by our booth at the Trade Show so you can enter to win an iPhone. Get in on your chance to win the coolest phone of the decade. You’ll also be able to listen to sample podcasts on our listening stations in the booth just in case you’re not already subscribing to one of our podcasts.
Once again Robert has done an awesome job designing and building the “corporate” ZimmComm New Media blog. I’ve been posting very lightly here in anticipation of this day.
ZimmComm New Media is celebrating 3 years in business and over 2 years of helping companies find their way in this new online communications world we live in. Starting today I’ll be posting more regularly about our projects and gathering information for you to help you join the online conversation.
Please feel free to comment or email me if you have any questions or world like to schedule a consultation or training session.
I’ve been learning a whole new computer this weekend. A Macbook Pro. It’s the big switch or perhaps a conversion.
Anyway, I’ve heard so much about them that I got one last week. I’ll be finding out if they’re all I’ve heard. So far, so good. Besides this computer I’m also keeping and using my Dell notebook too. That makes me a slider.
We’re in the process of creating a custom design for this website which I hope to have up soon. Then I’ll probably starting posting a little more regularly here about what ZimmComm New Media is doing.
In the last few weeks I’ve been on the road a lot and working on the development of our own blogs; AgWired and AgNewsWire. In fact, all of the ZimmComm New Media blogs are doing very well as the traffic numbers and support shows. It just goes to show what a blog can do if you’re persistent and passionate about your subject.
I’ll have some new posts here over the next week or so on new media so keep an eye on us.
Very soon you’ll be able to read the Jefferson City Business Times online. I’d wait to post this until then but I don’t know the exact date yet. That and I’m too excited about my first column for the publication.
The JCBT now has a regular column on new media authored by yours truly. In the August issue I got started by defining blogs, podcasts and RSS. In the coming months I’m going to be focusing on each of these new media tools separately and I hope to provide links to those stories when available.
We’re getting ready for the 2006 NAMA Conference and Trade Show. It gets started next Wednesday in Kansas City, MO. We’ll be exhibiting and doing blogging and podcasting demonstrations. If you’re there please stop by.
I’ll be blogging the conference on AgWired and the NAMA Blog. It’ll be almost as good as being there!
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.