ZimmComm – New Media, LLC

The revived Golden ARC Awards were presented at the Ag Media Summit that took place this week in St. Paul, MN.

ARC President Deron Johnson, Rhea & Kaiser and Golden ARC Awards Contest Manager, Amy Keith McDonald, McDonald Marketing Communications, presented the awards. ZimmComm New Media won two awards in the Tactics Division. Working with BCS Communications for John Deere we won for the blog, DriveGreenTractors.com. Working with the Renewable Fuels Association we won for the podcast, The Ethanol Report. These are the first Golden ARC Awards we’ve ever won and Cindy and I are very excited about it.

ZimmComm New Media announces the first agricultural news media app for the iPhone – the AgWired iPhone App. The app offers one-touch access to all the latest news and information in the agribusiness and agricultural marketing world posted on Agwired.com, including audio, photos and video, and connections to other ZimmComm news sites. The AgWired App features a news tab drop down menu to select ZimmComm News Network feeds as well as individual news on AgWired by category.

The app is now available for iPhone users to download, free of charge, in the Apple iTunes store. You can find the AgWired App in the iTunes Store with this link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/agwired/id382820712?mt=8

Apps just make on-line access from an iPhone quicker and easier. We wanted to be the first to develop an iPhone application to show that it can be done and that there is a demand for this new technology tool in the agricultural world. And of course, the AgWired iPhone App is open for sponsorship. Who wants to be the first?

We’re looking for feedback on our first app. Let us know what you like, don’t like and wish it would do and we’ll try to incorporate your suggestions in a future update. Thanks.

We’ve pioneered online event coverage. Some call it live blogging an event. We like to think of it as “telling a story, your story.” Since we started our unique brand of on-location multimedia content creation we’ve taken the approach that we’re there to convey the sights and sounds as we see them to an online audience that’s interested to know what’s going on. We’re award winning journalists. We’re award winning public relations specialists. We know new media and social networking. It’s a great combination. Learn more about our online event coverage services and schedule us in.

Top Ten Reasons to have ZimmComm cover your next event:

10. We “Tweet” u right – in so many ways. We have multiple established Twitter accounts with thousands of followers on several different topics and can help tweet your event to tweeps all over.

9. Flickr Photos up in a Flash – get your photos uploaded and out for media to use and everyone to see faster.

8. Google Loves Us – Search engines pick up posts from ZimmComm blogs fast and furious, both news and web searches.

7. We Flip for YouTube – short, web quality video clips give your event a YouTube presence.

6. Audio on Demand –interviews with key presenters and speeches can be available on-line to listen or download.

5. First Class Photography – we take high-res photos of everything so you don’t have to.

4. Targeted Exposure – We can post on your blog and one or more of our own – with audiences that include agribusiness, renewable energy, dairy, and precision farming. We can even design and build a blog for your specific event.

3. Event Blogging Trail Blazers – ZimmComm was one of the first pioneers of event blogging, starting with the National Biodiesel Conference in February 2006.

2. Multi-tasking is our Middle Name – We often do audio, video, photos, tweets, blogging and more at the same time – while chewing gum and balancing a book on our heads. Ok, we made the last part up.

1. Historical Preservation – Your event is archived for history on the web and we provide a digital copy of all photos, video and audio sent to you for the sake of posterity after the event.

We’d like to make sure that your story is being told in the most unique online community you will find and that’s the ZimmComm News Network. The ZNN consists of AgWired, Domestic Fuel, Precision Pays and World Dairy Diary. These are all highly search engine optimized websites and all have Twitter feeds that get headlines out to followers as they are posted. Having your name or company name mentioned is a great way to increase your online “findability.” Here’s what you need to do:

AgWired:

Are you and advertising or public relations agency with ag clients? Do you want your story and brand in front of agrimarketers who might want your services? Then please send all agency announcements to news@agwired.com. We’re finding that many agencies have multiple “lists” and we want to be on all of them. We want your agency news releases as well as those you distribute for your clients. AgWired is probably the most unique online industry news source and you can help define it. Just go to “What Is AgWired?” (http://agwired.com/2010/05/11/what-is-agwired/) and add your comment! The same thing applies to you farm groups and marketing and communication departments for agribusinesses. We can’t tell your story if you don’t tell us!

Domestic Fuel:

Are you doing any work in the renewable fuels industry? Ethanol, biodiesel, algae, wind, solar, natural gas, propane? Do you have clients who are? Then please send all announcements to news@domesticfuel.com. With nearly 30,000 unique visitors a month and growing, Domestic Fuel is the best way to get your message out to all the participants in the industry as well as a significant component of interested consumers.

Precision Pays:

Here’s where we cover the latest technology that’s making farming more efficient and cost effective. Send your news to news@precisionpays.com. Precision Pays is one of the only online sources of news dedicated to this topic.

World Dairy Diary:

This very active news service covers all things dairy. Send your news and announcements to news@worlddairydiary.com.

President Obama made his first visit to an ethanol plant since taking office I was on hand to cover it for our Domestic Fuel and AgWired websites. His message focused on achieving the American dream and rebuilding the economy with renewable fuels playing a key role.

A signature feature of our on location online event coverage is a photo album and I took quite a few during this event: President Obama POET Biorefining Photo Album

Can you believe that it was six years ago that the agricultural communications world changed forever when a little new media company was formed by Chuck and Cindy Zimmerman? Things have never been the same since.

Even we didn’t know that today you’d be following news and information produced by the company via Twitter on your mobile smart phones.

Well, one thing you can count on is that ZimmComm will Tweet you Right! If you’re attending this year’s National Agri-Marketing Conference please stop and visit and while you’re there get some Twitter tips from the professional ag tweeters and enter our drawing for a cool prize.

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!

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.

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.

I’ve been holding off on new posts here on ZimmComm.biz while we decide about some major changes to the site. Those are in the process of being developed and I decided it’s time to provide some updates about what’s going on in the ZimmComm world.

To start with, we can’t say enough good about our relationship with Dave Larson and Larson Enterprises. In just a few months, with Dave’s assistance, we have obtained a number of new clients who are utilizing our services and websites. He’s keeping us busier than ever and our schedule is filling up for the next few months.

I’ll start more regular posting here and bring you more up to date on ZimmComm activities in coming days.