JournaMarketing

Creating stuff isn't wasting time

Clay Shirky gives a long, impassioned defense of the online class of content creators. The popular view of those people (bloggers, podcasters, YouTube videographers, etc. -- me and maybe you) is that they're sitting around wasting time in their parents' basements, when they could be doing something productive. But Shirky points out that, for decades, our default use of free time has been watching television! There is nothing less productive than that.

The new content creators represent millions of hours of creative thought that did not exist a few years ago. This is a net good for society. And it's the reason you should not be embarrassed by the idea of blogging or podcasting or producing videos that tell stories. Whether lots of people want to experience your stories or not, when you engage in those activities, you're creating something. And that's a lot more productive than watching a sitcom.

Twitter packs

Here's an interesting way to find people to follow on Twitter. The Twitter Pack Project groups users by the kinds of things they post. You can even go add yourself to a Twitter pack, so others will know where to find you. The real value of Twitter is finding knowledgeable people who post interesting things about the stuff you need to know -- and being able to ask those people questions when you have them.

Animoto: more than a slideshow for promoting your organization

I'm playing with Animoto, which is a service that allows you to upload photos, pair them with music, and create a TV-quality graphic presentation. And it all happens magically, without knowing anything about graphic design. This is much more than a slideshow. The first 30-second video is free. For $30 a year, you can create all the shows you want.

How to get more blog comments

A lot of you have high hopes for your blog as a way to interact more effectively with the people who care most about your organization. But you struggle with getting readers to interact with you. The wonderful Duct Tape Marketing blog has 7 ways to get more comments on your blog. The top suggestion is simply to ask for comments! It's something I often forget to do myself. So if you have any of your own tips for getting comments on a blog, I'd love to hear them. Just leave me a comment!

Digital storytellers wanted

Steve Rubel lists three new careers to watch. One is a "digital storyteller."

Google is downplaying SEO and increasingly rewarding those who create quality content. This includes the pros/media, amateurs and brands. Blended Search - which integrates noteworthy videos, news and images with web results - is winning over users, according to Jupiter Research.

I think Rubel is right on here. We're finding more and more organizations that are looking for people who can help them tell their stories in a more engaging, entertaining way. The ones who find a way to do that are coming out ahead by creating better relationships with the people who are important to them.

Live streaming video

It's becoming easier and easier to engage people in real time. Whether you want to educate people or entertain them, services like uStream make it simple to deliver live video over the Web.

What if your visitors don't want to be with you?

Most people who find your website don't want to be there, and are going to leave very soon, no matter what you do. (Seth Godin says 3/4 of them leave within 3 seconds.) So how do you deal with that? Godin has a great idea:

1. Engage your existing users far more deeply. Increase their participation, their devotion, their interconnection and their value.
2. Turn those existing users into ambassadors, charged with the idea of bring you traffic that is focused, traffic with intent.

This is especially important for those of you with limited amounts of time and money. If you're at a nonprofit, apply it to your fundraising, too. Sure, you want more people to know about your event -- but maybe it's more cost-effective to raise more money from donors you've already engaged, by engaging them even more deeply. Your website is the place to do that, by telling the stories of what you're doing, and how it makes your donors' lives better.

More news about podcasting's popularity

A new survey from radio research firm Jacobs Media shows a big jump in the number of people who are listening to podcasts (via Podcasting News). Podcast listening is up 87% over last year.

Are you using podcasts to engage the people your organization needs to talk to?

The power of embedding

If you want to spread the word about your organization, you should let others help you. And it's easier than ever, online. Video providers like the TV networks are learning this lesson, as they allow others to embed video on their own web pages. From Lost Remote:

In January, MSNBC.com became the first major news network to offer embeddable video players. In March, MSNBC.com says it set a video record: 125.7 million streams on 7 million unique users, which it says beats CNN.com.

The implications for your own organization are clear. Every piece of information you post online -- text, audio, video -- should be packaged in a way that allows and encourages others to share it. Services like Widgetbox allow you to turn your blog's feed into a package that can easily be posted on other sites. YouTube and similar services allow video from your events to be embedded on websites of organizations you work with. Always be thinking about how you can extend your reach by providing valuable content to others who in the same online space as you.

Alternate storytelling

I've written about the importance of telling stories about your organization. Stories are the best way to communicate the important work you're doing. But how do we define a story?

The Internet opens up new ways to tell stories, in ways that weren't even possible a few years ago. BoingBoing reports on a new kind of "Web-native" storytelling from Penguin publishing. It includes a story told over Google Maps, a story written live and displayed in real time. Some of these ideas might seem too ambitious. But as you read the post at BoingBoing, think about interesting ways you can tell the stories from within your organization, and maybe it will spark some ideas.

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