Become A Hyperlocal Rock Star In Your Town With Video Reviews

I finally did it. I put myself in front of the camera and shot a video for my hyperlocal blog. I am so used to being behind the video camera that I was actually nervous about it. How will I be perceived? Will I look goofy? Will people laugh at my feeble attempt? You know what? I really enjoyed it and I don’t give a crap what anyone thinks about it. I don’t answer to anyone on my hyperlocal blog and I’ll do what I damn well please. That felt good to write, yea! I’m not really a hyperlocal video Rockstar yet, but that’s what I’m working towards. Why not? So should you.

It’s something that I have been wanting to do and I would encourage you to do the same. Now, I have to give credit where credit is due. My good buddy, Allyn Hane over at Blogger Illustrated is a video blogger and he lays it on the line everytime he posts a new video. By watching him and the fun he has with it, I decided to make the jump from director to Rock Star!

To set it up…I recently had my lawnmower repaired and the shop gave me outstanding service. This is a lawn equipment sales and repair shop that is pretty far out in my county and they have a very good reputation and have been around forever. I took this opportunity to do a video review of their business. If you are a hyperlocal blogger and receive good customer service from a local merchant, I advise you to post an article about the business. You don’t have to go to the extreme of publishing a video, but an article and a few photos do wonders for your blog in your community. Here are a couple of links to two articles I have posted on my hyperlocal blog. I call these “Good Service Alerts!” Here is a Good Service Alert I wrote about Tire Town. Here is another Good Service Alert I wrote about Artistic Imprints. These articles spread good will in my community and also sent me traffic. They do not take long to write and publish. That is why I stress to you, always bring a camera or video camera when you leave the house. You never know when an opportunity for a hyperlocal article will present itself.

I shot the video in my yard and driveway. I’m talking about lawn equipment so what better way than on my lawnmower and in the grass? I was by myself so it took a little while to set up my shots and try to make them look good. I used my Sennheiser Wireless Lavaliere Microphone so I would have good audio. This is an awesome wireless mic I use that will actually transmit through walls. It’s on the upper end of the scale but it creates professional audio for your videos. *Tip, good audio is always necessary, your viewers will forgive you for bad shaky video but they will click away with bad audio. Once I shot the video, I was surprised to see just how much video I had shot. I had to edit it down to 5 minutes. I felt like 5 minutes was plenty and maybe even a little too much. Once I started editing, I tried to mix it up a little with a couple of photos of the business and also some zoom edits where it appears that I have a camera man zooming around.

The resulting video I have almost termed as a hyperlocal infomercial. I felt like Billy May’s or the ShamWow Guy. As soon as the video was published, I called the owner to let him know what I had done and he was very appreciative. Enough blabbing, have a look. Here’s a link to the article I wrote that accompanied the video.

That was my first attempt and I hope I will get better over time. Even though I got a little bit fancy with my editing with graphics and a little music, you do not have to do that on yours. That’s not what it’s all about folks. It’s about your content. Shoot videos of your local community and upload to YouTube. Post them on your blog. Do it over and over. Your community will find them, I promise. They will appreciate it. Your traffic will increase. What are you waiting on? Be a hyperlocal Rock Star in your town!

I would love to hear your comments, good or bad. Have a great weekend, wherever you are.

Enjoy or download for free, the outro music I used on the video. “Paralyzer” by Finger Eleven.
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Tagged as: citizen journalism, Good Service Alert, hyperlocal business review, hyperlocal media, hyperlocal video, Video blog, YouTube for hyperlocal

Medic

Thanks for the advice!
ssherron

@medic I think that linking to other hyperlocal blogs in your area is a good idea and a good policy. What I have decided to do is not to do a blogroll type link, but to do a feature article on the other blog with a link inside the article. A few months ago, I was contacted by another local blogger and was asked if we could mutually help each other. My blog was the stronger of the two in my opinion, but I was glad to help. I asked this blogger to write an article and I would post her article as a feature story. Here is the link, http://www.monroescoop.com/union-county-neighbors-community-web-site/.

The reason I do not do a blogroll on the sidebar as many bloggers do, is that I don't want to send my readers away from my site and make it easy for them. I want them to hang out with me for a while. I'm happy to feature your blog in a story and link to you from there.

If you lived in my area and told me about the story above, I would be on it like a duck on a june bug. I'm partial to video, so I would shoot a video interview and maybe break it into 2 or 3 segments. I would get a lot of mileage out of 3 short videos with articles and photos. One video of the bull alone!

Here's an idea for you. Since your population triples in the summer due to tourism, I would consider an e-book for tourists on your blog. Make it a free download when someone subscribes to your blog. It doesn't have to be fancy, just highlight the things that tourists do in your area. Put a lot of pictures in it. Possibly see if one of the hottest restaurants in your community would be willing to sponsor it. Charge the restaurant a few bucks or do it for free. The restaurant advertising would give your blog some street cred with other advertisers.

To answer your signed release question. No, I do not have anyone sign a release. Most of my videos are shot in public and the public is fair game. It is perfectly normal for a large organization like the hospital to ask for a release. Big organizations have attorneys getting involved in all aspects of their business. I have had people to ask me not to shoot them on video and I honor their request. 99.9% want to be on video and ask where it can be seen. Besides, if anyone were to sue me, good luck. You can't get blood from a turnip.
Medic

quick question: do you have to have people sign a release form so you can use them in your videos. I know the hospital had me sign one so they could use me in their newsletter.
Medic

I just found out a friend of mine does a photo blog in the other town I mentioned. I'm thinking taking my hyperlocal blog and linking with her to help both of us get found in our area.

I'll tell you a couple reasons I want to do this blog. First, sounds like fun. I've looked over your cool monroe site for ideas and have a few other ideas.

Second, the main news station for us is 90 miles away. By and large, we're ignored. Our area is small, but very diverse. We have farming, but our population triples in the summer due to our New England type harbor going into Lake Michigan. So much untapped potential.

Third, our news stories leave out so much of the story. I know they have to edit because of all the news they have to cram into a short time, but there's no freedom to it. They can take a good story and sterilize it.

Example: This guy was almost killed by a bull and I was the paramedic who took care of him. The hospital did a good job, too, and he is doing remarkably well. He was so grateful, he called everyone and their uncle to get the story on the news. My kids had a blast watching the taping and seeing the bull. Almost 2000lbs! Anyways, out of my interview, they only showed one sentence, the dramatic one, of course. My partner didn't even make the news and she did a good job in the interview.

They also didn't mention my compliment to the first responders on the news. Without the first responders, it would've taken much longer to get him off the scene and time was critical for him.

That is why I wanna do this. There are stories out there that would be cool to hear that nobody does or are edited to the point of truly missing the whole story.

Sorry so long.
ssherron

@medic Hamburg was the only time in my life that I truly enjoyed shopping. Didn't buy, but I enjoyed the browsing.
ssherron

@Allyn I called the guy at Whitley and at first I think he thought I was trying to sell him something. When he realized what I was telling him, he fell over himself thanking me for what I did and yet he had not even seen it. I have to assume that he has seen it by now. i checked my stats and I have had a ton of views on the video and article. I feel like I have planted a seed with this merchant. After a while, I will call him again and discuss advertising opportunities on my site. At the very least I have added to my portfolio of videos that I can use to show other merchants how I can market their business in a unique way.

I will send you the link to the wireless microphone I use. Because of your comment, I may do a little re-editing and include the link in the article. A Pro like you always see the obvious.

As you know, I'm a huge fan of raw videos. They are real, just like the person.
Medic

No problem. Thanks. Allyn mentioned what camera he used and I wanted to see what all was out there and figure which route I want to go.

BTW, I loved Hamburg. Didn't do any "window shopping", though :-)
Allyn

Steve,
your vid was great man, and you have nice grass too! LOL

2 questions:
1) what kind of reaction did you get when you told the folks at Whitley about it?
2) can you send me your affiliate link to buy this same mic? I need one and would like to buy it thru your link.
(PS--you should include a link to this mic in your post above too)

You are very very correct about sound quality. As you know, my vids are very raw on purpose. however, the majority of "critiques" I get via email have to do with sound. Even shooting indoors I still get "complaints" which is why I really value my fellow bloggers like you... we can all learn from one another. I never thought about a wireless mic before... cuz I am just ignorant lol
(and you have good taste in music and beer too, so that helps)
:)

AL
ssherron

@medic. I think it's a great idea that you are considering starting a hyperlocal blog in your area. I would not worry in the slightest about your population. Start small in your own community and then allow your blog to branch out and cover your entire county. Does not matter that you do not live in the town that receives the most searches. Contact every non-profit and government organization in that town after you have started your site, and ask to be included in all of their press release e-mails. Simply cut and paste the press releases. Within 6 months you will start ranking #1 for more keyword terms than you could shake a stick at.

For this particular video I used my higher end equipment. The camera was a Canon XH A1 which is a professional model high-def camera. My wireless mic is a Sennheiser G2 which is also upper end. Do not let that deter you. You can do the same with virtually any equipment.

I will be doing product reviews on every piece of equipment I use as a hyperlocal blogger very soon here on Bloggerlens. Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate it.
Medic

What type of camera did you use for your video? Also, what type of wireless mic are you using?

Cool idea. I'm just trying to figure out how to do a hyperlocal blog in my area. I live in a much smaller populated area. Not many online searches for my county. One town gets more than the county searches, but still not a lot and I don't live there.

Become A Hyperlocal Rock Star In Your Town With Video Reviews

Article by Steve Sherron

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