A little something new here on Bloggerlens.com. A video intro to my latest article. If you have an opinion on this, good or bad, please share in the comments. No need to mention I need a shave, I already know that. I’m pretty scruffy! The intro was made with my favorite little flip camera, the Kodak Zi6.
Have you planted any seeds lately in your hyperlocal garden? If you are wondering what the heck I’m talking about, I’m talking about networking and building relationships in your community. When you make the decision to go hyperlocal, you will immediately broaden your horizons and your your circle of friends and business relationships will start to grow.
If you are new to Bloggerlens, I started this site to share my ups and downs on my journey as a hyperlocal blogger. If I find something that works for me I will share it with you. If I find something that bombs, I will share that with you also. What may work in my community, may not work in yours and vice-versa. Wherever you are and whatever type of site you publish, it’s a good idea to plant seeds everywhere in the hopes that one day the harvest will come.
Today I’d like to share a little harvest with you. I’ve been working on a business relationship that is starting to pay off a little and I want to share how I did it and how you may apply the same principal. I created my hyperlocal blog, the Monroe Scoop, in an effort to create my own job. The site gives me tremendous personal satisfaction as well as the potential of a full time income in the future. I have tried not to be stupid with it so far as to not alienate certain parts of my readership. I want everyone to feel welcome when they arrive and I want the site to be beneficial to my community.
Here’s the Scoop. This is how it all went down from the beginning. My little case study:
Early on I republished some articles and information I found that pertained to our local shopping mall. I was basically passing on some good community information I found readily available and used my hyperlocal blog as an additional outlet for exposure to the Mall. Every time I published anything, I would go to the Mall website and use the contact form that was provided and notify them of what I did and give them a link. (you can easily do the same in your community)
I probably did this 3 times and finally received a response and a thank you from the Director of Marketing of the Mall. The Director wrote me a nice e-mail telling me how much she enjoyed my site and felt like I was filling a need in the community. She especially liked the fact that I posted a lot of community videos. That did a lot for my ego as well as send me a message that I was on the right track.
I did the same thing a couple more times. When I would send an e-mail, I always asked to let me know of any special events at the Mall so I could cover them on the site. I always received a thank you email from the Director.
One day I received an email from her with a press release that the Mall was going to have a huge fashion show which was co-sponsored by prominent local businesses. She invited me to cover it on my site. I agreed and expressed that I might even shoot some video. She was thrilled at the possibility. Long story short. I covered the Fashion Show and shot video. I met the Director of Marketing that evening as well as many local prominent business leaders that she personally introduced me to. I handed out business cards all over the place. I was pleasantly surprised when many told me they were already aware of my site and they visit everyday. I was extremely encouraged at this point.
I worked pretty hard on the video I shot that evening. My goal was to establish a business relationship with the Mall. I wanted to impress them with what I could do. I also hoped that other business would see what I did for the Mall and it might open up more opportunity. Here is the video that I shot of the Fashion Show.
Monroe Mall Fashion Show
As you might guess, the video was a huge hit in my community. I received a ton of traffic to my site. I gave free publicity to the Mall. I had a very happy Director of Marketing. This was actually very good publicity, not only for the Mall, but for the Director personally. These folks are usually looking for anything positive they can send to their bosses and it helps build their portfolios. I burned a copy and gave to the Director for her to use in the future and the video was also played at the next Board of Directors meeting for the Red Cross in my community.
The video was actually worth several hundred dollars if someone were to pay for such a video, but I did it for free. Sometimes you have to give before you receive.
Let’s move on. I have now basically worked my ass off for free but I have developed a relationship that I previously did not have. I have spread some good will in my community and more and more people are becoming aware of my site. One of the other features on my site that I do are called 5 x 5 videos. I shoot 5 video clips that are 5 seconds each in my community. You have to guess where I’m at. As it turns out, the Mall Director loves these videos. The 5 x 5’s are not my idea as I’ve seen them posted on other sites. The one’s I’ve seen are usually just that, just 5 x 5 clips period. I decided to put a spin on the idea and make people guess where I’m at. They have been popular on my site. These are quite easy to make. Here is an example of one below.
5 x 5 Video
Here’s the good part. She liked them so much that she wants the Mall to sponsor 2 of these per month. The Mall will be giving away Mall gift certificates to the winner who guesses all 5 locations. It’s taken quite a while to get to where I’m at in my opinion. I feel extremely fortunate and a little bit lucky. Many hyperlocal bloggers will tell you that you can’t really expect to monetize your site for 2 years. I was definitely on a mission to break that time frame. Just like a hyperlocal blog that focuses on a community or even a small section of a city, I focused on a business that I wanted to be my flagship sponsor. I’m seriously hoping that Mall Sponsorship will give me the street credibility I need for other advertisers to jump on board. I can’t discuss the financial arrangement but I’m happy that the site is going to produce income.
Just this week, I kicked off the article and video interview with the Director of Marketing announcing the Mall Sponsorship. My 5 x 5 videos start next week. Here is the video interview that appeared on my site this week.
Director of Marketing Interview
Harvest Time
Building a hyperlocal blog is not easy, it’s hard work and requires a time commitment but the rewards are out there. I consider myself to still be somewhat new at this and I never know what’s waiting on me around the next corner. Why don’t you start a 5 x 5 video series on your hyperlocal blog? They are a lot of fun and will get the attention of your community. Get out there and start building some relationships. Do you have your eye on who may be a great flagship advertiser of your site? If so, my advice to you would be to go do something for your advertiser for free and let them know about it. Plant those seeds. Plant them all over your community. At some point in time, the harvest will come.
Don’t forget my free offer to help you get set up with your own hyperlocal blog in your community.
I made the quick intro video at the top of this article with my favorite flip camera. The Kodak Zi6. I recommend that every hyperlocal blogger get one. Go get one today.
Copyright 2009 bloggerlens.com Hyperlocal Blogs & Citizen Journalism
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Great idea with the mall. Wish we had one here. I really need to get that flip cam. I took the kids to the beach in town and there was a guy playing his guitar, would’ve been perfect.
I have a plan for trying to get my work to actually help me get some of my equipment. I’ll do training videos for them (I’m an EMS instructor) if they’ll let me do a payroll deduction to get the equipment. I promise to use your link when I get the camera. Cool info!
Do you use the flip cam for the 5X5 and the Canon for your mall type videos?
@medic The guy playing guitar would have been a good video to post on a hyperlocal.
I normally take my Canon when I go in search of 5 x 5’s. I set the Canon on a tripod usually, to get a good steady shot. However, the Zi6 would work just as well.
Just asked our new boss and I got approved to get the equipment. Just have to wait for the person who does the ordering and payroll deductions to get back from vacation next week.
I’m getting the flip cam, final cut, and a couple items to do a podcast I plan on working on.
@medic That is awesome. Just a reminder, the Final Cut Express editing software only works on a Mac. If you don’t run a Mac, I may be able to make a different recommendation for you. What other items are you looking at for doing podcasts?
Steve,
Man, this is one of your best articles yet and I can’t even see the vids (my company blocks any vids LOL)
I seriously can see your local blog acting like a snowball rolling down hill… gets bigger and bigger and becomes an avalanche!
This is the best part of local blogging that I can see: the fact that you get to interact with real people in a real way.
The other part that I see as an advantage is that you CAN do those free things knowing that eventually they will pay off.
your main competitors (the local newspapers with websites) have many corp constraints that stop them from doing that creative stuff for free.
That means in the long run… YOU WIN!
AL
Hungry Garden is a “geosocial” blog platform initially focused on building resource of local food producers/consumers. Another focus is on local news. We are wrapping up final changes for beta roll-out over next days/week. I will be in Monroe visiting family week of 6/29 to 7/3. I was wondering if I could meet your somewhere for coffee to discuss how Hungry Garden can support hyperlocal web sites. I have some ideas and I would love to hear any your thoughts. Great site. Hope to hear from you.
@Hungry Gardener I will most likely be here. I’d be happy to meet with you. Just drop me an e-mail as the time gets closer and we’ll exchange telephone numbers and arrange a time. I live very near a Starbucks.
@Steve-I use a Mac to do all my IM stuff. As for podcasting equipment, I am looking at getting a USB AT2020 with a popfilter.
Once I start making the company videos, I will charge my hours to pay for the equipment and will eventually buy a scissorboom. For interviews, I have an Olympus W-321 digital recorder. I think it has pretty good audio quality for the price.
Question: Can I use the Olympus for recording the audio track when I film on the flip cam since I don’t have a wireless mic?
@medic I just bought this podcasting outfit about 3 weeks ago. Deluxe Samson USB CO1U C01U Podcast PAK KIT + Pop Filter + Shockmount + BL3 Mic Boom Stand + Sonar Le Software + 10′ USB Cable
It’s an entire kit. I have messed with it briefly. I bought it for podcasting and voice over for my videos. I’m pleased with the initial tests. I will review it in the future.
I seriously doubt that you can record with the Olympus and shoot video with the Zi6. I can’t see how you could sync them perfectly. Where you could use it would be on B-roll video that you shoot with the Zi6. Kill the audio track from the Zi6 and dub in audio from the Olympus. Also you could take still shots and pan them (Ken Burns effect) and dub in your audio from the Olympus.
The Kodak Zi6 serves a purpose but if you want to get a little deeper with interview type videos and wireless mic’s, you may need to step up your video equipment. The Zi6 is more run and gun.
If you jump into Final Cut, it is a bit of a learning curve. However, this software is sometimes only limited to your imagination. It is fantastic. I have so much yet to learn on FCE. Since you are already on a Mac, take the plunge and take the time to learn. Skip iMovie. You will not regret it over time.
Steve,
Just wanted to let you know our company supply person was in and we bought the Zi6 today from your link. Added final cut express 4 and a book on how to use it, plus the 8G card, so you should have a few extra pennies in your pocket come amazon payday.
In a couple weeks, I should be able to get the podcasting stuff, they didn’t wanna put too much on their card at once. I’m just glad they let me do any of it on their card. Much easier to pay in 4 payments out of my check than in one lump sum. And the best part is I get to do company training videos and get paid for it so ultimately the camera equipment and podcasting equipment will be free.
@medic. Thank you sir, I appreciate that very much. I want to be one of the first ones to see your first video so please send a link and If you allow me, I’ll post the link here. You just let me know how I can help.
Steve
sounds good. I’m hoping the book I bought will help reduce the learning curve on final cut. I’m not much of a tech person, but I do enjoy playing around with garage band so should be a lot of fun.
Steve, Great stuff here. Started my local blog in January of 2008 and I am no where near your results! My fault though cause we moved about 40 miles away and I sort of slacked off what I was doing.
You inspire me to get back on track.
@Denise. That’s great, I’m glad I helped in some small way. Keep me up on your progress and I appreciate your participation here on Bloggerlens.
I’m so glad I came across this article (and your website). I’ve just started to dip my toe into creating a local blog + social network and you provided some great ideas! I look forward to reading more articles.
@Becca. Thanks for stopping by and for the nice compliment. I checked out your site and you have it going on. Keep up the good work and please continue to join us here in our conversations.
Great post! I myself started up a site on this very premise. I like to write, snap pix and I find the reward is much more inherently pleasing and real when it comes from where I work and live – but reaching out to the whole internet is still cool, too.
I really enjoyed reading your insight and experience. Thanks!
@Anon Thanks for the compliment. Going local is extremely gratifying because your results come up and shake your hand at local events and say how much they appreciate what you do for the community.