I’m a travel and tourism professional with an interest in online marketing using audio, video and blogs. Click here for background information.
This is a powerpoint presentation, explaining some of the elements necessary to get your media mojo going online.
Over the years, I’ve been involved with most aspects of marketing, sales promotion and public relations.
Although I was reading about the internet in the late 1990s, I didn’t become active online until 2003 while working with a travel marketing company. I became the webmaster because I had worked for a couple of magazines and knew how to write, and take pictures. I didn’t know how to get the content online. So, I learned how to use Microsoft’s Frontpage. Then, Microsoft discontinued the product.
I knew I wanted to shoot, edit and upload video, but bandwidth was a major concern. That, and I didn’t own a digital camera.
Today, more than 80% of internet users have a high-speed connection to the internet. The number is higher in major urban areas. Smart phones and tablets are expanding rapidly. It’s now estimated that more than 50% of internet use is video. The number is project to hit 90% by 2015.
In October 2006, I uploaded my first video to YouTube, ripping the track from a promotional DVD we did to promote Miami Beach scuba diving. I worked with DVDPeanPro and Windows Movie Maker. I’ve evolved to Sony Vegas Movie Studio, AVS4You and the newest version of Movie Maker.
I produced and hosted a series of AM radio talk shows in the Miami area in the latter part of the 1990s. I was a broker of time, buying and selling it to put the shows on the air. When sponsorship became too difficult, I had to stop.
When I learned how to use Audacity, a free audio editor, I realized I could put together a video with voice and music.
As of February 2012, I have more than 2000 videos on more than a dozen YouTube channels, as well as video on other sites such as Viddler, Dailymotion, Metacafe and Vimeo:
1. YouTube.com/minivision (688)
2. YouTube.com/mediamojoguy (489)
3. YouTube.com/MediaMojoMaster (118)
4. YouTube.com/OceanRealmOnline (150)
5. YouTube.com/ScubaPRKenArt (30)
6. YouTube.com/MiamiArtOnline (59)
7. YouTube.com/MiamiMusicOnline (43)
8. YouTube.com/MiamisBest (139)
9. YouTube.com/MiamiLyricOpera (57)
10. YouTube.com/UnitedInfrared (220 of 262)
11. YouTube.com/CoralGablesOpera (20)
12. YouTube.com/WisdomSabbathVideo (20)
Total: 2033 as of 1 March 2012
While at an internet marketing conference in November 2007, I heard one of the speakers mention an online radio platform called www.BlogTalkRadio.com.
I registered as a host and began producing shows on topics of personal interest. After hosting a couple of dozen shows, I realized the platform would provide communication between the director of a non-profit organization and the organization’s members. While they could do it themselves, they know if I am the board operator, and co-host when necessary, the director of the organization only has to call in and talk, something they all can do.
The first BTR show for a non-profit was EcoAlert with Nadine Patrice, the executive director of Operation Green Leaves, an environmental organization dedicated to planting trees in Haiti – www.oglhaiti.com. It was quickly followed by Caribbean Perspective and Caribbean Sunday with Eddie Frederick. A Caribbean broadcaster living in Grenada, he produced a 15 minute news clip and emailed it to various media outlets. On the weekend, he did a 60-minute ‘life-style’ show with a Caribbean focus. I produced 796 episodes before the series ended in April 2011.
As of 1 March 2011, I’ve produced more than 1500 episodes/shows, ranging from 15 to 90 minutes, including shows that originated from conventions, seminars and festivals. I’ve done shows using a cellphone while walking among exhibitors, via Skype from a Starbucks or hotel, but mostly from my home.
BTR has a pod-cast element called www.Cinch.fm, a social media platform that enables a registered user to call a New York City phone number, connect with a computer and record a monologue or an interview. Then, I can download a mp3 recording, edit and uploaded it to my BTR account and play it during a show. Or, mix the audio with music for a video soundtrack. Google: how to use Cinchcast – and you’ll see a video I produced in October 2009.
BlogTalkRadio is a simple to use platform with global reach. If you have something to say, you can now say it online. I wrote BlogTalkRadioMadeEasy to explain the process of setting up and hosting a show. Since producing the ebook in April 2009, I’ve done several revisions, adding a Cinchcast section to the last one. Recent design changes to the BTR site requires another revision to the ebook.
Background
I began a marketing and promotion career when I joined Great Gorge Ski Area as the manager of Group Sales in 1972.
As part of the job, I would make presentations to ski clubs and show 16mm movies. After watching them a couple of times, I began experimenting with creating my own soundtrack.
In 1974, I became the Director of Group Sales for two ski areas in the Poconos – Jack Frost Mountain and Big Boulder.
Following stops at the Arizona Snow Bowl in Flagstaff and Eagle Rock Ski Area in Hazelton, PA, I moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida to be the Director of Marketing for a new resort hotel group. The company encountered financial problems, so I accepted an offer to be the VP of Marketing at Greek Peak Ski Area in Upstate New York in 1979. Two years of snowless winters encouraged me to go back to Florida. This time, I was the Director of Public Relations for a small cruise line.
Eastern Steamship Line became Eastern Cruise Line, then was acquired by Royal Caribbean. I became a ‘consultant.’
My first client was a motivational speaker. I was the road manager, setting up and handling his AV system while he spoke, mixing music for VHS presentations.
In the mid-80s, I became the executive director of the Miami Foreign Trade Association, then the executive director of the Greater Miami Hotel & Motel Association.
I discovered an interesting element of AM radio while with the Foreign Trade Association. I learned I could have a radio program on an AM station, if I found sponsors to buy the time. For the next 10 years, I produced and hosted a variety of programs, ranging from international trade to a Miami Beach waterside festival called Sinko de Mayo. Because the radio was used to promote special events, I’d have a 13 or 26 week run, then start over.
During my final year on AM radio, the internet was beginning to appear. Streaming technology was introduced, but stations were slow to embrace the concept. I decided to look into internet radio, but I couldn’t get it to work, until BlogTalkRadio made its debut.
In 2010, I decided to create a brand as the MediaMojoGuy. I wrote the ABCs of Media Mojo for a presentation at a thermographer’s conference. My MOJO is, essentially, the mixing of audio, video, images and text to create content that is indexed by Google.
MOJO, incidentally, doesn’t have anything to do with Austin Powers, magic or voodoo. It’s an abbreviation for Mobile Journalist, someone who uses audio, video and blogs to created content for the internet.
For more information, send me an email: kenenglishmiami@gmail.com.
