Are you using Google+? Check it out!

November 7, 2011 by Douglas E. Welch

I have been using Google+, the new social network from Google, for several weeks now. In light of by usual advice regarding social networks, I would encourage you to go check it out. As someone who is interested/involved in using social media, it is important to keep an eye on what is happening in the “industry.” Checking out new social media services should be something you do on a regular basis. It doesn’t mean you will find every site useful to you or your work, but it will allow you to take quick advantage of those services that offer you some benefit.

The truth is, we often don’t know which sites will be useful to use until we sign up and use them for a short period of time. I abandon far more services than i use on a daily basis, but I still believe it is important to be aware of those services and how some may become important into the future. You might not have a direct use for them now, but changes in life and business might suddenly bring them to the fore.

So, head over to Google+ (familiarly known as G+) and get started. You probably already have an account to use there if you use any of the other Google services like Gmail, Google Calendar or YouTube.

You’ll find me on Google+ here at my profile.

Note: Today you will see a ton of messages about the new Brand pages that G+ opened up just this morning. Things should settle down to a more usual volume and type of traffic as the day goes on. Don’t let all the Brands scare you away.

Opportunity is the chief ROI of social media

June 8, 2011 by Douglas E. Welch

“…opportunities are the chief currency of social media. These opportunities can be social, life-enhancing or monetary, but it is the opportunity itself that is the dollar bill of today’s society.”

As the social media world matures the discussion surrounding it has become all about ROI (return on investment). How many followers do I have? How many subscribers? How many viewers? And finally, how much money am I making. There is a lot being lost among all the talk of Klout scores, Twitter Influence and Facebook Likes. For me — and I would guess for most people who aren’t making a living working in social media itself — opportunities are the chief currency of social media. These opportunities can be social, life-enhancing or monetary, but it is the opportunity itself that is the dollar bill of today’s society.

Quality, not quantity

The problem with social media, and traditional media for that matter, is that we are constantly looking for that one metric, that one measure that “proves” just how important we are. We are frustrated by not knowing something and not knowing just how popular or productive we are irks us to no end. We jump from service to service looking for the magic bullet that will explain our place in the social media universe. What a sad and sorry lot in life. It is this search that leads to Twitter spam, endless begging to “Like Me on Facebook” and social media pyramid schemes that are nothing by mutual, mental, masturbation.

There are countless articles available that seek to prove that the number of followers does not equal influence — that it is the quality of those you interact with, rather than the quantity, that is most important. In some ways I believe this myself. While there is a certain number of people (I guess at around 150) that can turn into a self-generating conversational group, it is the quality of what these people are saying that is important.

For myself, this is exactly how I choose who to pay attention to online. No matter how nice they might be as a person, or how well-known, if what they are sharing online doesn’t have value for me, I do not follow. If I can find their information in a hundred different places i.e. celebrity websites, I do not follow. They may be writing amazing things about knitting or programming or horse care, but if it doesn’t have value to me, I do not need to clutter up my online living room with it. I look for the under-seen, the under-heard, the people who have really neat things to say regardless of how well-known they are.

Opportunities

After immersing myself in the social media world for years now, including writing and consulting about it, I have come to believe that “the opportunity” is the only social media currency that matters. If you want to measure the ROI of your social media interactions, watch closely for the quantity, and quality, of opportunities it brings your way. These opportunities can range from the very personal to the very public, from high personal value to high business value and everywhere in between.

If your social media goal is to meet and work with interesting people, “the opportunity” might be finding these people online and then meeting them in person. You might even find yourself collaborating with them on a project. If this is your goal, then it has much higher ROI than someone Liking your Facebook page or following you on Twitter. In this case, social media was the tool you used, but the opportunity for collaboration was, by far, the biggest benefit. For me, one, great collaborative partner outweighs a score of social media follows. It is a much better metric for measuring your success and influence than any other score you can find.

If, on the other hand, your social media goal is to sell as much product as possible, your “opportunities” might take a different form. Sure, you can count sales and dollars (which are really just a different kind of opportunity) or you can judge your success on the other opportunities these sales bring to you. Perhaps more sales means you can expand your store, expand your influence, expand your lifestyle. This is the true goal and measure you need.

Too often we get caught up in keeping score of those things that don’t really matter. This is where I think that social media goes most astray. We focus so hard on the numbers — the followers, the likes, the sales — that we start doing things we might not do otherwise. We spam our friends. We scam our customers. We shout so loud and so long that, after a time, no one wants to hear anything we have to say. In some extreme cases, we can even cross the line into illegal activities like fraud and embezzling. If the social media numbers are all that is important, then some will do almost anything to achieve them.

Time for a change

It is time to reevaluate our relationship to social media and being to realize that it isn’t something apart from our lives, but instead an integral part of our lives. We need to stop chasing the illusive rainbow of social media metrics and instead focus on how it effects our lives. We need to look at the opportunities is brings to us each day and evaluate our actions accordingly. These opportunities may be small and personal or grand and corporate, but they are the true currency of social media. In this way, the act of meeting an amazing and interesting person can carry as much weight as landing a huge contract — a short, deep, amazing conversation takes on as much value as investment in your startup. Social media can mean many things to many people, but opportunities, in all their forms, can be seen as a true benefit — a true ROI — by nearly everyone.

Do you have questions or comments on this topic? Please leave a comment using the link above.

Promote your favorite podcasts and help other listen/watch

March 7, 2011 by Douglas E. Welch

You may have noticed my recent posting series, “Recently Listened Podcasts“. Each week I collect the list of shows I have listened to (or watched, for video shows) and place that in my blog with links back to iTunes.

As someone interested in New Media, may I ask you to do the same on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc?

There is a lot of great content out there in the New Media world, but it can still be difficult for the average person to find and download shows that might be of interest to them. Help them out by highlighting your favorite shows and, when you can, help them subscribe and listen to podcasts. I often take a few minutes to introduce my computer consulting clients to podcasts whenever I am with them. This is especially true of clients who are purchasing their first iPod, iPhone of iPad. I try to recommend shows that already meet their interests and even give them a quick walk-through of how to find, subscribe, listen and watch to podcasts.

As podcasters and new media professionals, we can all do more to get the word out about great podcast content and help others find shows that can entertain, educate and enlighten.

How do you make a living in New Media?

January 31, 2011 by Douglas E. Welch

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.9MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Listen to the podcast

How do you make a living in New Media? I received this great question a few weeks ago and wanted to answer it publicly in hopes that others may benefit.

Here is the question…

“Hi, Mr. Welch. I’m a mom. My son is going to college majoring in (guess what) new media. As a parent I’m wondering how my son is going to make a living in new media, and not feeling like I knew enough about it, I found your Welchwrite.com site. I watched your speech to the Independent Filmmakers, and I have a clearer understanding of what new media is and the best way to use it, so thanks for that. However my fundamental question remains: how does one make a living in this field? Please help. Thank you.”

..and here is my answer…

There are several ways of building a career based on New Media. Two typical career paths include:

Taking the entertainment route and becoming a producer of your own New Media content, such as producing your own audio or video show

Using your New Media skills to help others produce their content.

Entertainment Path

Here in Los Angeles, many people are taking the traditional entertainment industry approach and attempting to create their own New Media properties in hopes that they can gather an audience, support themselves and perhaps even rival the success of mainstream entertainment.I find this a harder road to follow, as there is a lot of competition, but there can be great rewards for those who hit upon the right property.

This approach to a New Media career tends to be the preferred method for those working, or hoping to work, in the entertainment industry, such as actors, comedians and musicians, as they already have a talent to showcase and New Media provides them an easy distribution method for their work. They can use New Media to show “what they do and how well they do it” to a large number of people and gather an audience around them. This can then lead to mainstream exposure or, in some cases, provide significant income to support themselves from their New Media shows, along with the income from ancillary products like live shows and merchandise.

It is important to remember that there are levels of success in the entertainment industry, despite its focus on the “star system.” While a New Media personality may not garner the money and attention of a Hollywood star, they may find that they can gather a dedicated audience who see them as a star in their own, smaller world, and also provide enough monetary support to provide them a life which many would see as successful. You shouldn’t get caught in the trap of thinking that you must become the next Madonna or Kevin Smith or Jon Stewart. There are many levels of success and New Media could make you very successful indeed.

Consulting Path

Another approach to a New Media career is to become an employee or consult with those people who want to establish their own New Media presence. Your skills at creating and managing New Media are in demand from a wide variety of companies and clients. This is the direction my own New Media career has taken. While I produce my own shows around my personal interests, my long experience in podcasting and New Media allows me to help others create their own New Media properties as well as speak and instruct on New Media topics.

The major benefit to this type of New Media career is that, much like computer consulting, you can work in a wide variety of companies and industries. You might work creating video promotions for a major retailer or develop in-house video materials for a local manufacturer. You could help a local chef build their profile through an Internet cooking show or teach a non-profit how to better communicate with their supporters. Since New Media crosses all boundaries you can look for ways to combine your New Media knowledge with other expertise you might have.

For example, if you are a paralegal or have other law-related experience, you bring more to the table than just your New Media skills. You are well positioned to work with a law firm or law-related public advocacy group as you have skills and expertise on both sides of the equation. Perhaps your are a musician. You bring specific knowledge to your consulting that other musicians can use. This combination of skills give you many more options when choosing between jobs and can open up significant opportunities.

Whether you choose the entertainment or New Media consulting path through your career, I think you are positioning yourself well for the future. Mainstream entertainment is fragmenting under its own weight and high production costs, so I see New Media as a rising market while mainstream production is a diminishing one. There are simply fewer and fewer opportunities in mainstream production with each passing year, so careers there become more and more difficult. New Media provides the ability to combine your New Media expertise with your other talents and create your own unique career based on your own wants, needs and desires. This flexibility is one of the best features of developing a career using your New Media skills.

So, get out there and start building your New Media career today! I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the opportunities that are available to you.

Quora Answers: If I wanted to get my podcast sponsored, how do I do that?

January 3, 2011 by Douglas E. Welch

The first step is documenting your audience and the amount of traffic your podcast attracts. With this information, you will be able to develop a press kit which you can use to approach potential sponsors. They will want to know that you are speaking to their potential buyers on a regular basis.

Gathering demographic info for your listeners can be difficult, as podcast listeners seem to be notoriously shy of surveys. You can hold a contest as a way to increase survey response, though.

As for podcast statistics, you will probably need your raw log files in order to capture the total number of downloads for each episode. Then you can aggregate them to create your total monthly downloads. These downloads will include both new shows and older shows as people do not often listen in order, or find older episodes and listen directly from the web site. This number will show you the number of “impressions” you might be able to fulfill for a given sponsor.

Make sure when you develop any sponsorship campaign that the sponsor has a way to track exactly how many buyers came from your podcast. There should be a unique product code or coupon which they can track on their end so they don’t have to rely on you for that reporting. If they are tracking it themselves they will be much more trusting of that info.

Here is an example of a podcasting press kit – http://www.businesscast.ca/media…

Ignore ALL New Media advice — maybe even this

October 12, 2010 by Douglas E. Welch

After 6 years of podcasting and a deep immersion into the New Media world I find myself wondering if we all need to stop listening to New Media pundits and just GET ON WITH IT!

As with any new trend, meme, idea, service, product, whatever — there will always be those who think themselves experts in exactly how it should be done. You must post 1.4 Twitter messages each day, each being only 120 characters (to allow for Retweets and blog 2, 500-word blog posts each day, each with a call to action and comments specifically written to your target niche., etc, etc, etc.

Talk about sucking the life out of something!

My own advice, which you are — of course — free to ignore, is to “DO” New Media in whatever way seems fit, in whatever method seems fun or useful, on whatever time frame fits your schedule, directed at whatever audience you care to address. JUST DO IT!

Following too much advice can be more damaging than following too little. Each new pundit, each new expert hones and grinds New Media in their image. They take all that was new and exciting about New Media and turn it into yet another widget that can be commoditized and sold. They reduce the power of these new tools down to a lowest common denominator that seeks to serve everyone, but only seeks to serve them with mediocrity.

What good is it if you simply get better and better and doing what everyone else is doing? If you use New Media tools like everyone else in the crowd you become just one more anonymous figure within that crowd. New Media gives us the ability to stand out from the crowd, find our audience and make a difference in the world. Why squander it being the same as everyone else?

Every new idea goes through this phase? Goth was cool and edgy, now it can be bought in the mall. Punk music was loud and downright dangerous, now its commoditized just like Top 40 pop. Blogging used to be cool and cutting edge, now many do it with the same energy and excitement as a burned out accountant might bring.

Start with yourself when you develop your New Media projects. Sure, you can find some interesting ideas among the pundits, but when the advice starts to make everything look the same you would do better to think about how you can make your work different. Different is where new things happen. Different is where big success lies. Different is what keeps you from being swallowed by the big ocean of mediocrity.

What do YOU want out of New Media? How are YOU going to achieve it? What are YOU going to do? After all, if you are just going to do the same as everyone else — why do it at all?

New Media’s Fundamental Place in e-Learning from LearningSolutions.com

October 2, 2010 by Douglas E. Welch

This article recently appeared on LearningSolutions.com in advance of my presentation in their Online Forums. — Douglas

New Media’s Fundamental Place in e-Learning
By Douglas E. Welch September 30, 2010

“One of the most striking aspects of New Media is how much you can do inexpensively, even for free. As you move forward you might invest in larger, more robust systems, but investigating New Media often requires little more than access to the Internet. … There are very few financial excuses for not investigating how New Media can help your department or company.”

Like the technologies that preceded it – print, radio, television – New Media is set to change our lives and our learning in fundamental ways. Never before have we had such a great variety of educational tools at our disposal so inexpensively and so widely available. We can reach out to our customers, clients, and students almost anywhere in the world with the touch of button.

New Media consists of four pillars:

Online video sharing sites, such as YouTube,

Podcasting , which allows the automatic delivery of audio and video to listeners and viewers,

Live video streaming, such as uStream.tv and Justin.tv, and

Social media, that is, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and other such services.

All of these together form New Media – new ways of delivering information and interacting with our audience, whoever or wherever they might be.

As with any new technology, inertia and fear threaten to limit our use of these tools. We spend months and years evaluating, analyzing and investigating, but end up doing very little. As with other educational tools, you must engage with New Media to find its usefulness to you and your students.

Read the entire article

Special note: Hear me speak on “Making the Case for Using New Media for e-Learning”! Sign up for The eLearning Guild’s October Online Forum, Integrating Media into Your e-Learning, October 7 and 8.

Question: WordPress — Is it hype?

September 3, 2010 by Douglas E. Welch

I get a lot of questions every day and here is a one from today…

Q: Seth Godin uses TypePad. Is WordPress hyped VS a Reg. Website and using Typepad as your blog platform? I like WP but seems like it has to be watched like a hawk for it not to freeze up or slow down. What will this cost me in WP maintenence fees.

A: Hmmm, is WordPress hyped? I don’t think so. It does what I need it to do. There is certainly some personal choice and preference involved. I don’t use TypePad myself, but many people seem to, so it must have something going for it.

I find WordPress easy to maintain and manage and the number of plugins available for it make it quite extensible, even for someone like me who really isn’t a programmer, although technology-savvy. I do like having my own install of WordPress on my own web host, as opposed to having my blog hosted elsewhere — at least for my own personal blogs. I do use WordPress.com extensively for other, shared project blogs, though. I even have one blog still hosted at Blogger.com, where I started.

Speed is more a function of your web host and the number of plugins/features you have installed on your WordPress site. As with anything, installing too much cruft can slow it down. I find that the amount of traffic you have is more a concern than the actual software though. WordPress has caching plugins available to help in high-load environments., though, so that can help if you have a really popular web site.

I don’t find I have to “watch it like a hawk” to keep it running. In fact, I don’t think I have ever had a problem with WordPress other than those I have caused myself through badly configured plugins or themes. You should be able to maintain WordPress by yourself, as typically it only involves clicking a few buttons and waiting for the upgrade. In fact, I always recommend that bloggers know how to control and maintain their own blogs, rather than relying on someone else — especially if that person is charging by the hour for basic maintenance.

The new automated upgrade utilities built into WordPress make it almost a plug and play environment. Most web hosts have a one/two-click install for WordPress, making it even easier.

Overall, I like WordPress, both self-hosted and hosted at WordPress.com. It serves me well and I regularly recommend it to others.

Do you have a question? Why not drop me a line? Use the Comments link above, send email to me@douglasewelch.com or call the voice mail line at 818-804-5049

Online Video classes need energy, passion and added value

August 31, 2010 by Douglas E. Welch

I give a lot of training sessions — one-on-one, small group and larger sessions. I think this makes me a bit sensitive to issues when I am on the other side of the table. I cringe when I am faced with a class that is less than it could, or should be. Due to the freely available live streaming audio and video tools, it is easier than ever to create classes, but sometimes the fundamentals of teaching get lost in the process.

While attending an online course today via streaming video, I was struck with a problem that I hadn’t really thought about before. In classes where there is a large amount of prep work — installing several software packages, checking connections, trying a sample project — the first session can be quite daunting. Students are eager to dive into the topic and start working with the tools or information. If, instead, they are presented with an hour or more of setup, you are likely to lose them before you ever get started. I know for myself, today’s class seemed interminable. In fact, they may have lost me for the rest of the class. I will probably give it one more try, but if it isn’t significantly better, I will probably abandon the class in favor of more self-directed learning through others sources.

Of course, this got me thinking about how you can avoid problems like this, where the setup takes up an entire class session before the students can experience something “cool.” One way I would have approached it would to have had an online forum/discussion group setup a week or more before the live class, where students could work through the installation and troubleshooting of all the necessary software and materials. There could have been group leaders online to answer questions and help everyone prepare, so this information wouldn’t need to be covered during the first live class. The instructor could make the assumption that everyone was ready to go and could dive into the most interesting part of the information. This would provide a much more exciting and energetic start to any class.

The next separate, yet related issue, is that of instructor demeanor. Whether this was caused by being forced to address the setup issues in the first class, over-familiarity with their subject or general personality, the instructor of this online class showed no excitement about his topic. One can guess he is an expert in his field, but without any sense of passion about the topic it made the class a very hard slog. For me, when teaching in any environment, a certain amount of passion is expected, desired and, for me, required. If I can’t get excited about the topic, how do I ever hope to excite the students interest? How do I hope to help them (or push them) through the rough parts of the class, if I can’t make the topic interesting and applicable to them. How can I hope to enjoy teaching the topic if I am bored with it. A little excitement, a little fun, a little look into the cool stuff to come would have been very welcome.

Of course, classes are about information transfer — teaching students something — but without a certain amount of fun and passion involved they can become less useful than simply reading the material out of a book or web site. If you are going to “teach” a course, you need to add value to the information, not simply read it out. Your video needs to add value to the information in order to justify someone taking time out of their day to show up in a particular place at a particular time.

How do you add value with your audio or video projects? What passion to you bring to the screen? You would be well advised to think about these issues before you start. Share your thoughts using the Comments link.

Question: Should I stay on Facebook?

August 25, 2010 by Douglas E. Welch

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been asked this question more than a few times, both face-to-face and via email/Twitter. The on-going privacy policy battles with Facebook have turned off a lot of people on the large (and growing larger) service, but for the foreseeable future, if you leave Facebook, you might just be reducing your social media effectiveness.

First, let me say that I haven’t had a large problem with Facebook privacy settings for two important reasons.

I joined Facebook after it had opened up for everyone, not just limited groups of high school and college students so I never developed an assumption of privacy there.
As with any social media, I consider anything and everything I post there to be public by default, so changes in Facebook’s privacy policy didn’t really effect me or the way I used the service.

For most people, you want (and perhaps, need) to be on Facebook for one very important reason…it is where the people are. In shear numbers, Facebook far outweighs any other social network and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Removing yourself from that mass of people will limit the effectiveness of any social media campaign, both person and professional, that you might care to create. You need to connect with the quorum of people that exist on Facebook to spread your message as far as possible. Deleting your Facebook account might make your feel better, but your online relationships and business will suffer.

Will Facebook always be the big event in town? No. History has shown that companies ebb and flow over the years and sometime, somewhere, someone will create a new and better service and will do to Facebook, what it did to Myspace (and others). Until then, we all need to “dance with those that brought us.”

That said, if you want to continue to have private conversations via Facebook, you need to look elsewhere. Facebook has shown every indication that they will be “public by default.” Even if you manage your Facebook Privacy Settings perfectly, you will be exposing your “private” updates to any number of people. Look towards closed email lists or other services which promise closed communications and leave Facebook for your public-facing activities. Remember, though, that even then information can leak out of these so-called “private” realms very easily. A forwarded email, a Twitter message, a casual mention by a fellow group member over the phone show you just how fragile privacy can be. In some cases, the only way to truly private about something is to be the only person who knows about it.

You need to engage on Facebook, publicly, if you want spread your message and thoughts to the widest audience possible. Move your private conversations elsewhere. Facebook isn’t going back so you need to do what is best for you.

VoiceRegistry Podcast: Douglas speaks on New Media/Social Media Strategies for Voice Actors

March 16, 2010 by Douglas E. Welch

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:45 — 12.6MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

I appear today on the VoiceRegistry podcast, speaking on social media and new media. The interview will appear in 2 parts. Watch this blog for Part 2 when it is released

Podcast-New Media/Social Media Strategies for Voice Actors

Douglas E. Welch is a New Media/Social Media Consultant and pioneer podcaster.

His early work in the theater prepared him well for a life of speaking and teaching about technology, computers and New Media and the amazing benefits they bring into our lives. Douglas spent 5 years at Walt Disney Imagineering, but eventually struck out on his own and has been working as a freelance consultant for almost 15 years. Douglas is also the founder of New Media Interchange (http://newmediainterchange.com), a free group dedicated to bringing the power of New Media to everyone. You can find links to all of Douglas’ projects on http://DouglasEWelch.com.

[Tip] New Media Assignment: Capture your great ideas

March 3, 2010 by Douglas E. Welch

When I am talking New Media, one question that always arises is, “…but what do I have to say that people will be interested in?” That fact is, we all have something interesting to say. We just don’t take the time to recognize it for what it is. We let it slip away instead of turning it into the powerful new media it is.

Assignment #1: Capture your great ideas!

Everywhere you go, take notepad or journal. This is both your capture device and your reminder to be aware of opportunities to gather great ideas. The act of carrying it around, setting it on the table when you sit down at the cafe, putting it your bag is like tying a string to your finger or snapping a rubber band on your wrist.

Now, whenever you are talking with someone, be aware of when you and they are particularly enjoying the conversation. Are you laughing out loud? Are you ranting? Are you commiserating over some lost opportunity, job, lover?

Now, write down in your journal the topic of your conversation. It doesn’t have to be a detailed reconstruction of the conversation, just a quick line noting the topic and perhaps why it was so interesting.

Before you know it, you will have a whole series of pre-vetted ideas for blog posts, audio podcasts, videos and even books. You already know these topics are interesting to you and at least one other person, so you can turn them into something more without worrying about whether they are interesting enough — a common pitfall of folks just getting started in New Media.

Do you accept my assignment? Start doing it today! Share your stories about how it works for you as comments here on the blog of on the New Media Interchange Community site. I’d love to hear what your are capturing and how this tip works for you.

2 Great Ways to Engage Fans Who Don’t Like Your Advertising Campaign (and more)

February 16, 2010 by Douglas E. Welch

I received an interesting message today from a fellow LA Tech traveler. She hosts a major event but was getting some push back on the advertising poster that was designed and released. She asked a couple of questions about how she might deal with this push back and turn it around into something positive.

Off the top of my head I came up with 2 ideas.

First, instead of hiding from the controversy, engage it. Post a poll on the web site and send it out to the mailing list of interested people. What don’t they like about the poster campaign? What would they change? What would they keep? Controversy is great at driving discussion and shouldn’t be avoided. You could be developing some of your biggest fans through just such a conversation.

SurveyMonkey (and many other sites) provide free embedded polls. You can also use Google Docs Spreadsheets to make your own surveys and show live results to those voting.

Second, if the fans don’t like the ad campaign, have them design one of their own. Put their talents to use and have them show you — via text, photos, audio, video, whatever — what they would like to see in the promotion. I must admit this is better to do BEFORE you have completed your own ad campaign, but I also think it is a great response to the people that took issue. Give them a chance to express themselves in some other way than simply saying “I hate it!”

An Example Survey using Google Docs

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New Media Experts mustn’t say MUST

February 7, 2010 by Douglas E. Welch

Important rule for New Media: Be very, very careful of anyone, including me, who says you MUST only use New Media in a particular way — you must only update your status once each day, you must connect your Twitter feed to Facebook, you MUST tweet only about professional things, you must only tweet about personal things.

New Media experts like to think they have a corner on the market of New Media knowledge. Even worse, they like to think that they have all the right answers, all the time, for everyone. Despite that statement being ludicrous on its very face, more and more pundits seem determined to make everyone act…just…like…them.

MUST

For myself, I try to couch any advice in these terms…I have found these particular methods to work for me in accomplishing my unique goals. You mileage may/will vary, because your life and your work are individual to you. Hopefully, you can find some commonalties between my experience, my life, my work and your own.

I know it doesn’t have quite the ring of “YOU MUST DO THIS”, but I feel better about it. I also think that too many MUSTs is exactly what turns some people off on New Media Experts. Even the newest person to New Media knows that someone can’t be right 100% of the time. Conflicting advice abounds and yet some experts proclaim their version of the New Media truth as if it were etched by fire into stone tablets. They might not realize it, but being “too sure” about something can seriously damage your credibility. Provide only one version of “the truth” and someone is almost assured to come along to prove you wrong.

So, when you are confronted with a lot of New Media Musts, let this be a warning to look elsewhere for opposing opinions and look deeply for similarities between the experts situation and your own. Critically think about their advice and your experience and how they might mesh rather than blindly following their dictates. Sure, there might be some great advice there, but only you can decide if that advice is right for you.

You don’t need to follow everything – pick one!

January 10, 2010 by Douglas E. Welch

Yesterday I posted a note to my gardening blog, A Gardener’s Notebook, announcing that I had started a Twitter feed for the blog and the shared items I find using Google Reader. One of the first comments I received on the post talked about feeling overwhelmed at “having” to follow this social media service and that social media service and basically suffering from information overload.

As a rule, it is not intended for you to subscribe to every social media service where I (or others) provide information. You only need to choose one.

The average user thinks that just because a publisher, like myself, has provided an information source, they MUST pay attention to it. In fact, each user instead needs to select the source of information that works best for them.

In my own case, I tend to rely on RSS feeds and Google Reader to manage my information flow. Sure I use Twitter and Facebook and more, but when it comes to “reading” blogs and other information sources, RSS is my go-to source.

That is NOT to say that everyone lives like I do, though. Some people live in Facebook and spend little time elsewhere. Others love Twitter or Myspace or Email subscriptions. As a “publisher” it is in my best interest to reach as many people as possible, so I provide my content on as many services as possible. Then, each person can select whichever way they want to consume my content.

That is exactly what you need to do — pick your favorite and make great use of it. Don’t worry about the Twitter feed, the Facebook Fan page or others if they don’t interest you. They are designed for others.

Ignoring New Media, in all its forms, is no longer an option for businesspeople

November 26, 2009 by Douglas E. Welch

Ignoring New Media, in all its forms, is no longer an option for businesspeople.

It isn’t a fad.
It isn’t going away.
You can’t stick your fingers in your ears and chant “La La La”

It is changing the way you do business every day.
It is as important as a telephone – a bank account – a storefront.
It is already here and your competitors are already using it to build their businesses.
New Media is instrumental to the continued success of your business.
That means you can’t ignore it any longer.

Over the years it has been possible to drag your feet on new technologies. Our grandparents probably resisted adding a phone to their house, then a radio, then the television. Each new technology was hailed as a fad, an oddity, a toy. New Media is in the midst of that same cycle today. What should be clear, though, is that New Media is a collection of the most useful business tools ever delivered into the hands of business. The impacts of the telephone and television – as much as they changed our world – will be deeply eclipsed by the changes wrought by New Media, in all its forms.

I said it once, I’ll say it again – you can no longer ignore New Media.

Over the years, I have been pretty forgiving of people who decided, either by accident or on purpose, not to have and not to use an email account. I grew up in the years before email and even though I might have found it useful, I could understand how others might not. Five years ago, though, something changed in my thinking. I began to look at people without email as akin to someone who refused to use the telephone. Email had supplanted nearly every other device as my communication medium of choice. It provided an excellent way of communicating with individuals and groups in a way that paper or telephone could not. Not using email today is akin to deciding not to use the telephone in the 1950s. It simply makes no sense.

I have come to the same mind about New Media. To ignore New Media, either by inattention or design, is no longer an option. Those around you have already figured this out – and not just professional geeks like me either. Businesses are learning the painful lesson that newspapers, yellow pages and direct mail advertising are becoming less and less effective every day. They don’t reach the larger world of customers their business needs to survive and thrive. Throwing “good money after bad” doesn’t make sense in a world where you now have the ability to communicate easily and directly with your customers – and they with you. Look around you neighborhood. Do you see stacks of Yellow Pages lying on lawns and porches, or in recycle bins? Are your ads really doing you any good there.

Is this new world frightening? You bet! Change is always frightening — but it is also filled with opportunity. Now is the time to dive into New Media. Every day you hesitate – every day you ignore New Media — is a day when your competitors are moving ahead of you.

So now that you know you can no longer ignore New Media – Get started today!

Start devoting at least 1/3 of your marketing budget to New Media tools
- 1/2 if you can bring yourself to do it. You’ll be amazed at how much more you can do for less.
Look deeply at your current marketing methods and kill off those that don’t bring in a substantial amount of sales
- Stop advertising in the newspaper, yellow pages, etc if they no longer work. You have alternatives now.
Start engaging your customers in conversation, wherever they might congregate:
- web site, email, Facebook, Twitter, and a host of new services yet to be invented
Monitor closely how New Media tools effect your bottom line
- use coupon codes, tracking codes, whatever to get hard numbers on which methods have the most effect

Over the next several months I am going to be challenging you to engage with New Media. I am going to be pushing you – hard – to explore these new tools. I will be providing some New Media prescriptions on how to get moving on your New Media campaigns. I am also going to be dealing some cold, hard truths on why you need to use New Media or risk becoming irrelevant to your customers.

Ready to dive into New Media?

See http://DouglasEWelch.com for all the ways we can work together – online and face to face.

In support of smaller conferences

November 16, 2009 by Douglas E. Welch

Having just returned from PodCampAZ in Phoenix, Arizona I keep thinking about why I enjoy this conference so much, and in fact, why I enjoy smaller conferences in general. For me, there seems to be a lot “more” to be gained from “less”.

PodCampAZ, now in its third year, attracted over 600 attendees and yet still had the feeling of a small conference. Every year I am amazed at the friendliness of the people in attendance and the quality of the content being shared. It carries much the same feeling as the earlier PodCast and New Media Expos held in Ontario, California when podcasting was just getting started. I certainly hope this can be continued in the future.

It could be my small town upbringing, but I almost always enjoy smaller conferences more than larger, seemingly more prestigious, conferences. These larger conferences offer presenttions by many A-listers, but I find myself looking for the less known, the underheard, the underseen speakers. I find that these speakers are still passionately engaged in their topics. In the case of podcasting, the speakers at PodCampAZ are, for the most part, still actively involved in podcasting, vlogging and blogging. They have current and practical information on the challenges they face and how they address those challenges. I believe that these people have more to offer me as their challenges and solutions are based on something that happened days and weeks ago instead of years.

While A-listers can certainly help conference organizers attract larger crowds, bigger sponsors and higher registration fees, I am not sure a long list of A-List presenters is in the best interest of the attendees. In many cases, there are a hundred different sources where attendees can learn what the A-list speaker has to say. The speaker has probably produced hundreds of blog items, newsletters and, typically, a book or two. Is there really much more to be gained from hearing them present these same ideas in front of an audience? I know that too often I find these speakers are simply re-hashing a bare summary of the materials presented elsewhere – condensing and honing it to the point where it loses its usefulness.

Even worse, many A-Listers are often no longer actively engaged in the area in which they are an expert. It is natural that as someone matures in their work, they end up doing less and less of the day-to-day activities which made them an expert in the first place. Sure, their higher level view of an industry or activity is welcome, and often useful, but I also find that, over time, they are talking more and more about less and less. It is very difficult to become an “expert” in an area of study while still actively working in that area. There simply isn’t time.

In that light, I will continue to seek out, and possibly organize, smaller conferences, meetups, mastermind groups and more. I will seek out those underheard voices that bring the newest, deepest and most applicable knowledge to those who need it most. Sure, I will read and listen to what A-listers have to say. Their view from the heights can illuminate things in interesting ways, but I won’t be seeking them out at conferences, classes and other speaking engagements. While I may have been deeply interested in what they had to say as they made their way up the expert ladder, once they reach the heights, I find their information less useful on a day-to-day, down to earth basis.

Overcoming New Media Misconceptions

October 12, 2009 by Douglas E. Welch

Sitting at a friend’s Canadian Thanksgiving celebration on Sunday I had a huge epiphany about new media. As we sat around talking about all sorts of things. Twitter, Facebook and blogging came up as they often do these days. Of course, as usually happens, I spent a lot of time explaining new media, addressing people’s fears and correcting their misconceptions about what New Media is and how New Media tools can and should be used. This is when it struck me — I am re-living my career.

Back in 1982 I was doing much the same thing. I was explaining to people how PCs worked, what you could and should do with them and why you needn’t be afraid. We are all repeating the PC revolution with a series of new tools, new concepts and new realities. Everything old is new again.

Now that I recognize this fact, I am going to be focusing my New Media efforts in many new and different ways, but also many that are very similar to 1986.

Technology is not just for the techie

First, as I have been preaching for years, technology is not just for the techies. Sure, we might be the first to adopt these tools, but that doesn’t mean that they are beyond the grasp of the average person. In fact, it is when technology gets into the hands of the mainstream that its true power is seen. That was true for PCs and it is true for New Media. Even more, New Media and Social Media have inherent qualities that go beyond the basic technological functions of computers in general. The global effects of services like Twitter, Facebook, Video Conferencing, Podcasting and others, make the PC revolution look like the stone age. The changes we will see in the coming years will be beyond even our own wildest dreams.

Not my job to convince you

Second, it is NOT my job to convince you to use New Media. You have to come to that decision on your own. I can help you understand New Media. I can help you understand the technology. I can help you understand and develop ways to make it work for you and your business. Trying to convince a skeptic, though, is uncomfortable for both of us and very rarely works. I believe that New Media, just like a PC, is an amazing tool that can help you to accomplish great things, but if you see it only as a toy or even worse, an annoyance, then any further evangelizing on my part becomes the proverbial “teaching a pig to sing.”

Too many misconceptions

In talking with a wide variety of people, I hear the same phrases over and over. “Twitter is nothing but narcissistic people telling you what they had for lunch. Facebook is nothing but narcissistic people throwing snowballs, or pies or other stupid, time-wasting applications. Blogging is nothing but narcissistic people ranting about whatever they feel like.” While these things are certainly part of New Media, they are far from the sum total.

When I talk with people and explain how they can use New Media to improve their lives, their careers and their businesses and not just discuss their lunch, their eyes open. The preconceptions drop away and they see the many direct ways that blogs, Facebook, Twitter or other services can directly assist them in achieving their immediate goals. We just have to get beyond the preconceptions served up by the mainstream media and fearful people who just wish it would simply go away and start talking about the reality of New Media. Don’t let the preconceptions of others keep you away from learning about and eventually using these amazing tools.

Don’t be overwhelmed

Also, don’t be overwhelmed by the tools. The truth is, too many people turn on the New Media spigot — with a Facebook account or Twitter stream — and are quickly buried by the “firehose” of information. It doesn’t have to be that way. Out of simple self-preservation, you need to proceed slowly and tread lightly. Don’t “friend” people promiscuously just because they ask. Evaluate each of your contacts, just like you would in normal business life, and see if they (and their information) holds value for you. If so, friend them back or follow them on Twitter if that’s where you first make contact. Never feel beholden to give attention to someone who doesn’t deserve it, no matter who they are. If you protect your attention from the start, you will have a much more enjoyable and productive New Media existence.

The power of New Media is in the doing

It is hard to see how you might use New Media until you actually starting doing it. Once begun, it develops its own momentum. It creates a new sense of direction. Once you begin using New Media tools you quickly start to see other ways you can apply them. You can’t stand outside New Media and hope to understand it. You have to get on and ride. Only then will you truly know what it can do for you.

I Believe!

In case you can’t tell, I believe in the power of New Media, just as I believed in the power of the PC so many years ago. New Media has the power to help us grow our lives, our careers and businesses in some amazing ways. I believe in New Media so much that I have developed many ways to show people just how powerful it can be.

First, this blog, Careers in New Media, seeks to give you great New Media examples and advice. Everything from the theoretical reasons you might use New Media to hands-on “Real World Examples” and “New Media Prescriptions” to get you started.

Second, I founded the free group New Media Interchange (NMI) to bring the power of New Media to EVERYONE! At NMI we have a blog, a mailing list and a community site where you can ask your New Media questions and learn how to integrate it into your life. A few months ago, NMI presented “From Camera to YouTube” at the Writer’s Guild of America West, a 2-hour presentation showing WGA and NMI members the path to delivering their creative work via the Internet.

Third, I speak on New Media whenever and wherever I can. On November 14 and 15, 2009, I will be speaking at PodCampAZ in Phoenix, Arizona. I consider this free, 2-day unconference the premiere New Media conference in the Southwest and arguably the US. I would love to speak to your group if they have a desire to learn more about New Media. I also teach an online course at UCLA Extension entitled New Media and Podcasting for Writers.

Finally, I consult professionally on New Media in a variety of ways. On an individual or company basis, I help start blogs, record podcasts and develop social media campaigns with hands-on, direct consulting both in-person and via the Internet. I am also in the process of creating a mastermind group, New Media Mastermind, where committed people can come together each month and help each other get the most out of New Media. Sometimes, I just talk to people, as I described above and help them to see just how important New Media can be.

If you want to know more about New Media, visit any of the sites above, join New Media Interchange and visit our community site, hire me to coach you through your initial forays into New Media, email me at douglas@welchwrite.com or contact me on Twitter, Facebook, or on my blog, Careers in New Media.

What I’m (e)Reading…Voicebank.net’s VoiceRegistry Blog

August 26, 2009 by Douglas E. Welch

This is the first post in a new on-going series highlighting the blogs I read on a regular basis, using Google Reader. I have found over the last several years that I no longer read rint magazines very often. Most of my “magazin reading” is now done using Google Reader and a large collection of blog and websites I subscribe to there. Each edition of What I’m (e)Reading… will highlight one of my favorite blogs. Check it out and subscribe if it is interesting to you.

Voicebank.net’s VoiceRegistry Blog with Tracy Pattin

My friend, Tracy, does this great blog on the voice over industry. I have often thought about doing voice over work, but the industry is highly professional and difficult to break into. Listening to Tracy’s interviews with voice over artists has helped me develop a new understanding of the industry, though.

Audio: You don’t know who your audience is

March 25, 2009 by Douglas E. Welch

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[audio:http://welchwrite.com/cip/audio/2009/cinm-audience.mp3]

One of the most important lessons for New Media creators is the fact that when you start, you often have absolutely no idea who your audience might be. You can survey, you can review, you can correlate, but until you put something out there, you will never truly know. More importantly, this uncertainty is often what stops people from creating New Media at all.

Today over lunch I was watching some podcasts on my televison (There are a bunch of ways to do that) and I caught a TedTalk with Malcom Gladwell on Spaghetti Sauce — “Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell gets inside the food industry’s pursuit of the perfect spaghetti sauce — and makes a larger argument about the nature of choice and happiness.” Gladwell tells the story of Dr. Howard R. Moskowitz who revolutionized the food industry with his concept that there is no one, perfect item, but rather a horizontal continuum of perfect products based on what groups of people desire. More importantly, he discovered that asking people what they want was often the worst way of discovering their preference.

Find more new media content and discussions
at the New Media Interchange Community Site

The same applies to New Media. If you asked someone what they want in New Media, most will tell you they want it to look and feel like mainstream television. In fact, though, tens of thousands of people are already enjoying New Media shows that look nothing like television. Witness “Fred”, Make Magazine’s podcasts and shows, Diggnation, Ask a Ninja and more. Even more, television these days is starting to look more and more like New Media, not the other way round. Shows like “Destroyed in Seconds”, “How It’s Made” and others owe much to the success of YouTube. It seems mad, but the audience doesn’t honestly know how to indicate what they really want in media except by voting with their eyeballs.

This fact is why it is so important to start producing content — whether individual episodes or complete series of shows — and then see what attracts the most attention. This may seem madness after all these years of focus groups, private screenings, in-depth analysis and such, but I think it is the only true way to discover your audience.

Of course, “throwing something against the wall” is so much easier in New Media, even it is a bit scary. You can start producing shows on a shoestring and then increase the time and budget as you start to discover your core audience. Unlike mainstream television, you aren’t spending millions of dollars on a pilot, only to have the show be cancelled after one episode.

New Media gives you the freedom to try many things, in many mays, and pick the best. You should take this freedom and run with it as this is the first time in the history of modern media where, not only can you create something, you can easily distribute it directly to your audience. Don’t squander this great advantage.

You may have some idea who your audience is, but I can guarantee you that there will always be surprises. There will be a demographic that you had no idea you would reach. You could be successful in a far flung country. You could end up with a huge following across the globe, but you won’t know until you do it! You have no idea who your audience is, but it is very likely they will find you anyway.

Careers in New Media

Helping to Build New Careers in New Media

Category Archives: Opinion

Promote your favorite podcasts and help other listen/watch

How do you make a living in New Media?

Quora Answers: If I wanted to get my podcast sponsored, how do I do that?

New Media’s Fundamental Place in e-Learning from LearningSolutions.com

Online Video classes need energy, passion and added value

Question: Should I stay on Facebook?

[Tip] New Media Assignment: Capture your great ideas

In support of smaller conferences

What I’m (e)Reading…Voicebank.net’s VoiceRegistry Blog

Audio: You don’t know who your audience is