Podcamp Toronto : J'y serai ... j'y participerai

Ayant vécu, la semaine dernière, la diffusion du premier épisode de mon premier podcast, j'ai décidé de mettre à contribution mes acquis. Les organisateurs du prochain Podcamp Toronto cherchaient quelqu'un pour animer la session 'Podcasting 101'. Bien qu'ils soient certainement les mieux placés pour offrir des conseils, je trouve qu'il est souvent difficile pour les baladodiffuseurs d'expérience de se souvenir de l'époque où les défis attachés au lancement d'un podcast semblait insurmontables. Tandis que pour moi, c'est encore tout frais. O, que c'est frais.

Je me mettrai donc à nu, à Toronto, le 23 ou 24 février prochain, dans l'espoir de stimuler des commentaires et critiques de la part de podcasteurs chevronnés, afin que les nouveaux puissent profiter de mes erreurs et être assez encouragés par mon éventuel succès pour se lancer, eux aussi, dans l'aventure de la baladodiffusion.

Le pire étant maintenant derrière moi, il faudra que je me retienne pour ne pas me plonger dans trop de projets de baladoffisuion. J'ai la tête pleine d'idées et voudrais surtout/tellement produire une émission dans la belle langue de Molière ... Retenez-moi, les amis!

Podcast : We have lift off!

Success! Got my MP3 out, my feeds working and my show notes posted. The Aquinas8788 podcast is officially out there.

There are definitely some production things I'll want improve for next time. Any feedback would be appreciated. I'm aiming to get episode 2 out by the end of January, making this a monthly podcast, which seems reasonable given the interview logistics.

I'm thinking I won't add this to the iTunes directory, just because it is so niche and I'm so new at this. Besides, most of my target audience will be coming at this through Facebook.

I'll think about it.

But I'm pretty satisfied that I managed to plod through it all the technical aspects of podcasting which often seemed overwhelming as I worked to figure out basic things like how to transfer my audio file to my computer, Audacity editing and MP3 creation. Now that I'm done, of course, it all seems like a piece of cake.

I'm thinking I'll be tackling a pilot podcast for my Telecom Hall of Fame client in the new year. There is a lot of great interview footage already in the vaults with people like Ted Rogers and I have a former telecom journalist ready to contribute a 5 minute segment for each episode. I can't wait to start putting it together.

All the best for the holiday season. Enjoy it.

Adventures in podcasting

So as I mentioned here before at some point, I'm rolling up my sleeves and getting a podcast together. The subject will only interest those who graduated from high school with me a couple of years (decades) ago, but the idea is for me to get comfortable with even the technical aspects of podcasting, so I can better understand this interesting medium and propose it to my clients.

After much struggle, I pray my editing is now done. As I wait for my brother-in-law to return from the gym so I can get onto his wireless network to download LAME to my laptop, I thought I'd send a call out. You see, I wasted a *lot* of time with Audacity. My podcast is in interview format and incorporates music, so there were a lot of tracks. Guru Maffin has told me that Audacity doesn't do well with multi-tracks and that that might explain why, four seconds into some of my tracks, the sound vanished, only to come back again about 4 seconds from the end of the track. This happened again and again. I'm wondering if, by editing and tweaking other tracks, I somehow affected these tracks, causing the problem. Strange that it always followed the same 4 second-or-so pattern.

So if you have any ideas please let me know. Oh and I've heard the "switch to Mac!" suggestion already, folks, trust me. :)

Article of the day : The spoils of social media go to those who wait

Interesting article on the importance of investing in ongoing campaigns by companies who are trying to build communities and engage their clients in conversation. Includes the following Maggie Fox anecdote:

Maggie Fox remembers when she had an epiphany about social media marketing. Her young agency had taken on a campaign from Harlequin Enter-prises to promote the horror novel "Blood Ties." The campaign generated quite a following on MySpace.com. Until its 14th week. That's when the budget ran out, new content wasn't generated and the program's momentum ground to a halt.

"It just faded," said Fox, whose Toronto-based Social Media Group now has eight employees and counts Ford Motor Co. and SAP among its clients. "The content dried up, and there was no one tasked with ongoing engagement."

Full article here.

Last minute social media Xmas shopping : doing it 'barefoot' with the figure skater

Looking for a stocking stuffer for that hard-to-buy-for social media afficionado?

Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo of Capulet Communications have just launched Getting to first base : A social media marketing playbook, a book they describe as :

(...) a 100-page ebook filled with tricks, tips and case studies that show
you how to:

- Bring more visitors to your website
- Increase your company’s visibility online
- Approach bloggers and other online influencers
- Create compelling viral campaigns
- Get your website social media ready
- Craft a potent social media pitch
- Market effectively inside Facebook
- Avoid campaign killers and online faux pas

Now what's a social media book launch, without the proper accoutrement, you say?

Try this on for size:

A blog with an RSS feed and all the right bookmarking tools

A YouTube video or two (or several : if you check out their individual YouTube profiles, you'll see that they've even included personalized pitches to some heavy hitters (pun intended) like Robert Scoble and Steve Rubel. Clever, clever. Strange .. the Michelle, a Quick Message from Malta video must have gotten lost in the shuffle ... )

A Facebook Fan page

You can even read some sample chapters.

Walking the walk.

Oh and how cool is this : $1 from the sale of each copy is being donated to the David Suzuki Foundation.

Ed. note: Hey. Does that too-clever-for-its-own-good blog post title sound a tad naughty to you too? Totally unintended. Hrm. No wonder Santa brings me coal every year.

Bonnes intentions en cette fin d'année

Les bonnes intentions de la semaine, avant de prendre l'avion vers Vancouver pour les fêtes:

• Publier mon premier podcast (pour les intimes et les curieux)
• Migrer mon blogue vers Wordpress
• Lancer la refonte de mon site Web
• Mettre de l'ordre dans mes dossiers
• Faire un peu de comptabilité de fin d'année
• Finaliser certains détails en préparation du lancement de Third Tuesday, Montréal au mois de février (ne voulant pas nuire à la SQPRP, qui présente un panel sur les médias sociaux le 15 janvier prochain, nous déplaçons notre activité d'un mois - mais quel lancement! À suivre ...)

Tout un carnet de commandes. Mais ça ferait du bien de terminer l'année avec des projets bouclés.

Podcast of the day : Profit Magazine & Mitch Joel

Great social-media 101 for small/medium business entrepreneurs, courtesy of Ian Portsmouth of Profit Magazine, and his guest, Mitch Joel, of Twist Image.

Podcast segment here.


EPISODE 12 - TOPICS
Social Media: Blogs, podcasts, Facebook and your firm
Ian speaks with Mitch Joel, president of digital marketing agency Twist Image, on leveraging the ease-of-use, cost-effectiveness and reach potential of social media to build your small business.