Journey into new media: The launch of Oakland Local
October 26, 2009 by admin
Filed under Media and Marketing, The Other Blog
There’s been a lot made of the rapidly changing media landscape, particularly as it relates to the newspaper business. Often hesitant to move online and unsure of the exact strategy for online success and profit, the large news chains have seen their advertising dry up over the last couple of years and their readers migrate to smaller, more nimble news outlets that operate solely on the internet.
Last week we threw our hat into this ring of new media entrepreneurs with the hopes of better serving the Oakland public, promoting a broader community dialog and moving closer to establishing tangible next steps for the media and a sustainable journalism model.
This past Monday we launched Oakland Local, a new hyperlocal news site thats an innovative blend of traditional journalism, multimedia, user generated content and citizen journalism.
While we worked hard to be innovative, being inclusive was just as important. The site features reporting on crucial but often overlooked issues in and around Oakland along with a full stock of forums, blogs, community updates and directories featuring 320 Oakland nonprofits and 180 active Oakland bloggers.
The team core team is made up of myself, media maven and editorial genius Susan Mernit, and Amy Gahran a well known and highly respected mobile reporting, environmental and tech know it all.
There’s often a lot of discussion on the hard results of social media and online community building and I think that in our first week we’ve provided a pretty impressive case study. We have been “priming the pump” online for about a month before launch, sending out semi regular updates on Twitter, spreading the word through PR and Media and in general being very strategic about our online marketing.
So far we’ve been successful in turning buzz into readers and while we’re not doing New York Times numbers (yet) I think the results are pretty impressive and speak for themselves.
Here’s an updated assessment of our 1st week’s stats, from Susan Mernit’s end of the week update:
We had 4,432 visits from 2,958 unique users.
The average time spent on the site was 3.93 minutes; average pages viewed per visit, 3.2.
Where did our traffic come from?
46% came right from the web; 12% came from Facebook and another 12% from Twitter. 7% came from Google, 4% each from Stumbleupon and SF Gate, 2% from the NYTimes and from Berkelyside.
Our Facebook page went from 3 fans to 512 fans in a week, we signed up 50 new members, and we gained roughly 200 new followers on Twitter.
Out on the Net–what folks said
There were dozens of blog posts about the launch, most from media bloggers and folks outside of Oakland proper, though Zennie62 gave us a welcome shout out. Among the blogs and media sites that posted were the following, whom we wlil dub Friends of OL:
- Ext 337, Marnie Webb: – “Congrats to the Oakland Local team for this launch. It’s wonderful to see new models for sharing local news emerge.”
- Economy Beat: (Great post about OL’s blog directory)
- Berkleyside
- Zennie Abraham
- CBS5 Eye on Blogs,Brittney Gilbert
- The greater good blog
- Silicon Moon
- SocialBrite
- Kelsey Group blog
- NAA Blog: Alt.Civic-Minded: Oakland Local Gives Voice to Social Activists
- Amy Ward Sample
Go to the site and have a look around, register and participate in the discussion. While we still have a ways to go with building a readership and sustaining an online community, our 1st week stats prove that it is possible to run a successful online marketing campaign and start seeing your results almost immediately.
Contact me if you’d like to know more about Oakland Local or need a consultant for your own online marketing efforts.
Social Media Social Action Training
September 15, 2009 by admin
Filed under Media and Marketing, The Other Blog
So the trainings we’ve been doing over the last few months with the Public Media Collaborative have become increasingly popular with area nonprofits and media organizations. Attendees have stated how much they enjoyed the sessions and how important these low cost trainings are for organizations doing important work but without the funding to hire full time social medial staff.
So we’re happy to announce the next round of trainings will be taking place Oct 23 & 24, 2009 at Tech/Liminal, 268 14th Street, Oakland, CA. Read more
Seize the Moment media trainings begin today!
August 27, 2009 by admin
Filed under Media and Marketing, The Other Blog, Websites and Technology
The Bay’s been bubbling about this conference for the last few weeks and now it’s finally here!
The Seize the Moment Media training is two days of budget conscious media trainings focused on community and ethnic media (but all are welcome).
There’s a long list of training sessions, including one on using online tools to promote your brand, which, ahem, I’m leading the with most fabulous Sarah Dopp.
The trainings are bring together some serious using media muscle with sessions being led by the likes of Susan Mernit, David Cohn, JD Lasica, Kara Andrade and a lot of other internet famous smart as hell new media types.
The White House knows social media
August 10, 2009 by admin
Filed under Media and Marketing, The Other Blog
It’s been noted time and again how well the new Prez and his team have harnessed the power of the web and social media throughout their various campaigns. From his initial email newsletter fundraising to the total revamp of the whitehouse.gov website. Team Obama has been on the cutting edge of online media for a while. Their latest effort is another brilliant example.
Knowing how controversial his new healthcare package is with a large segment of Americans, the Health Insurance Reform Reality Check doesn’t beat you over the head with screen after screen of text and stats. Instead they’ve enlisted the help of trusted top level decision makers from various health and social service organizations to do the job.
From four hour work week to building a better blog
July 8, 2009 by admin
Filed under Media and Marketing, The Other Blog, Websites and Technology
You probably have heard of Tim Farris already-he of the the 4 hour work week, tango dance floor assassinator and business adventurer extraordinaire. Tim rolled through SF for the most recent Wordcamp and gave this talk on how to build an audience for your blog. Being that “how do I get people to read my blog” is one of the top two questions we hear (right along with “Okay, social networking is cool, but how do you make money“) I thought this vid was appropriate. Sit back, grab a pen and paper and take notes.
Read more
Latest links and news
June 21, 2009 by admin
Filed under Media and Marketing, The Other Blog, Websites and Technology
From the unveiling of the new iPhone 3GS and the Palm Pre to the recent protests in Iran, the tech and social media worlds have been busy lately. Here are some of our favorite Twitter links from the last few days. Read and pass on this great info.
4/16 Latest Links
April 16, 2009 by admin
Filed under Media and Marketing, The Other Blog
The web’s ever changing and the action never stops. Here’s a few of our favorite recent links from around the world courtesy of our media network. This week’s links run the gamut from finding VS funding for your social enterprise to the importance of "reputation grooming" to resources for writing website copy, marketing your business online and paying attention to your customers. Plus a special lesson from Trent Reznor. Check everything out, but be careful-you just might learn something! Read more
Wikipedia’s fundraising coup
April 1, 2009 by admin
Filed under Media and Marketing
Wikipedia thanks you
In a great example of how creating a genuinely useful product and building a dedicated online community can result in big payoffs in the long run.
In what’s undoubtedly the worst financial times in recent history, open source online everything Wikipedia announced Friday that it has reached it’s goal of raising $6 million in donations.
Everyone knows and just about everyone uses Wikipedia for everything from quick fact checks to in depth research, and while the open format means that you run across the occasional obvious factual error and ultra-biased article, for the most part it’s an extremely useful service. And judging from the way the money rolled in-$4 million from individual donors and another $2 mil from “major gifts”- a service worth paying for, even though it’s free. Read more
3/13 Weekly Links
March 13, 2009 by admin
Filed under Media and Marketing, The Other Blog
- The Digital Natives are here. The first generation of childredn born into a wired world face a rapidly changing world of technology and information. But to them it’s just the same ol’ same old. John Palfrey’s new book (Growing up Digital) explores the way these plugged in youth see things differently from the rest of us. (On the Media) Read more
Stop doing things you hate!
February 27, 2009 by admin
Filed under Media and Marketing, The Other Blog, Websites and TechnologyBy now this video by Gary Vaynerchuk, WineLibrary founder has become the stuff of internet cult legend, and for good reason. In a down economy companies big and small are asking themselves how to stay afloat, how to make a profit and the best ways to position themselves for the upcoming years. It’s a strange time for the force, folks. Yes, the economy’s in the tank. Yes it’s becoming harder to make it as a start up, small business/business/idealistic entrepreneur. But on the flip side, now’s the time to get everything together-what’s that crazy business idea you’ve been mulling over? Do it. That new direction you’ve thinking of taking? Now’s the time.
