You know February 14 is a big day but I expect you don’t know that it also signifies something else…that it’s only one month until Pi Day. You know of Pi Day don’t you? March 14? 3/14? Pi = 3.14? It’s legit, I promise.

To prepare for your Pi Day celebration you can purchase your very own slice of Pi. If you don’t know why you would use it, check out the Pideas page. To date 120 slices of Pi have been taken and as of the time of this posting, there’s only one digit to be purchased before another free one is up for grabs to the quickest clicker.

I contend that content is the new promotional strategy because it cuts through the clutter of the 4,000 (on average) promotions that are targeted at us every single day. Content takes the focus off the advertiser/promoter and provides something of value to the consumer/audience. New media tools like blogs, podcasts, and online video are phenomenal ways to create content (on the cheap even) with the added bonus of being easy to go viral if the content is good enough.

What I’ve realized, however, is that even if you agree with me on this you may not be sure how to begin. Case in point: I was talking to a friend the other day about his blog, one where he’s been blogging regularly for about nine months now but only provides updates about what he’s doing and where his travels take him. He wants to really use his blog to build a platform and brand for himself so I challenged him to be creating content that’s not about him as much but rather has something of value to his blog readers. Inevitably his personality comes through and in the end it is about him, but just not as directly. I broke it down into five categories for him to consider as he thinks about creating valuable content.

The best way to remember the five categories is to think about Old McDonald…you know…Old McDonald had a farm E-I-E-I-O…yeah, that one. Here are five categories of valuable content with Old McDonald in mind:

• E - Entertain: Entertainment is one of the easiest ways to create valuable content. We all know what it is to be entertained and hopefully we have an idea of what will entertain the people we’re trying to reach. This is one of the primary reasons I do a video of the week here. Humor is a great place to start when it comes to entertaining. Humor is valuable. Don’t underestimate the value you earn by making people laugh.
• I - Inspire: Inspiration seems to be in short supply these days so if you can do this successfully you’ll stand out. Thinking more generally here, consider this category the emotive or “touchy-feely” approach. The Free Hugs Campaign and Kleenex’s Let It Out campaign come to mind here.
• E - Educate: When you educate people you tell them how to do something or share some information that the will find useful or helpful in some way. LifeHacker falls into this category as does someone like Seth Godin who provides helpful ideas for marketers. Educational content can tell you how-to, when-to, why-to, where-to, and what-to do.
• I - Inform: When you inform you provide news or updates about something. TechCrunch is a blog that has done extremely well in this regard. They make news, break news, and report the news in the world of technology. The difference here from the educational approach is that when you inform you’re not telling, for instance, when-to do something but instead tell when-is something. Further, information says where-is, who-is, and what-is happening.
• O - Outrage: Controversy is actually a great form of content. Now, you have to be a little careful here because with controversy there are undoubtedly people who are for you and people who are against you (thus the controversy). Outraging your industry to help the consumers you want is a great way to use controversial content to your advantage. The Huffington Post and HotAir fall into this category in many cases.

It’s important to note that there’s really no clear line between these categories nor should you feel compelled to stay in only one. I suggest you look at all five categories as options for you to consider as you create content. In fact, some of the best ideas would really mix several of these basic elements like a entertaining and informative or educational and inspirational. So, next time you think about creating valuable content, hum a little Old McDonald in your head and see if you don’t get a few ideas going.

By the way, this is part of a presentation I gave at Podcamp Nashville over the weekend. You can download the entire presentation here.

I use the word Google all the time as a verb, like, “Just Google that to find out…” or “Have you Googled that company?” I suspect you do too. It’s like Google means any type of online search (though you’re most likely to use Google as 65.98% of us are doing.)

How great is this is you’re a marketer? Google is a company whose name has become a verb like Xerox. It’s a rare category. Some brands don’t become verbs but become more generic nouns for something. Kleenex, frisbee, coke (depending on where you live you might call it soda or pop too…but here in the south it’s all coke), and tylenol are examples of this. You say the words and everyone knows what you’re talking about. The bad thing about being a noun is that your name gets used but your product might not. The thing about being a verb, especially for Google, (not so much for Xerox these days I suspect) is that when you’re a verb you get the exposure and the product/service usage too.

I spent the day at Podcamp Nashville and had a great time. I want to thank Dave Delaney, Kelly Stewart, and Marcus Whitney for their roles in pulling it all together. I believe Allison Groves and Lizzie Keiper were also instrumental in things running smoothly today. Big thanks to these folks and any other behind the scenes people of Podcamp Nashville.

Now, reflections on Podcamp Nashville 2008:

• I like The Cannery Ballroom. It was a really good venue. More spacious than Barcamp was over the summer at Exit/In.
• Everyone seemed to think the wi-fi was super slow…I didn’t have my laptop with me so it didn’t matter. This was a point at which I was glad I didn’t bring the computer with me.
• Cliff Ravenscraft was a good presenter to start the day off. This guy does 17 different podcasts. 17. That’s crazy…but he seems to have enough passion to make it happen.
• It was great to meet C.C. Chapman in person and talk about launching new media marketing consulting. We realized we both jumped out on our own at the same time (October, 2007) so it was interesting to compare notes. He was the first of two keynote presenters and did well. He let pictures run randomly the whole time during his presentation. It was a different sort of experience but quite good.
• Dave Delaney did a very solid Twitter presentation. I picked up a few tips there.
• Moes served a good lunch as always. I have always liked Moes…but I’ve said that before.
• PowerPoint ate my presentation and I had to show it in the “edit” mode rather than presentation mode. This was a point at which I really wished I brought my computer with me.
• Scott Schwertly did a great presentation about presentations. It was good to reconnect with him. I hadn’t seen him in probably two years or so when we both had other employers.
• Joseph Jaffe was the other keynote. It was interesting to hear his optimism about podcasting (both audio and video) in a time when some people are already saying that podcasting is dead. The stats seem to agree with Joseph. Steve and I had a few minutes with him after his presentation and he talked about his motivations to move into video blogging/podcasting more extensively. Quite interesting.
• I officially met several people I have known of or met online like: Ginger, Keith, Nathan, and Darrin.
• I didn’t see Kate, Rob, or Ben. Did I miss you guys (and girl)?

Bonus thoughts…
Nathan and I recorded a quick episode (10 minutes) of The New Mediology at the end of Podcamp Nashville today too. There are random shout-outs to Kelly Stewart and Allison Groves as they walked by and Nathan Ketsdever walked up to talk and then realized we were recording. It was pretty funny but also a cool thing about podcasting on the spot.

All in all a good day. Met some great people. Made some good connections and even reconnected with some people I didn’t expect to.

Side note: I think this is the single most hyperlinks I’ve ever put into a blog post.

Tomorrow I will be at Podcamp Nashville. If you’re going to be there and we don’t know each other please introduce yourself to me. Also, I welcome any feedback on the presentation I’ll give at 2:00. If you like it, great. If not, even better…it will help me refine it.

I came across this video earlier in the week and really like it for a few different reasons. First, the point of the video (the confusion that can occur because Starbucks calls a small coffee a “tall”) is something most any of us who have been to Starbucks have thought about at some point. The other thing is that this video shows what some talent and creativity both in front of the camera and with video editing can do to create really compelling content.

I advise people all the time to create content for whatever they’re doing. Inevitably, when I mention video content they think it’s going to be way too expensive or complicated. This video shows it doesn’t have to be expensive (or complicated) to be done well and get a lot of people to watch. It’s up to almost 300,000 views after only one month online.

Link for the feed readers: Small is Tall

You ever have one of those weeks where you think things are going to be one way and they turn out completely different? That’s what this week has been for me. Between a sick wife and daughters and the resulting cancellation of several meetings, a crazy storm night on Tuesday that derailed an entire evening of catch up time and a complete transfer and little details required for the redesigned MicroExplosion.com (thanks to AnthologyCreative) it’s been a little nuts. Somewhere in there I’ve been trying to squeeze in the time to finish my presentation slides for PodCamp Nashville this Saturday (sorry I’m late Kelly) and record the next episode of The New Mediology. Then, of course, there’s client work that trumps all of this (except the family stuff of course.) So…it’s been a little different than expected. Regularly scheduled blogging will resume soon and I’ll still have a video of the week tomorrow!

Welcome to the new home for MicroExplosion Media. Nice, new look. Same ole me.

Two Sharpies and one really, really long line equals a pretty cool picture. My question is, are they going to leave this on the wall? Paint it maybe?

Link for the feed readers: Line Art