Online Video Leaders: Alex Lindsay

He's the leader of the Pixel Corps a guild for digital content creators and he's teaching a small army of people both in the US and abroad how to create, manage, distribute and monetize digital assets. I had a chance to catch up with him at the iHollywood Forum's Web Video Marketing Summit in San Francisco and he had some interesting things to say.

Why is this such a big deal?

Well if you need a friend to work on your project do they name their files the same way you name your files? If an editor or motion graphic artist gets sick and you have to pick up a project from a stranger will you be able to figure out what they were doing in After FX or Final Cut Pro?

Beyond just laying the ground work for digital artists to be able to work together on a global scale Alex Lindsay is reaching our to third world counties in Africa and helping poor people develop digital skills that will allow them to grow their nation's economies. It's content creation as an economic development tool.

I think that's a big deal and that makes Alex Lindsay a true Leader in Online Video.

How Do You Become an On-Camera Host?

It used to be you would audition and audition to get an on-camera hosting job. Now the rules have change and Revision3's Tekzilla's Co-Host Veronica Belmont shared some insight with me. Hey, with over 30,000 followers on Twitter she just might know what she's talking about.

I'm back on the road this week and in San Francisco again at the Online Market World and the iHollywood Forum Web Video Marketing Summit where I happened to catch up with the intelligent, talented and tech savvy Veronica Belmont the co-host of Revision3's show Tekzilla and I asked this new media maven a few questions about what it takes to be an on-camera host.

Veronica Belmont started out as an intern at CNET Networks producing audio content and six months later was hired to produce CNET's "First Look from the Labs" series, and also began producing Buzz Out Loud.

According to Wikipedia Veronica was originally a sound engineer but soon her role on the podcast grew substantially. She began to inject her own commentary, and, was acknowledged as an official co-host in August 2006. She also was the producer and co-host of two more CNET podcasts called MP3 Insider and CRAVE Gadget Blog, which were both co-hosted by the late James Kim.

Veronica made her video debut on CNET on April 6, 2006, on an Insider Secrets segment titled "Give your PC a Mac-over". Since then, she has hosted videos from Maker Faire, CES, and South by Southwest. She was also the host of the Prizefight series. She appeared for the final time in CNET TV on July 25, 2007, in the"Apple iPhone vs Nokia N95 edition of Prizefight".

I apologize for too much background noise at the beginning of the interview but once I pointed my little Flip Digital Video Camera at the noise maker, Tim Shey from Next New Networks he quieted down. (Wait till you see the interview I did with Tim Shey. He's really quiet when you point the camera at him.) I'm just teasing you Tim. I could have told you to pipe down but this was way more fun. ;)

IHollywood Forum at the Roosevelt

So I'm out of the office today at the iHollywood Forum at the Roosevelt in Hollywood and the morning is filled with research and stats. Not my favorite thing about online video but hey someone's gotta do it.

There's talk about triggers in change of behavior and how the digital TV switch of next year will be a mover in that and some rumblings about the choking or throttling of bandwidth.

Charlene Li Principle Analyst for Forester and co-author of Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies talked about Kevin Rose and the whole HD-DVD Processing Key Social Networking. She said once you put something on the internet you can't take it back, "It's like trying to get pee out of a swimming pool."

Charlene also talked about Comcast and how the Comcast brand has been damaged by online social networking and how fans of Jericho sent 20,000 tons of peanuts to CBS to bring the fans back. It was a real recent history refresher course.

It's not about marketing anymore. It's about conversational marketing. Marketing is one way - yelling. There is no conversation.

Oprah is the Number One Podcaster! and 3 STEPS TO CREATING INDEPENDENT BRANDS

Now I haven't seen Oprah Winfrey at any Podcamps, Barcamps, Podcast Academies or even at the Podcast Brother's New Media Expo (where I'm speaking) but for the past few weeks she has held the number one podcasting spot on the iTunes Store's Today's Top Podcasts list. So that makes Oprah the number one podcaster.

This tells me a few things:

1. Oprah has a huge brand. (duh)
2. Women are listening to podcasts
3. It's going to get even harder for Independents
4. Oprah doesn't need to go to any events

Now it's not all gloom and doom, there is hope for all of us Independent Content Producers or as the online advertising networks like to call us, "Online Video Publishers."

Yesterday in an interview with Pop17, Blip.TV CEO Mike Hudack used an analogy of CBS and Gulliver. He said something to the effect that CBS was like Gulliver and that all of us little content producers were like the little people from Gulliver's Travels. As small independent content publishers we could never compete with a CSI but together we just might pull down a giant by eating away at their viewers. (On another note, I just got off the phone with Mike and he and his team are working on some really cool advertising stuff on Blip.TV more about that later.)

The other night I was at an event sponsored by NXTCOMM SHOW and iHollywood Forum
where Mark Burnett of CBS's Survivor was speaking about the future of Television. Now Mark Burnett knows a few things about building brands. Besides "Survivor" he's done "The Apprentice", "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?", "The Contender", "On the Lot", "Rock Star: INXS" and a few others. Mark echoed what Mike was saying and took it a little further.

Mark said, "the advertising dollars are still there - they haven't gone away - they are just being spread around more." He went on to talk about how three years ago he got a call from NBC chief Jeff Zuckerberg who was personally letting him know that one of his shows was only pulling a "7." Mark said he got in trouble for pulling a low rating 3 years ago and now he says, "What show gets a 7?" Most shows are getting 4s or 5s." His point being that everything is now competing for viewers' time.

(By the way Mark Burnett told me that his favorite online shows are at Liquid Generation.)

I think the real key to getting your brand out there is to make sure that you have these three things.

3 STEPS TO CREATING INDEPENDENT BRANDS

1. An Unusual Name for your show that peeks curiosity and makes viewers want to investigate.

2. Great Key Art - Have a logo that is emotionally engaging.

3. Deliver on the promise of your Name and Logo


If Tikibar TV was called "How to Make Drinks with Jeff" I don't think it would have the same traction it has (Although if anyone could make a hit out of that title it would be Tikibar TV's own Dr.Tiki, Jeff Macpherson.) and if Ask A Ninja didn't have a "real Ninja" in it people would be pretty disappointed.

My point is that you can still get noticed if you have something special and great key art. But beyond that you are going to have to learn a few more tricks.

TRICKS TO LAUNCHING YOUR ONLINE BRAND

1. Create Marketing Tools - Make Online Trailers that explain what your product is to Industry People and to Consumers.

2. Make Friends in the Industry - Go to events, hang out, buy drinks and make friends and make more friends.

2. Sell to the Industry - Follow up with your new friends and see what you can do to make them money and what they can do to make you money and show your Industry friends the Industry marketing materials you have made and the consumer marketing materials you have made. Also let them know where you are going to post those marketing materials.

3. Sell to consumers - Post the marketing materials everywhere that makes sense and don't SPAM people.

Oprah may be the number one podcaster today but as I write this post French Maid TV is moving up the chart and we are currently number 23.

Be sure and add French Maid TV to your iTunes today if you would like to see an Independent Content Publisher dethrown Oprah.