Personal Life Media Host Resources

March 26, 2007

Boom! Shake the Room. Seniors Are Engaging in Online Activities

Did you get a sneak peak at that early bird buffet? There was a run on pigs in a blanket. What they’re not running out on, though, is customized web sites for the older set. For example, witness the new launch of Personal Life Media, which is a site that focuses on issues related to baby boomers, “ranging from life coaching to green living to sex.” Oh wow. I didn’t just say that. Take a moment to recover.

The question we’re focusing on here in part two of the very exciting three part series - I have a friend who insists that the best things come in fours, but I can’t please him on this one – is not whether or not the boomers represent an important demographic for marketers (they do) but where to find them. What are these folks up to?

See here for a handy chart, provided by eMarketer, about online activities of seniors.

We find that first and foremost they’re going online to conduct research to make purchasing decisions. Advertisers seem to think that seniors are still referring to the 1955 World Book Encyclopedia when in fact they are going online. Of course, I can’t imagine my grandmother checking out CNET product reviews of a new cell phone before buying it. (My argument is somewhat damaged by the fact that she doesn’t currently own a cell phone, and if she was going to buy one, she would just get whatever her kids told her to, or, in her hipper moments, go for whatever comes in hot pink.)

Recommendations are dictating much of their buying decisions. Second on the tier of how seniors spend their time online is to purchase products or services recommended by others, and I’m not talking about their kids. Anyone who has ever witnessed a group of elderly women kickin’ it on a park bench off of Flatbush Avenue knows that there is nothing passive about their communication. It’s all, “Mabel, you simply have to try this new dish soap.” or “When are you going to introduce your Jimmy to my Kathryn? They’d be so perfect together.” It’s the former that we’re interested in. According to the study by Weber Shandwick, the majority of baby boomers get asked for recommendations on products and services about 90 times every year, and nearly all (89%) of those “trusted sources of information” bestowed the advice to their peers.

“When it comes to word-of-mouth recommendations, boomers have both unrivaled influence and rich networks of peer advisors,” said Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross. Seeing as how most boomers are not 100% comfortable or savvy with online networks, most of it is being done in person, or on the phone. So, maybe the key is to provide enough information online to fuel an offline word-of-mouth campaign.

Though I said that the seniors are not exactly taking over MySpace, there is a movement now towards online communities. So says Mary Furlong, president and CEO of a baby-boomer-centric firm, who founded SeniorNet and ThirdAge Media. “A lot of the dissonances of aging aren’t fun,” she notes, which is why faceless discussions of potentially embarrassing topics are becoming popular. “Nobody wants to talk about a prostate condition at lunch.”

Agreed.

Another fact of life is that as the senior generation gets older, they’re going to experience more limitations on their physical abilities and personal interactions that many of them enjoy now. I think that those who have begun to embrace the Internet and the amount of activities they can engage in – just think! you can do crossword puzzles, check the weather, and even check what your son-in-law is doing on Twitter, all at the same time! and it’s free! – are going to be more and more enthusiastic about the Internet. And then maybe they’ll tell all their friends, and their friends’ friends, and next thing you know, you’ll have a revolution on your hands. Seniors unite!

From Jason:

You will want to increase your SEO [Search Engine Optimization] by changing the permalink structure.

The default in WordPress is a simple number. If you go to: Login: Options > Permalinks change it to the second radio button: “date and name based”.

That way the actual title of the posts will show up in search engines and you will get more traffic, leading to more money and more change affected in the world.

I’ve been getting questions about ideas for blogging. In general, you can think of your blog as a place to start a dialogue with your listeners. Your blog works hand in hand with your show and augments the audio content. One type of blog post references an episode of your show. In this type of post you can talk about something in one of the episodes that captured your imagination.

Here’s a great example of this type of post from Chip’s blog:

http://personallifemedia.com/blogs/sex-love-intimacy/?p=3

Another type of post (great for your first post if you haven’t posted yet) is an introduction or welcome post. Here are some examples of this kind of post from Francesca’s, Marcie’s, and Lori’s blogs:

http://personallifemedia.com/blogs/sex-tantra-kama-sutra/?p=3

http://personallifemedia.com/blogs/Taste-of-Sex/?p=3

http://personallifemedia.com/blogs/on-the-minds-of-men/?p=3

Another type of post is one where you import something from another blog you’ve been working on. If you have a lot of content that you want to move over from Blogger, etc. you might be able to import that using the “import” feature of wordpress. Here is an example of posts that were imported into Patti’s blog:

http://www.personallifemedia.com/blogs/expanded-lovemaking/

We got amazing press for our launch release. We’ve posted the top coverage here:

http://www.personallifemedia.com/about/news-room.html

We will continue to add the coverage as we get it.

Thanks to Stacey and Mihai for working together so perfectly to create this area of our site.

Congrats to all of you for the coverage.

Suz

Hosts,

Just updating you on the percentage of emails opened by our collective database of recipients - 20.17%. That’s amazing and a testament to your deep connections.

We had more than 2,500 people click through the email and visit the site.
We also had more than 20,000 downloads of individual shows the first week of launch!

Way to go!

Suz

Question:
If we don’t know where someone will be in the episode lineup should we still say this anyway and just put someone in?

“Address listeners: join us next week on the Expanded Lovemaking Show when we talk to ___________________________________ or we’ll be covering theme:

_______________________________________”

Answer:

I always  say “upcoming guests include” and then list whomever I’ve confirmed no matter when the show is airing.
Even if I haven’t signed anyone new since the week before, I still repeat the names of those who have confirmed.
You can also suggest past show guests… Don’t miss our previous episode featuring x, y & z.

Here is the link you can use in your blogs and email to help people find your show in iTunes:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist?id=216657439

Meredith Medland, host of Living Green prepared this document in advance of her interview with Dan Ruben. It’s well organized and follows the “Mad Libs” flow that I’ve given to each host who has an interview format. I think you will see how powerful this kind of preparation can be.

Here is her plan:

Welcome to Living Green, I’m your host, Meredith Medland.

Today on our show is Dan Ruben. Dan is the executive director of Boston Green Tourism which is a catalyst for expanding the use of environmentally-friendly practices for a major metro area.

Take a breath….. this show is about gardens, pigs, leftovers and kundalini yoga - how fun!

(speaking directly to my audience here.)

Today YOU ARE going to learn about how

-Dan has coached more than 25 EcoTeams through Global Action Plan’s Household EcoTeam Program

-How he started a campaign to get his hometown of Newton Massachusetts to perform energy efficiency retrofits on 85 buildings.

And how his daily practices such as yoga and organic gardening contribute to his definition of “Living Green”

Welcome Dan. Thanks for coming on the show.

(Dan says hello here and offers a cool comment)

Then, for those of you who don’t know Dan:

Dan was also the executive director of the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Conventions, an organization that promoted, implemented and publicized environmental best practices at the 2004 Democratic and Republican National Conventions.

And he is currently the vice president of the Green Decade Coalition located in Newton, Massachusetts, a grassroots volunteer environmental non-profit which works with households, businesses, schools and institutions in Newton and elsewhere to implement measurable improvements in the way we use our resources.

First Segment

Dan you started campaign to get your hometown, Newton MA, population >80,000 to perform energy efficiency retrofits on 85 buildings. The campaign was successful, and the city is about invite bids on this $12 million project.
What are energy efficiency retrofits? What does that mean? What are some examples? Why is that important?

Welcome Dan, when you’re not sleeping under the starts in Ecuador or Bolivia you’re usually persuading some group of people to go eco? What is your relationship to the Global Action Plan’s Household Eco Team program?

Why do you do it? What motivates you?

How did being on a team, and coaching many teams change your life?

We’re going to take a short break to support our sponsors. This is Meredith Medland, your host of Living Green, and I’m with Dan Ruben of executive director of Boston Green Tourism. When we come back you’ll learn about Dan’s “Living Green” practices – in particular the value of his almost daily Kundalini yoga practice and what types of food he grows in his organic garden. Stay tuned, we’ll be back after this.

Break (silence for the count of 10)

Second Segment

We’re back and I’m Meredith Medland, your Host of “Living Green” and we are talking to Dan Ruben of executive director of Boston Green about what it means to be “Living Green”

Let’s talk about your daily “Living Green” practices – growing your own food and your yoga practice. You practice Kundalini yoga almost everyday. Where do you practice and what does it do for you?

You’re also a Passionate organic gardener – what kind of food do you grow? Why? When did you first begin? Isn’t it easier to buy at the farmers market? How do you find the time?

What other practices do you do that are examples of “Living Green?”

Next Segment
Welcome back from the break. This is Meredith Medland, your host of Living Green, and I’m with Dan Ruben of executive director of Boston Green Tourism. Before the break we were talking about what you do on a daily basis to contribute to the health of yourself, your family, your community and the planet.

Let’s talk about one of your current projects, the Newton Green Decade Coalition
What is the Newton Green Decade Coalition?
What accomplishments have you made with the Green Decade?
What are you working on now?
You’ve got a lot of plans and projects going on. Now, I’d like to get a sense of the next 3 months ahead. If you could create three outcomes within the next three months, what would they be?

Philosophy/Outlook
What shaped your view of the world?
How does your viewpoint contrast with the dominant American paradigm?
How does your moral outlook inform your life?

Next Segment
We’re going to take a short break to support our sponsors. This is Meredith Medland, your host of Living Green and I’m with Dan Ruben of executive director of Boston Green and we’ll back right back.

Break (silence for the count of 10)

We’re back and I’m your host, Meredith Medland and we are talking to Dan Ruben, of executive director of Boston Green about _______________________________________.

Before the break we were talking about

_______________________________________. I would like to ask you about

_______________________________________.

I would like to let you to know that you can email me at meredith@personallifemedia.com for feedback on our show or any other burning questions you have. You can also reach Dan Ruben at dan_ruben@usa.net for more information or visit www.bostongrentourism.org

We are almost out of time but I would like to ask you about Living a Legacy.

You’ve already made a significant contribution with the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Conventions by bringing environmentalism to the 2004 Democratic and Republican National Conventions
How did you come to be executive director of CERC? What did CERC accomplish? Why was CERC important?

This are all ways you’ve contributed to ”Living Green”

As you look forward to the children of today and their future, what do you see?

What would you like your Legacy to be?

Thank you Dan Ruben for joining us and inspiring us to notice all the people who are “Living Green”

Just us next week on “Living Green” when we talk to next week Alex Steffen of World Changing.

That brings us the end of the show, thank you for listening.

For text and transcripts of this show, and other shows on the Personal Life Media Network, please visit our website at www.personallifemedia.com.

This is your host, Meredith Medland, illuminating the Psychology of Ecology for you, here on “Living Green”.

You will want to let your guests know about the episode that they are on and when “airs.” Here is what and when to communicate to them.

For launch, Tim has prepared your first two shows. You can get to your Show Shrine page by clicking here and this week Mihai will be loading all 30 episode pages for our 15 shows. Then, each week, Tim will launch another one of your shows and the Episode page will be created. You will be able to send your guests to http://www.personallifemedia.com after March 19th and point them to their page when it goes live.

If you have any questions about which of your shows Tim is launching in what order, just ask him.

The show will go live on the Personal Life Media site and will be pushed to podcast directories (see a short list below of places where you will find your show after launch) and to iTunes all at the same time on a weekly basis.

Apple has created a “Publishers Page” for Personal Life Media. They love what we are doing.
It is here:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist?id=216657439

Shows don’t “air” like on radio or TV at a specific time. They become available for listening either streamed from personallifemedia.com or from podcast directories or in iTunes (where you can also download them onto your iPod to take with you on the go) and can be listened to “on demand.”

When you see your new episode up, you can send the link to your guest in email. It will be a link like this:
http://personallifemedia.com/STAGING/podcasts/life-coaching/episode001-bryan-baker.html

You can ask them to send the link to their database and post it on their website. You should also send them album art and your show name and description to use.
If you need any help with that, just let us know.

Here are some top podcast directories :

* Podcasting News’ Podcast Directory is the largest user-built directory of podcasts.
* Podcast Alley, one of the most popular podcasting sites, has a large podcast directory.
* Odeo.com - directory and podcast service
* iPodder.org is an established, very large podcast directory.
* PodcastPickle - the only podcast directory with a pickle mascot! The site features a content rating system based on the familiar movie system, G, PG, R, etc.
* Digital Podcast
* PodcastDirectory.com - from Penguin Radio
* A Podcast Directory is available at Podcast.net.
* iPodderX
* iTunes - Apple’s proprietary (non-web) directory drives a huge amount of traffic to many podcasts
* Yahoo - has a podcast search and tag-based index

Please call or email me with ANY questions! Nothing is too small a question. I’m here to help you learn.

Here is the draft version of the press release going out on our launch day, March 19th. The full release will list all the shows and hosts, but the wire version only showcases 5 shows because our publicist, Stacey Fields, recommended that we would look more important and substantial by only including a sampling of shows.

personal-life-media-launch-release-2_21_07.doc

We are briefing 120 press now for the launch. Anyone who wants the briefing list can email me directly. I am pitching both the network in toto as well as individual shows and hosts in more vertical publications.

Let me know if you have any comments or questions about the press strategy or launch.

Thanks!