Where Are All Of The Thought Leaders In Our Industry?

When I look around at a lot of other industry verticals out there, be it online advertising, mobile, security etc… I see a lot of community in the industry. I see a lot of people spending time to help educate the entire community. But when it comes to the streaming or online video industry, I see very little of this.

A great example of my point is that for years now, StreamingMedia.com has publicized that we accept written articles from anyone in the industry that want to talk about what they are seeing, what they think of a trend or what the future will hold when it comes to many aspects of this business or technology. Yet, trying to get people to send us a 750 word article for the website is nearly impossible.

Every week, at least a couple people always ask me, how do I get more publicity in the industry for myself or my company? It’s easy – and it’s free. Write a 750 word article on a topic of interest to you and send it to us. Why is that so hard? I have great conversations with people on the phone, in person at shows, during meetings etc… and many of them talk about different points of view on a wide assortment of subjects, yet I can’t get them to put those words down on paper?

From day one when I took over StreamingMedia.com I have said in open letters to the industry that we are a resource for you to use. It is our job to help the industry grow, to help educate the market and to help you grow your business. But how are we expected to do that without editorial help from the very industry we are promoting? We can only publish so many articles written by us or by our freelance writers. You are on the front lines of this market just like we are. We need your input, your knowledge and your thoughts. Yes, we get a lot of that at the shows but those only happen twice a year in the U.S.

Many times the excuse I get from people is they don’t have the time. How long does it really take you to write a 750 word article? Seriously. It does not have to be perfect, we will edit it. And if you want more visibility like you keep asking for, why then aren’t you utilizing the StreamingMedia.com site to get it?

A great example is that one of the few articles that was sent to us was from Rich Mavrogeanes at VBrick. He wrote an article discussing his thoughts on why he felt MPEG-4 is not dead. In less than two years, Rich’s article has gotten 35,973 reads! That’s not a typo. Not only did Rich get e-mails from readers of his article which allowed him to expose them to his company, he also was seen as a thought leader on the site about MPEG. And along with his article, we also published his photo, his company name and title and a link to his bio. How much more exposure can you ask for!?!

We have been promoting for over two years that we need editorial from the community and in that time, we have literally gotten 3-4 articles. I could understand if someone didn’t want to do the work if there was no value in return, but what do you think getting in front of 35,000+ readers is worth? I’d find it hard for anyone to justify that spending an hour to write an article is not worth the exposure you get in return.

I’m happy to discuss with anyone a topic they have in mind, help direct
them on the focus of the article or even give you topic ideas. So, who wants to be seen as a thought leader in our industry? We’re here to help make it happen, but we can’t do it alone.