Using stock photos for blog or e-mail? Can it!

I returned to active "content" publishing with this post after I was invited to be a LinkedIn publisher. After you've been in newspapers for two decades, it can take a while to find your niche again regarding long-form writing.

Even more important than what you say is, why you are saying it. I now conclude my posts with this tagline:

Former journalist Tom Spalding applies lessons learned from 20 years in the newsroom to today's communications world. You can reach him on Twitter @spaldobusiness.

The blog entry opens, "The smartest people I know in social sharing use the dumbest crutch when it comes to blog posts and e-mail newsletters. Stock photo usage is running rampant thanks to images now available for as little as $1 per download. Canned, generic imagery featuring smiling actors or Photoshopped items obviously serves a need for time-pressed creatives, but in my opinion is killing the very content it was designed to enhance."

You can read the entire article on my LinkedIn/Pulse page!

Multimedia used as part of work, nonprofit promotions

Some videos I have been involved with, either on-camera, behind the camera, produced and edited, or both!

2014

"Friends of Indiana Disaster Search Dogs," introduced live on WISH-TV Channel 8 at Indy Humane Society Mutt Strut, 2014.

"The sound of masonry flue tile in a chimney fire," CSIA Chimney Safety Institute of America, 2014. Shot/edited/produced by Tom Spalding.

"Be on the Top of Your Game," 2014, a promotional video of footage I compiled from archive footage or myself, all interviews done by me, the video package put together by me."

Appearance in several videos associated with the surprise tornado that struck near our CSIA facility. WRTV-TV Channel 6. The recap spot, the phone interview with RTV6 anchor Todd Connor, the interview on the 11 p.m. news. 

2013

"Self-playing guitar," ITT Technical Institute, 2013. Shot by students in Colorado; students were instructed how to do filming and submitted footage to Tom Spalding, who edited and produced this piece from Indianapolis

"Employer Video testimonials" from companies that hired ITT Tech graduates, 2013. Video clips were edited by Tom Spalding, using footage supplied by ITT Tech campuses from coast to coast. We used these to not only air on YouTube, but to identify employers to use in nationally broadcast television commercials

2012

"Rolls-Royce at Indy Air Show," 2012 … Shot/edited/produced by Tom Spalding

2011
Rolls-Royce hosts Navy flights [segment I promoted that aired on WTHR-TV Channel 13]

[segment that aired on FOX-TV Channel 59]

2009

"Parking Meter Hogs," 2009, project at Indianapolis Star … Shot/edited/produced by Tom Spalding

Storifys … (multimedia, a round-up/aggregation of content, with words and pictures).

Profiling April 2014 chimney fires for CSIA public awareness efforts.

Promoting the National Chimney Sweep Guild's 2014 convention in March 2014.
Recapping the "Social Media Influencers at Brickyard 400" in July 2014.

Tom & the tornado

In all my years as a reporter covering weather-related breaking news, I've never actually witnessed a tornado. I did this day! I used Storify to chronicle the experience.

https://storify.com/CSIA/a-tornado-just-north-of-the-csia-tech-center

Outreach to America's chimney sweeps

In my time as communications and marketing director of the Chimney Safety Institute of America, the marketing department (in concert with our education director and executive director) really looked forward to strengthening the quality and quantity of communications with the people who have invested time and energy into obtaining the various credentials that our educational institute offers to sweeps.

In winter 2014, we started beefing up our monthly 4-page insert in the edition of Sweeping magazine, a publication put out by the National Chimney Sweep Guild.



Some editions to view: 
May 2014: Highlight - New CSIA President Mark A. Stoner establishes ambitious goal to raise CCS totals.
June 2014: Highlight -CSIA board OKs new memorandum of understanding with NADCA on C-DET certification.
July 2014: Highlight -A new class on the chimney fire whitepaper, plus health and safety.
August 2014: Highlight - Our gas hearth appliance training class.

In June 2014, we started a new monthly e-mail to our C-DET and CCS credential holders, using an old name I found for print e-newsletters: CSIAccess. This was followed up by a July 2014 email. Open rates for these were 39.8 percent, three times the industry average.

I believe nothing is new, but what is old can be new again. 

Welcome to my blog home

*My LinkedIn profile

*My Storify collection *My favorite assignments as a reporter.

*The topics I talk about on my Vizify bio.

*My Klout profile

Themes behind "Public Safety & Social" -- our 11/7/13 @indySM luncheon:

To media or the interested public, here's some of the points of emphasis of the Nov. 7 luncheon we're hosting at Wayne Township Fire Department.

1) Perspective and guidance (from about a half-dozen PIOs of police/fire/first responder agencies) to the Indianapolis Social Media community. They include ISP, IFD, IMPD, Speedway Police and Wayne Township Fire Department.

2) Introduction of a newly-formed nonprofit: Friends of Indiana Disaster Search Dogs, a 501(c)3 organization that supports the canines and dog handlers that are part of Indiana Task Force 1. Dogs have been part of the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Team since 1993.

3) Exposure to the helpful nature of Indianapolis Social Media, or @IndySM, an education-geared nonprofit co-founded by John Palmer and Chuck Gose that celebrates its 5th anniversary in 2014.

A big, big thank you to our regular sponsor: 12 Stars Media.

And thanks to the Wayne Township Emergency Services Center at Wayne Township Fire Department/ for hosting the event; The Brown Bag Indy, which is catering the event; and Chimney Safety Institute of America, a Plainfield-based nonprofit which underwrote the lunch for our public safety guests.

A great list to follow on first responders to follow was authored by Jordan Whitt.

Directions: from I-465, take the 10th Street West exit (heading west) and go south (left) onto North High School Road.

Honored to blog in support of #Playscape5

In August, thanks to a Twitter conversation I had with a former Indianapolis Star coworker (view Janet Schneider's July 18 tweet to me for more) the Spaldings were honored to be contacted by the digital operations and media team at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. The Museum was getting ready to relaunch their Playscape exhibit after a $3M renovation, and wanted to follow along as five children under the age of 5 tested it out.

That's how our kids became two of the #Playscape5 blog team, which is asked to visit at least once a month from September through January and write a recap of the visit that the Museum could share with its stakeholders and out-of-towners. The parents provide the writeups, but video allows the kids to directly participate.

Besides contributing content for our special Myles and Ella page on the museum's blog, we also visit and post pictures about the Playscape to my social media accounts, which include Twitter, Vine and Instagram.

I also did a Storify: Indy kids get to try out fun #playscape at @tcmindy during a special preview night a few days before the grand opening on Aug. 31.

Our fellow kiddo bloggers are Torrence and Gage and Paul. They too will share their experiences as they learn and grow in the gallery ... and at home!

Note: The bloggers are compensated for the articles, via a free one-year membership. For those of us who were already paying members before this gig, the Museum simply extended us one year.

Here's the writeup from the Children's Museum on their website:

Sept. 13: See Playscape through the eyes of Myles (age 4 1/2) and Ella (age 1 1/2) in this post from dad, Tom. And continue to follow their journey online, on the blog, or by searching the #Playscape5 hashtag!

Here was the post on the Museum's Facebook page, made available to 80,000 fans.

Go to the Museum's website for more on Playscape activities that are held throughout the week.