Zoom Teams with Newspaper to Add Video, Social Media

One community newspaper will be connecting its advertisers to an ever-growing Internet audience in 2010.

The Mountaineer in Waynesville, N.C., has teamed with two multimedia companies, Stellar Media and Zoom Communities, to give the paper's advertisers an even wider reach than they already receive through its print products and website by integrating video and social media advertising options.

The deal marks the beginning of a new business model that newspapers can use to prosper in the online, digital age, said Eric Larson, president of Stellar Media and Zoom Factor, Inc.

"Newspapers are experts at developing an audience and connecting advertisers with that audience in an effective way," Larson said. "This is the same kind of linkage, but using the latest tools."

YouTube, Facebook and Twitter are just a few of the website tools that advertisers will be able to integrate using the new advertising options.

An award-winning newspaper reporter in the 1990s, Larson founded Stellar Media in 2005 as a way to promote businesses and nonprofits using video. The company has since won numerous awards, including Best Multimedia in 2008 from the Public Relations Association of Western North Carolina, and a Wallie Award in 2009 from the Carolina's Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing Society.

Zoom Communities, a division of Zoom Factor, Inc., was created in 2009 as a way to take advantage of online distribution tools to promote businesses, nonprofits, and their communities. The company has been developing a comprehensive video and online sales and marketing program which newspapers can integrate into their existing advertising packages.

The Mountaineer was founded over 125 years ago. In 1979 the Daniels family, owners of the News and Observer in Raleigh, purchased it and formed the Mountaineer Publishing Company Inc.

In 1990, Adelaide Daniels Key, the daughter of the long time editor of the Raleigh News and Observer, John Daniels, purchased The Mountaineer Publishing Company from the family chain. Her son, Jonathan Key, was hired in 1991 as General Manager. In 2000, Key was named publisher of The Enterprise Mountaineer. Two years later he purchased the company.
Other publications owned by the publishing company include the Biltmore Beacon, a community newspaper for the Town of Biltmore Forest, Biltmore Lake, and Biltmore Park.

Learn more about The Mountaineer Publishing Company at http://themountaineer.com.

Zoom Factor and Zoom Communities company information can be found at http://zoomfactor.com and http://zoomcommunities.com.

For additional information, please contact Eric Larson at ceo@zoomcommunities.com.