Creating Green Jobs With Hirejam.com

Hirejam.com, Founder (2009 to Present)

After being involved with Green Task force for Keep Akron Beautiful in 2008 and not being able to find a job, I felt the need to do something involving green issues.

In 2009, the green jobs platform Hirejam.com was launched to help Ohioans find green and renewable positions within the state.

To promote the site, a Hirejam blog was created to post green news from across the United States. Also the the website was promoted on green driven Linkedin groups, comment pages on blogs and forums.

Hirejam.com also became a media partner for the "Learn Green Live Green" exhibit in Akron and "The Wall Street Green Trading Summit "in New York City.

Being involved with Hirejam.com has allowed to me expand my knowledge of Twitter and its applications like Tweetdeck and Thriwl.

Word of mouth online and offline as Hirejam.com grows every month. While we might not be Monster.com, Hirejam.com should be a viable green job search option for Ohioans by the end of the year. In recent weeks Hirejam has added other job sites, including Calfornia, Washington DC and Texas. Ohio is still the prmary goal, but far too many people out of work across the U.S.

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Kevin Lockett is a social media strategist and pop culture blogger in Akron, Ohio. In 2009, he launched the green jobs platform Hirejam.com to help Ohioans find green and renewable energy positions.

Mr. Lockett can be can be reach at kazwire@yahoo.com , Hirejam@gmail.com, Linkedin, Facebook or Twitter .

Flash Activism On Facebook: The Bring Backspin To Sirius XM Campaign

Facebook Campaign Against Sirius XM (2008)

Being a loyal subscriber to Sirius Satellite Radio, I was troubled by the cancellation of their only old school Hip Hop channel in the winter of 2008 .

Taking a cue from my mom who used postcards to complain about issues, social media was my postcard of choice.

A Facebook group page was created to organize disgruntled listeners. The Facebook link was posted on hip hop forums, Topix and comment sections.

Several blogs were written about the movement, which led people offering their assistance. This led to an organized phone campaign , an online petition and videos of protest on Youtube made by upset subscribers.

By the beginning of 2009, the channel was back on the air.

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Kevin Lockett is a social media strategist and pop culture blogger in Akron, Ohio. In 2009, he launched the green jobs platform Hirejam.com to help Ohioans find green and renewable energy positions.

Mr. Lockett can be can be reach at kazwire@yahoo.com , Hirejam@gmail.com, Linkedin, Facebook or Twitter .

Chasing History with Obama and MacCain on YouTbe

After my contract ended with Lock 3 Park, I wanted to get involved with the 2008 presidential election .

In the fall of 2008, the YouTube series Election 08 was born. I grabbed my RCA Small Wonders camcorder and tracked the presidential race between Barack Obama and John McCain in Northeast Ohio

The webisode series took me from a McCain/Pally rally to Michelle Obama speaking to students at Buchtel High School in Akron, Ohio to jam packed rallies for Barack Obama in Canton and Cleveland. The great thing about the series was the people who embraced the campaigns.

From the lone Obama supporter at the McCain-Palin rally to young students to supporting Ron Paul to a giant Barack Obama puppet bouncing down the streets of Cleveland, the presidential race of 2008 is one to remember.


Kevin Lockett is a social media strategist and pop culture blogger in Akron, Ohio. In 2009, he launched the green jobs platform Hirejam.com to help Ohioans find green and renewable energy positions.

Mr. Lockett can be can be reach at kazwire@yahoo.com , Hirejam@gmail.com, Linkedin, Facebook or Twitter .

Pioneering Social Media in Akron @ Lock 3 Park

Lock 3 Park, Social Media Consultant (2008)

Following the success in 2007, I volunteered to create a social media campaign for Lock 3 Park. The goal was to give the venue a stronger Web 2.o presence.

The Lock 3 Park Blog was created first and featured plethora of social media ideas including:

* Weekly concert photos from Flickr

* Various contests, including a scavenger hunt for 60's performer Peter Noone tickets was created, where Lock 3 patrons fond scattered throughout Akron area malls and bookstores.

* Viral videos featuring behind the scenes Lock 3 Park personnel and a very popular YouTube video between Mayor Plusquellic and Barney Fife at the Hamburger Festival.

The social media campaign also included a bi-weekly concert postings on Twitter and a successful MySpace page, where incoming bands, their fans and Lock 3 patrons interacted with each other, (by the end of the season, Lock 3 Park MySpace page was just as popular as the blog as received over 5000 viewers).

The biggest highlight of the social media campaign involved the band Great Big Sea.

Prior to their performance in August 2008, I cultivated a strong relationship with the Canadian band's fans on their forum. During our forum chats, many of their fans wanted to know the specifics of Lock 3 Park.

Although there were pictures on the website, there was nothing to let concert goers know about the intimate detail of the park like size, seating, etc.)

I immediately created a viral tour of Lock 3 Park, where a tour of the grounds including the stage and concession areas. I wasn't sure if the tour worked until a woman walked up to me at another Lock 3 Park concert.

She told me she was from Akron, but moved before Lock 3 Park was built. Her sister found the virtual tour online and sent her the links. After watching the links, the woman told me that the video gave her a greater understanding of the venue and it made her experience quite enjoyable

A few weeks before the Great Big Sea show, a viral contest for concert tickets was launched, where fans were encouraged to make a YouTube video to their favorite GBS song.

The winners were a husband and wife team from Canada who created fun video of their daughter singing their favorite GBS tune, (they had another video featuring their other daughter)

After the winners were announced, the couple became almost as popular as Great Big Sea on their forum.



By the end of the year over 100,000 visited Lock 3 Park in 2008, I co-presented the topic social media at the Sales And Marketing Executive International luncheon and received the Emerging Leader Award from the Summit International Awards.

But I would remiss not to mention that none of this would have been possible if Deputy Mayor Lieberth and our marketing director Maria Nagel didn't allow me the latitude to try this pioneering form of marketing in Akron.

By taking the initiative and creating a social media plan, I not only shined a brighter spotlight for Lock 3 Park, but I also found my calling as a strategic online media/marketer.
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Kevin Lockett is a social media strategist and pop culture blogger in Akron, Ohio. In 2009, he launched the green jobs platform Hirejam.com to help Ohioans find green and renewable energy positions.

Mr. Lockett can be can be reached at kazwire@yahoo.com , Hirejam@gmail.com, Linkedin, Facebook or Twitter .

Keep Akron Beautiful Gives Me A Green Thumb

Keep Akron Beautiful, Board Member (2008 to Present)


Following my first year at Lock 3 Park, the Mayor's office appointed me to the Keep Akron Beautiful board. As a board member, I have been able to serve on several committees including the Green task force, which enhanced my education on renewable energy issues.

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Kevin Lockett is a social media strategist and pop culture blogger in Akron, Ohio. In 2009, he launched the green jobs platform Hirejam.com to help Ohioans find green and renewable energy positions.

Mr. Lockett can be can be reached at kazwire@yahoo.com , Hirejam@gmail.com, Linkedin, Facebook or Twitter .

Building a Marketing Department at Lock 3 Park

Marketing Director, Lock 3 Park (2007)

In 2007, I was recruited by the Deputy Mayor Dave Lieberth to establish a marketing department for Lock 3 Park, the downtown amphitheater for the City of Akron.

My responsibilities were to increase attendance distributing brochures and write press releases for the venue which features classic rock to old school soul.

The marketing plan for the 2007 season featured combination of guerrilla marketing and an email campaign. For the guerrilla marketing plan, the target was Akronites who worked outside. Lock 3 park attendance history shown that most people who attended performances worked outside of downtown

To reach this target audience, brochures were placed in bookstores and shops, but the bulk of the materials were at businesses with large employment in the Akron area including Summa Hospital, Akron General Medical Center, Roadway, Allstate etc.

By giving employees access to the information at their workplace, the probability of these workers going to Lock 3 concert would increase.

The email campaign was targeted towards African Americans who traditionally might only R&B and jazz concerts.The goal was to expose this audience to the many diverse concert opportunities at Lock 3 Park.

Cultivated from an email list of contacts, the first email was a general concert listing before the season started in early May. This was followed by weekly concert updates ,which the email recipients were encouraged to forward the email to their friends, family and co-workers.

The combination of guerrilla and email marketing worked as Lock 3 Park broke all attendance in 2007 as over 100,000 visitors attended performances Lock 3 Park, (the previous record was 69,000 which was set earlier in the decade).

Ideas implemented for the 2008 Lock 3 Park Season

* Cultivated relationship with Bridgestone Invitational .

* Added directions and map to Lock 3 Park brochures.

* Culturally diverse artists added Rock The Lock schedule.

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Kevin Lockett is a social media strategist and pop culture blogger in Akron, Ohio.
In 2009, he launched the green jobs platform Hirejam.com to help Ohioans find green and renewable energy positions.

Mr. Lockett can be can be reached at kazwire@yahoo.com , Hirejam@gmail.com, Linkedin, Facebook or Twitter .

Writing , Blogging and Lockett Media

Since graduating from college, I have been very active in digital media. I worked as online internship with MTV.com in the mid 90's, which led to another internship with Cleveland.com (1999-2000), the online newspaper for the Cleveland Plain Dealer.



At Cleveland.com, I was an online editor, handled office duties and on occasion worked with the marketing department. Being part of Cleveland.com allowed me to see the future of newspaper journalism, before digital media and blogging became key words by the end of the decade.


In recent years, I began several blogs including The Hip Hop Flavas for the radio show on 91.3 The Summit, my pop culture blog "Music is My Soul" and the Hirejam 2.0, the blog for my green jobs site Hirejam.com , where I post green and renewable news from across the United States.


To promote these sites I routinely use Digg, Stumbleupon, Yahoo Buzz and Reddit to promote new blog posts as well using pinging, links, forums and directories to increase traffic. I have also used ad affiliates ranging from Google Adsense to Amazon to monetize the blogs.

In May 2009, I started blogging on Groundreport.com, where comment on everything from The Chrysler plant closing in Twinsburg to Adam Lambert's loss on American Idol.


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Kevin Lockett is a social media strategist and pop culture blogger in Akron, Ohio.
In 2009, he launched the green jobs platform Hirejam.com to help Ohioans find green and renewable energy positions.

Mr. Lockett can be can be reached at kazwire@yahoo.com , Hirejam@gmail.com, Linkedin, Facebook or Twitter .

The Art of Djing and Music Programming: The WZIP Years

I have always had a passion for music and in college, I was fortunate enough to join the top college radio station in the country, WZIP-FM. The experience allowed me to develop my announcing skills, but I also learned how to manage a staff, when I became the music director for the pop/R&B station.

By the time my DJ career ended and I graduated from The University of Akron with a B.A. in Communications, I learned that being a leader takes hard work and managing personalities, including your own is a science.

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Kevin Lockett is a social media strategist and pop culture blogger in Akron, Ohio. In 2009, he launched the green jobs platform Hirejam.com to help Ohioans find green and renewable energy positions.

Mr. Lockett can be can be reached at kazwire@yahoo.com , Hirejam@gmail.com, Linkedin, Facebook or Twitter .