by Mike StilesWant your station to be famous in 2012? Then my advice is to gauge what ?worked? in the viral social network world in 2011 and learn some content lessons from it. These things were liked, shared, commented on, and spread for a reason. They hit a nerve, struck a funny bone, made people feel something, made them want to connect with others around it. Now THAT?S good content.
Taking some items mentioned in a recent year-ender blog, here are the lessons we as radio stations might take away about how to matter to people and consequently make some fireworks go off for our brands.
1. Rebecca Black?s "Friday" video got over 167 million views. As a PD, if someone came in and showed you this video, you?d have showed them the door. And you?d have blown a huge opportunity. People LOVE aggressively bad things. But the key to Rebecca?s success was that it wasn?t contrived bad?she was serious. Seek out the unintentionally funny.
2. News of bin Laden's death first broke on Twitter, breaking records with 12.4 million tweets per hour. When?s the last time you broke news? Are you even in a position and connected enough to find news to break?
3. UC Davis students posted a video of campus cop pepper spraying protesters. The "casually pepper spray everything cop" achieved meme status. Take what?s out there, and put your own comedic spin on it. Others will likely follow your lead, which makes you a leader.
4. During a GOP debate, Rick Perry couldn?t remember all 3 agencies he wanted to eliminate. People love to see the mighty turn human. Whether it?s audio or video, any time you can put a ?blooper? out there, it will be well received.
5. A cobra escaped the Bronx Zoo then started tweeting about his sightseeing. This fictional snake got 218,000+ followers. We have a history in radio of creating characters. You don?t have to be real to post or tweet, just clever.
6. People worldwide planked on everything they could find. Then "stocking" took off, where people imitated and parodied stock photos. Start a fad or activity that?s easy enough anyone can do it, and it may start turning up all over your city. But don?t force it. If it works, it works.
7. When Charlie Sheen joined Twitter, he set the Guinness world record of "Fastest Time to Reach One Million Followers." 25 hours, 17 minutes. Can you make a spectacle of something that?s already well-known? That?s a ?winning? combination that can result in huge, albeit short-term, interest.
8. When the shuttle Endeavor launched, an airplane passenger caught a photo and posted it to Twitter, achieving viral fame. Sometimes, it?s a matter of taking something that happens on a very regular basis and taking an entirely new, unseen angle on it.
Even if you?re a radio station that?s completely ignoring social media, you?re still in the attention-getting business. Advertisers count on you to generate attention?an audience. If you can?t, you are of no value. Start zeroing in on content that works.
Mike Stiles is a writer/producer with the social marketing tech platform, Vitrue, and head of Sketchworks comedy theatre. Check out his monologue blog, The Stiles Files.Find him on Facebook or on Twitter @mikestiles
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