8-21-2013
It?s not the 20th century anymore. In the old days, you just went on the air and did your show, you answered the request line, played songs, and enjoyed the music. But the old days are gone and you can never go back. Today you have to be ?connected? to listeners in social media. It?s new and you have to be an expert, right? What if the answer was suddenly, ?No?? Open your mind and let?s use the experience you already have as we look at what is happening with listeners today in a slightly new way. Here is how to make complicated social media fun in eight steps. Ready?
1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Make the other person feel important ? and do it sincerely.
3. Talk in terms of the other person?s interest.
4. A person?s name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
5. Give honest and sincere appreciation.
6. Be sympathetic with the other person?s ideas and desires.
7. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
8. Arouse in the other person an eager want.
How do you make sure you are focusing on the right things so you are not just using your opinion to determine what is important to local listeners? It?s easy to learn to use Twitter for that. Learn something new if you?ve not done this. To view trends on Twitter for a specific location, click CUSTOMIZE in your Trends box. Select the desired location. Yes, you can select your city. You can look up local Tweets on any topic by using advanced Twitter Search operators.
No matter what you post in social media, using these eight things as your ?funnel? (content should have to ?qualify? before you post it) will keep you on target for a more powerful connectivity to the listeners you most want to attract and it will impact everything from your ratings to the power to move local listeners to issues important to them and to you. Focus locally and put these eight things to work consistently in your social media and you will be an expert. At the same time, you have to lay down that all too constant human desire and demand to focus on only what you want.
How about two social media bonuses (I don?t want you to feel you didn?t get your money?s worth)? Appeal to the nobler motives and throw down a challenge.
If this doesn?t look new to you, it isn?t. These tips are very loosely taken directly from Dale Carnegie, who died in 1955. His Facebook page has over 184,000 ?likes,? but you should really read his book ?How To Win Friends and Influence People.? Yep. Still good stuff and totally worth using for your social media or your life.
Why Have A Plan?
You know the old saying, ?If you don?t know where you are going, you?ll end up somewhere else.? Of course this means you should develop a strategic plan for your social media right down to the percentage of each type of content you post, when and where you use visuals, what each person on your team is responsible for daily, and local high-passion causes that can generate powerful ?stickiness.?
Always encourage turning your local social media attention on the listeners you most want to attract while using visuals (and that definitely includes video) to display why your radio station, your show, is fun! People do love fun. That?s why everyone generally celebrates Friday and the same people look at Monday with great suspicion.
With the launch and explosive growth of Facebook and other social media platforms, people are more connected than ever and also actually less connected than ever. Nevertheless, everyone you know craves validation. Give it to them in your market.
If Dale Carnegie was excellent at social media and he died in 1955, you can surely do amazing things in your local radio market in 2013.
Now, let?s get out there and get interested in some local listeners!
Loyd Ford is the direct marketing, ratings and social media strategist for Americalist Direct Marketing and has programmed very successful radio brands in markets of all sizes, including KRMD AM & FM in Shreveport, and WSSL and WMYI in Greenville, WKKT in Charlotte and WBEE in Rochester, NY. Learn more about Loyd here: http://about.me/loydford. Get his radio-social media content sent directly to your smart phone or email for free here: www.rainmakerpathway.wordpress.com. Reach out to Loyd via e-mail HERE. Visit his Facebook radio social media page HERE.
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