3-7-2014
It?s pretty simple. You?re in it or you are o-u-t. But some people are out without even recognizing that they have left the listener playing field and are slowly going to sleep while the edge goes to competitors and their advantage with local listeners quietly slips into the darkened past. Is this you? Here are the five ways to make sure you are not dying a slow death from ?Old Guy Sickness,? or you could call it ?5 Ways To Make Your Social Media Help You Today.?
1. Stop thinking about your competition as being only your direct format competitor. It isn?t. Today you compete with everyone. Your format. Radio. TV. Web. Newspaper. Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. Go! Do good work. Engage! Remember: If you look only at your direct format competitor to see how you are doing, you will soon be dead. Don?t be dead.
2. Being careless about the impact of your social media activity (or lack of it) will kill you. Listeners see the messages you put on social media. You are engaged or you don?t matter in 2014. That?s it. Be engaged in impacting the lives of local listeners you most want to attract.
3. Don?t keep up with trends in social media. After all, what else could they invent? Do this and you will die. Social media and digital changes all the time. Your listeners are becoming more and more aware of things that help them with their ?time, freedom, money, and fun? every single day. If you fall away because you are not actually tuned in, shame on you! Don?t fall away. Be with your listeners. Lead them to the new places and be what they can depend upon.
4. Thinking you can ?slum it? and assign your social media to part-timers or the morning show is death. It?s coming for you: death. Don?t just push off social media strategy. Develop one that helps you achieve your ratings goals and the company?s revenue goals (yes, I said it). Maybe you have a great morning show. Good for you, but you better be engaged in helping them keep up with trends (see number 3 above) and making their jobs of engaging listeners as it relates to the station goals easier. Coaching has evolved and should include social media for all your on-air talent.
5. Think only about the minimums in your job (there?s so much to do). You better be in social media, locally focused and telling your story. If not, you know what I am going to say: You are dying. It does not take a rocket scientist to see that listeners in every single market are purchasing more and more of the latest smart phones. Gone are the days when you could say, ?My listeners don?t spend too much time on the computer.? Where do you think you are? The 1950s? Gone. Today, you want to think about now and the future. The past is dead.
So many tools are available at your fingertips. These tools are designed to help you share, communicate, engage, and give value to others. Radio (and I mean local radio) was and is the original social medium. Nothing has changed. Local radio has about 90-94 percent of the general population on a daily basis. Use it wisely. Engage social media for your local brand.
Be the connectivity pro who evolves in your market as the go-to-pro for social connectivity. What will that lead to? Not death. Better, stronger employment, more opportunity, and fun with local listeners. Good luck!
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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