12-5-2014
2015 is almost upon us. Holidays, parties, talk of what changes will continue to roll through the industry. Disruptive technology threatens every business. How is your value rolling into 2015? Is on-air value enough? Work on multiple stations in the cluster, in the region, nationally? Social Media? Revenue generation? What?s enough in today?s complicated employment environment at radio?
Do you want to encourage companies to view you as more valuable? Learn to do what the great actors and actresses have always done: listen; find out how you can be helpful. Train yourself to ask how you can be helpful. Apply this directly to your life on-air and in social media.
1. Ask questions. Engage people on what is important to them.
2. Notice what the listeners you most want to attract are doing and seek ways to become part of their conversations on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms.
3. Use pictures to put the fun of your radio station and format in plain view of local listeners.
4. Look for ways to be helpful in social media. Most people will never go out of their way to be helpful to others. If you do this in social media, it gets noticed.
5. Tell stories about artists or elements of your format in social media. Make the stories brief, pointed and related to products you own (such as your website or on-air).
6. Engage other personalities on TV and other media in your market in social media. They will notice and engage, and listeners and viewers will, too.
2015 can be the year that you learn new tricks, get new leverage, and grow in your profession. The benefit may belong to your current employer in the short-term, but you will benefit in the long run by being the kind of employee that grows your influence by doing a few things consistently in social media (as you can on-air as well).
No matter what your New Year?s resolutions end up becoming, you can truly set the bar for a great future by taking your use of social media to the ?next level? by focusing on the six items above. Test your ability to grow value to your employers and to think about ways you might apply this value in the future?maybe even beyond radio. Why not? Content is important and learning more about ways to engage listeners makes you available for a variety of future delivery systems. That?s the way to be proactive about your future value.
Loyd Ford is the digital revenue, direct marketing, ratings, and social media strategist for Rainmaker Pathway and Americalist Direct Marketing. Loyd 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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