President-elect Barack Obama did it during his campaign. Dave Matthews is doing it, and Lance Armstrong is doing it. Should your radio station do it?
Micro-blogging is the technology of the moment. It seems that everyone is posting SMS-style bits of his or her latest life events on Facebook or Twitter. Take Janis Krums, who was on board a ferry in the Hudson River in New York City and helped rescue passengers from crashed US Airways flight 1549. Krums was on his Twitter account and provided some of the very first images of the event using an iPhone and Twitpic.com. Even the Israeli Consulate is posting on Twitter and Facebook in an effort to manage the spin of their Gaza offensive.
I speak with radio managers everyday that wonder if their stations should participate in the micro blogging craze. The answer is yes, with one caveat: it must be done correctly.
Don’t be afraid. Micro-blogging is just another tool to add to your station’s branding strategy. But micro-blog messaging must be personal, literally meaning it should to come from a person, not from the brand. This is an opportunity to have your talent communicate very powerful and personal messages.
Take a close look at micro-blogs and you will realize that the most effective messages are sincere and that they embody the unique point of view of the writer. The lesson here is to skip the liner style promotional mentions and have talent post personal messages that relate a behind the scenes perspective. Air talent personally posting the message “Can’t get enough of this new Kelly Clarkson song “My Life Would Suck Without You”, I am obsessed.” carries far more impact than the station tweeting “X100 plays today’s best music – listen for he new Kelly Clarkson song, My Life Would Suck Without You”. Don’t automate this process or assign it to an intern; every message should be unique and sincere and personal.
Micro-blogs can be easily and instantly updated. Expensive and complex database programs are not required – anyone can navigate Twitter or Facebook. A secondary benefit is to your image; your station will be known as an adopter of new technology. And there are viral marketing opportunities as you expose your brand to others on the social networking sites. Virally spreading positive word-of-mouth about your station can help attract new customers that discover you on the site.
Whatever you do, do it consistently. A stale Twitter feed is as bad as an outdated website. Also, there are tools to help you link together the statuses, tweets, and other content so that you can post once and have it flow to the other systems.
How can micro-blogging and other social networking tools can be used as part of your branding strategy?
~ JOHN PEAKE
Further reading:
David Pogue of the New York Times: Twittering Tips For Beginners 1/15/09
The Dynamics of Viral Marketing
Marketing via social networks a no-no?
Love the articles and have sent them out and suggested this is a must read e-mail subscription!!!
jagger
Good commonsense suggestions here- I work for a radio company- and we have been trying to understand how to twitter and facebook. This info is great start. Any other social networking sites that we shoul be aware of?