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With Brands, As In Life, We Teach People How To Treat Us
April 19, 2016
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We talk a lot about acknowledgment - responding to fans on social platforms. Making sure the audience feels heard; reminding them that they matter.
But there's actually another "a" word that's just as critical.
Access
The social space has opened up a world where fans no longer want to sit back and consume us - they want to participate, share, and be closer to the action.
And part of recognizing that requires an understanding of how the core tenets of brand building and fan development have changed. It's less about superficially touching fans in bulk (caller 10 type contests) and more about this:
Creating 'Holy Crap' Moments for fans - one at a time.
While I have a few examples of radio creating these unexpected moments - one of my favorites goes back to working on a Ted Nugent Google Hangout with JT Tarrants, Program Director for WCSX/Detroit.
JT wanted to give a few hard core Nugent fans something they would talk about forever.
So we arranged just that.
We got Nugent and a few of his most fervent fans hooked up via Google Hangouts and their reaction was priceless.
They couldn't believe they were sitting in their own home on a random Tuesday night, asking their favorite rocker questions they never thought they'd be able to ask in a million years.
And moments like that is the true differentiator for any brand today
With brands - as in life - we teach people how to treat us. The more complacent we are socially, the more we are teaching our fans to be complacent about us.
The more exciting we are, the more revved up fans get with our brands.
Let fans see another side of you, a generous side. The side that shares your access with them.
The commodity game is easy to play - offering, in essence, the same type of contests, same type of talent, same everything - just calling it something different to yourself.
You may remember when Dave Grohl called up a crying fan to the stage. It feels like we read these type stories all of the time with Grohl.
This is what removes him from being just another rock star.
And that is what will help sustain you from being just another radio talent - just another radio station.
Radio has some of the greatest brands in media - but that doesn't mean we're entitled to keep running the same promotions, year after year, in order to achieve mass reach numbers. It's no longer (if in fact it ever was) the recipe to build and keep fan loyalty.
The era of entitlement is over.
It's a new era of "earn."
But we have to put the work in to earn their attention.
That means coming at everything from the fans' point of view.
Because it's not about the number of fans you serve all at one time.
It's about hacking your way to personalize each fan's journey with your brand.
Never underestimate the power of the personal touch and the work that must go into anything for it to scale.
Never miss an opportunity to be good to fans.
Reach out to me anytime on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter.
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