Jacobs Media’s social media maven, Lori Lewis, continues her Friday series on “Balance” – best practices for radio’s use of the digital toolbox. We’ve gotten nice feedback on these posts, as Lori breaks down each letter of B-A-L-A-N-C-E to provide on-point information about social and digital assets and how best they can be utilized. Here’s the second letter “A” to wrap up the week:
What do The Terminator’s love child scandal and a brand with no social and digital strategy have in common?
When we fail to equally analyze the risks of our behaviors (be they on our social channels or in the maid’s quarters) as much as we seek the rewards, it’s almost a guaranteed mess. After reading about Arnold’s controversy, I couldn’t help but think about this post and how important it is to seriously recognize a key part of the 7 stages of B-A-L-A-N-C-E:
Analyze behavior risks and issues, as well as patterns and trends from what consumers say and share about you and your competitors.
As people become more popular within their own social media circles and networks, communication from brands must look and feel like a personalized message, not a mass broadcast.
Analyze your last few status updates, tweets, texts, and blog posts and see if this rings true with your brand’s social activities.
Your communications speak volumes about you, the brand. Or as Jeep now advertises, “The things we make, make us.”
Are they seeing that you push your brand and promotions on people or that you offer mutual help and you nurture dialogue with your consumers?
No matter the communications avenue, it always comes down to analyzing risk and reward.
The risk you take by not understanding the primary purpose behind the main social channels used today could result in tune-out, and/or being “unliked” and “unfollowed.” Recognize that even when your efforts mesh with the behavior expected on each channel, consumers may still turn their backs on you.
It only takes one unexpected tweet or comment by someone at the company or station, and things can get going in a hurry. Bad news travels fast. And if it’s salacious, it can go viral and move quickly, thus making it difficult for brands to recover fast enough. This is another reason why it’s key to lay out the risks and rewards of being a social brand and how to react – ahead of time.
Social sites have broken down the barriers between brands and people.
People believe companies that engage in dialogue with them are genuinely more interested in them than the ones that don’t respond. Positivity towards brands increases when companies have public dialogue on social sites, beyond just private emails or website help.
As you analyze these issues, one way to help steer the conversation is by encouraging dialogue through social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, blogs, forums and industry trades.
Stay ahead of the conversation. Monitor and be part of the dialogue. Authenticity will increase loyalty much faster than any prize pack they win when they qualify for the next big flyaway.
Beyond analyzing behavior and issues, other elements to assess are patterns and trends of what consumers are talking about. Look at the threads on various brands’ Facebook “Like/Fan” pages, and watch what they’re re-tweeting and/or posting as comments on blogs.
It’s about listening to those who choose to talk about your brand.
Who you are on your website and social sites influences the information people use and collect about you.
Are you ready to analyze and devise a plan to give digital and social devices importance to your communications? Your digital and social assets and usage say more than perhaps you realize about your brand. You, in fact, greatly influence your success or failure as a brand.
So while everyone is waiting to monetize Facebook, blow off Twitter, or refuse to blog because there’s no time – analyze what your brand needs to enable success, while assessing what could jeopardize it before you compose that next status update, tweet or blog.
And answer this question: What do you want the brand to be when you’re not looking?
While we don’t know what damage Arnold Schwarzenegger has done to his brand by not analyzing and thinking about his behavior before he “engaged,” only time will tell when and if his brand can recover and he will once again “Be Back.”
Please leave a comment at the bottom of the page. It’s always great to hear your perspective.
To read Lori’s other “Balance” blog posts, click below:
I have found twellow.com to be a great tool. You can zero in on any market and see who has the most followers and also what is trending in that particular part of the country.
Twitter and facebook is a 7 day 24/7 responsibility. If you only update two hours before you go on the air and two hours after then you are really doing a disservice to yourself and your station. Someone else will be hungrier than you and you will eventually be beaten.
Posted by: Danny Czekalinski | Friday, May 20, 2011 at 12:54 PM
You are right on Danny! If I were still running my radio station today - I'd be hoping all of my competition (direct and indirect) were idle on Twitter and not responding on FB - We only limit our opportunities to be chosen when we are not present - physically or virtually right?
Always so good to hear from you ;)
Posted by: Lorilewis | Friday, May 20, 2011 at 02:59 PM