The Dark Nut Returns

Lou Brutus is a rare breed in my book. He's an exceptional on-air talent and an extraordinary on-line talent. You might be asking yourself: "Chuck, what is the difference?" The difference is this: Lou is a mold-breaking personality exclusively to the on-air as well as the on-line world.

Let me explain.

If you hear Lou on Harddrive Radio, you know the level of talent he possesses. Aside from the entertaining broadcast itself, Lou has helped break certain acts such as Slipknot and Godsmack.

Now if you turn the mic off and focus solely on his digital efforts, what you find is a whole new level to the personality that is Brutus. You find a guy who uses Facebook multiple times every single day to promote his personal website, comedic efforts and even his personal photography. He uses Twitter the same way: pushing out his ingenious one-liners to thousands of fans.

What is rare is the fact that this nationally syndicated on-air host has such a personal connection to his followers in the on-line world. Yes, you can find radio personalities who use social media exceptionally well, but most of the time they use it to promote only their on-air product.

Trust me, that ain't a bad thing.

But the way Brutus has approached his digital strategy is very unique.

Take this for example: Last week, Lou released the cover art, black and white, to his new comic book, "The Dark Nut Returns." He is giving his fans the opportunity to download the cover, color it in and email it to him for a shot at winning a prize back. From Brutus:

"The finest will be posted for the world to see with the artists of each being singled out for some special surprises. The cover is up now and a new page will continue the story each week."

Not only is Lou giving his fans a reason to participate in his contest, but he is also creating a reason to return every single week: A new page to the comic is released each week at LouBrutus.com. This produces a sense of exclusivity to Lou and his website.

I think this is one of the coolest promotions I've seen recently. First off, how many personalities have a custom comic book out there? Secondly, instead of jumping the gun and releasing the entire book at once or worse yet, charging fans for it, he prolongs the excitement by releasing it one page at a time. Thirdly, he brings the fans into the game by letting them color each page.

The coolest part about this? If you visit HarddriveRadio.com, you won't easily find any mention regarding this comic book promotion. This promotion is purely Lou's personal baby being pushed via Facebook, Twitter and LouBrutus.com.

My advice to you? Take a chance and do something outside of the box not for your on-air product. Do it for you. Not only will you expand your horizons and build yourself up, you'll create a brand new connection to your listeners that will definitely affect your on-air product in a positive way.

Fortunately, this tale doesn't end here. In the next couple of weeks, I'm going to be chatting with Lou Brutus about his embrace of digital. He has some killer insight that will not only benefit you, but it should be entertaining to read.

Find Lou on Facebook, Twitter and over at LouBrutus.com.