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The Era Of Entitlement Is Over; It's Now The Era Of Earn
October 28, 2014
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Most of today's challenges in the social space aren't really about how to use the platforms as much as they are in understanding why people enjoy them. Social networks are not created equal -- there is a distinct purpose for each one.
Twitter, for example, beyond the real time news and information that's shared every day -- has humor and snark, a playfulness that transpires on this platform.
Yet, all too often when a media brand gets traction on Twitter and starts trending, it's typically frivolous, self-indulgent, forgettable contesting.
Brands forego that fun interplay (what fans really want) in favor of telling them what to do. For example, "tweet incessantly" in order to win concert tickets and backstage passes.
But when you do that, you're creating problems for people socially.
Thus, fans lose followers, their friends get annoyed with them, and most of all, your brand misses the point of the social space.
Social is not about being "caller 10."
It goes deeper than that.
It's an opportunity to create meaningful moments, honest interaction, and real reciprocation.
It's about the audience "owning" the moments you create and telling your story for you.
That's what happened with WXPN/FM Philadelphia. PD Bruce Warren and his team had been running their annual "Top 885 Songs" of all time, voted by the audience. Using the hashtag, "#885Countdown," XPN listeners couldn't stop talking about this countdown -- especially when they heard a song they voted on.
But to the audience's surprise, WXPN decided to keep the party going with "#88worst" -- the worst 88 songs -- ever.
And that's when the online chatter exploded.
Warren told me he had "an intuitive sense" that "#88worst" would be big socially, and it was. Hundreds and hundreds of tweets helped this on-air moment trend on Twitter through-out the day that it aired:
Warren said, "Our fans are very passionate about all kinds of music. But when you
start talking about the best and the worst music, that's something music fans love to talk about, share, and bring other people into the conversation."
And they certainly were talking:
You can read more tweets about #88worst on Twitter.
But "#88worst" is a reminder that when we invite fans to use social the way they enjoy using it -- memorable moments happen for them.
Warren saw it, too: "I was watching hundreds of tweets flood my Tweetdeck and I was drowning in Twitter happiness. Over the week, we added almost 800 new followers on Twitter."
Isn't this the way every brand should be using social?
To reinforce why our stations matter in their lives and strengthen our reputation (what people remember about us).
We're not always going to hit it out of the park with "being social," but the more we study fan behavior and expectations from brands on these platforms, the more we'll understand this:
The era of entitlement is over.
It's a new era of "earn."
Radio has some of the greatest brands in media - but that doesn't mean we're entitled to an active social fan base. We have to work at it.
Put the fans first, and create and present content from their point of view so that we may earn the privilege of their time and attention.
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