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Twitter Is The Metric Of Emotional Response
July 28, 2015
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Because it's important to pay attention to what people are talking about, I keep my eye on Twitter throughout the day and night.
And anytime radio is trending -- I take note. Monday night, I saw a radio station trending nationwide:
I've blocked the identity because this isn't about calling anyone out.
This is about lessons learned.
When I clicked the trend (the station's name) from the Top 10 list to see why the station was trending, it wasn't good. It sounded like the station had been teasing the audience about playing an exclusive, unreleased track -- for hours.
And that tactic clearly backfired:
And that's a small fragment of tweets. Twitter was relentless.
While the backstory is that an artist failed to show up with an apparent promised delivery of an unreleased, never before heard, song for exclusive airplay, it didn't have to play out the way it did.
Things happen. We get stiffed by artists all the time. But let this serve as a reminder of the culture we're operating in.
Technology has changed audience expectations.
Long, extended teases have zero value in today's "on demand" economy.
Our bandwidth and tolerance for bull has diminished. People want transparency.
The station should have just been real.
Rather than, "wait for it…just a little longer…it's on the way…we promise," come out and say you got stiffed.
Put the heat on the artist if you have to. But don't leave listeners, the station's most prized asset waiting. They have voices equal to brands these days. And they love to be vocal -- especially when someone or something has let them down.
Twitter is the barometer of emotional response. Pay attention to it.
It will tell you exactly how you're making the audience feel in the moment.
And that should matter - if you're invested in the audience.
In the social space, listen more than you speak; read tweets wisely, but with thick skin. Not every burst is thought out.
Get a system in place to respond socially when moments go south. Be truthful. Humanize your station. Transparency is such a critical role in a brand's social reputation and success.
Reach out to me anytime on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter.
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