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It's All About Paying Attention
October 6, 2015
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When you are true to one fan at a time, it breaks through. People who care start recognizing that - especially in the social space.
It's the heart of social really; serving fans and personalized acknowledgment.
Helping people feel seen and heard. And through that type of treatment, brands elevate excitement for the fans and strengthen its value.
It's not easy -- hitting it out of the park each day. But it starts with being present and connected and finding ways to one up our actions with social. Even by including actual human interaction.
One example of what that looks like comes from NBC's Dateline.
They not only pay attention to who tweets at them, and about them, they also pay attention to how they can go beyond the ordinary and create what I call 'Holy Crap' moments for fans.
Moments that really get fans revved up for our brands.
For Dateline's premiere a couple weeks ago, the show's correspondents and producers traveled across the country to surprise fans and live tweet along with them from the comfort of their own homes.
And to watch this play out from start to finish was inspiring. Fans couldn't believe their favorite correspondent was sitting right next to them.
Josh Mankiewicz live-tweeted from the home of a fan in Baltimore:
Keith Morrison joined a fan and her friends at her Los Angeles home:
Dennis Murphy live-tweeted with fans in Nashville:
While Andrea Canning was with fans in Florida:
This is what it looks like to take your station's social efforts to another level -- super sized personalized acknowledgment. To fans -- feelings are fact. And they will always remember how Dateline and its correspondents made them feel.
Will they watch more because of personalized acknowledgment?
Maybe, maybe not. (Dateline's ratings do continue to rise.)
But fans will never stop talking about it, lending to the power of word of mouth that inspires other people to tune in.
- This is what differentiating your brand from the pack looks like.
- This is what sowing seeds socially looks like -- in hopes to meet objectives.
If social is going to correlate to higher ratings, genuine effort is required.
It's not about giving away Katy Perry tickets at 2:15. It's about giving them a voice, making them feel that they matter and then in return -- reaping their loyalty.
The fact that social platforms are now public with investors to answer to, growing users by the millions, and having to create code to keep crappy social posts away from its users, should be forcing brands to up their game.
It starts with creating the principles that will guide you into the hearts and hands of the fans. The same type of fundamentals the entire Dateline team applies each day.
We can't wing this stuff or show up on Twitter when we feel like it.
We're not entitled to loyalty just because they like our stations or are even emotionally connected to our talent. We have to earn their allegiance to our brands -- every day, one person at a time.
Reach out to me anytime on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter.
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