Comments (15)

By Beth Warren, September 22, 2009 12:09 pm

A couple of weeks ago I read a post by brilliant radio consultant Jaye Albright of Albright & O’Malley  – it was about a Twitter promotion a station in Texas was doing and how it’s only a matter of time before you see more Social Media contesting. 

Which makes sense.. it’s ALL media.. radio, television, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter.. it’s about connecting with others.  It’s a win/win.

Except for the fact that the majority of Radio fails miserably at Social Media.

Very few radio stations are using social media well.  Most aren’t using it at all. In this economy and the state that terrestrial radio is in, you THINK they’d be all over it.. after all, more listeners = more ratings = more money.

But they aren’t. They are either just not bothering or they are doing it poorly.

There are over 12 THOUSAND radio stations in the United States and only 121 of them are on Twitter. (http://radioontwitter.com/) 

Radio is missing a huge opportunity to drive web traffic, create listening appointments and increase time spent listening.. but they don’t seem to recognize what they are doing wrong.

The 3 biggest reasons:

1. Radio does not engage.

When I was in radio school, not to mention working in radio, the Program Directors would encourage the jocks to talk on air as if they were speaking to their best friend. One on one with another human being. Entertain them. Engage them.

So why isn’t radio doing that with Social Media?  They are breaking their own rules. Most radio stations have a disproportionate ratio of followers to following on Twitter and seem to rarely interact with those “friends” on Facebook. 

I randomly selected stations that I listen to as well as other stations from the U.S. and Canada..  Ninety five percent  of the stations I researched are following less than ten percent of their followers. Some aren’t following ANY.   HINT: The more you follow, the more will follow you back.

Many stations had less than 100 followers. And they’re only following 10 or so. Most of these seemed to be following celebrities and the like. Great for research. Bad for communication.  Dudes… I have more followers than you. And I don’t have a big ol’ broadcast centre.

If radio would become “friends” with these listeners, the listeners would be far more likely to be loyal.  Plus, sending out one “tweet” a day just doesn’t cut it.  Nor does being unresponsive when listeners send messages to you.  Hard to have a conversation with someone when you’re the one doing all the talking. Just sayin’.

p.s. Having your jocks “blog” by writing 3 lines with a link to a cat singing Happy Birthday. Yeah, not riveting.

2. Radio doesn’t promote itself.

I know! Hard to believe! Think about how many followers and friends Joe Average would have if he were on your local radio station every day telling everyone his Twitter handle and/or Facebook address or YouTube link.  Lots, right?  Thousands..maybe even bajillions…

 If radio actually DID such a thing, they would.  Listening to some of these stations, and checking out their websites.. most did not even have a link to any of their social media sites.  Nor did they talk about them on the air. 

Unfortunately, many in radio think that social media sites are competition for hits to their own websites. 

They’re wrong.

Most listeners will go on a social media site at least once a day.. not so much their favourite radio station’s website. Using social media effectively, radio could drive far more listeners to their own websites.

Using tools like Facebook, Radio could have listeners upload their  own content for contests.. much simpler than Buddy emailing a pic and webguy having to then upload it to the station’s site.

Connect the dots people. It’s what links are for.

3.  Radio vastly underestimates Social Media’s value.

Unfortunately, most in radio don’t think social media is a valuable tool for them. However, now I will speak in their language. Demographics.

Looking at the facts and figures provided by Mashable, Neilsen and Quantcast there are currently 14 million Twitter users in the U.S. alone.  Which makes it sound kind of piddly when you realize that Facebook has over 200 MILLION users.

And, my radio friends, sixty-six percent of those using Facebook are between the ages of 18-49.  58% of users make over 60K a year. 54% Female.. 46% male.  Sound familiar? 

Twitter usage has jumped from just over 5 million users to 27.6 million users in 6 months. Twitter is most popular with working adults between the ages of 35-49. Accounts for 42% of their audience.

Seventy-two percent of Twitterers are in the core demo of 18-49.  54% Female.  46% Male. The vast majority of Tweeters are not only regulars, but they are “addicts”.  From February ’08 to February ’09, Twitter usage increased 1382%. 

Go look at the cold hard facts.. www.quantcast.com … www.nielsen.com .  And read this .

Yet, most stations don’t even have a social media strategy.  Why not?

Radio: Let me know if you need help with that.. evilgenius@live.ca

Comments (1)

By Beth Warren, July 30, 2009 5:58 pm

“The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” - Groucho Marx

I was listening to my local radio station the other day and the announcer on air made a huge deal for several breaks about playing the new Pearl Jam tune. I’m not the biggest PJ fan in the world (is it cool to call them that, or did I just out myself as a geek?) but because he was making a big deal out of it, I noticed. So when he said “here it is!” I listened.. and low and behold, there was the intro … which sounded an awful lot like AC/DC’s Back in Black… which it was. 

A couple more songs played, then he introduced the new Pearl Jam again without calling notice to the fact that he pushed the wrong button the first time around.

Now, I went to radio school and worked in the field.. and I have pushed the wrong button. Some programmers will say just pretend it never happened. However, as a listener, I feel as if you are trying to dupe me. I know what I heard. Don’t treat me like I’m dumb. I would have had far more respect for the dude if he stopped the song in it’s tracks, said “I’m a dumbass, sorry…” and THEN played the track.

When you stretch the truth, watch out for the snapback.  ~Bill Copeland

I follow this guy on Twitter who has created numerous Twitter accounts in order to promote his new business.  Which is fine, except that he operates all of them himself, pretending to be other people.  He’ll have Twitter conversations with his various accounts, asking “the guy who works for him” questions and replying.. he’s even gone so far as to create fictitious CLIENTS.  And then proceeds to have “wow you guys really helped me” conversations.

Here’s the thing.. he slips up every now and again and responds from the wrong account. He also phrases all of his tweets the same way for each account, so it’s pretty obvious.   If I notice this, others have to be noticing too. I understand he’s trying to start a “buzz” about his venture, but by creating fake clients and fake employees, I have no reason to trust anything else he’s saying.  So every time he contacts me about something, I am entirely skeptical.  

From the errors of others, a wise man corrects his own.  ~Syrus

Last year I joined the AC/DC fan club in order to take advantage of the advance tickets available to club members. Part of my membership package included a “gift pack”.  So I waited.. and waited and many months later still had not received my “special fan club gift”.

So of course I was a little put out.. I went to their website and looked for a “contact” to complain to.  Finally found an email address and shot off a note.. also noticing that on the fan club page it now said that they had a YEAR to send out the item (I didn’t notice that the first time…. I’m not sure it was there in the first place..)

Then I waited. And still nothing… so I started telling people I was going to boycott AC/DC and blog about it and oh you wait.. they’ll be sorry. (Knowing full well that likely this would have absolutely no affect on this little Australian band…) Then FINALLY (the day before I moved coincidentally!) I received a package from AC/DC Fan Club headquarters!  Got my buttons and stickers and other trinkets.. plus a note that apologized for the delay.

And I was happy.

“Honesty is something you can’t wear out” – Waylon Jennnings

The gift itself wasn’t that big a deal, it was the fact that they admitted fault,  and fixed it.

All anyone really wants out of any relationship whether it be personal or business is that the other party in the relationship is being honest and treats them with respect.  Everyone screws up. Admit, fix it, move on.

Just be real.

Because most people want to be spoken to  honestly and be treated like they have a brain in their head.

Oh, and maybe some AC/DC buttons.

Comments (2)

By Beth Warren, July 10, 2009 4:05 pm

 Infectious and Viral isn’t Always a bad thing…

Viral – a term used to describe anything related to viruses.  Virus – a microscopic infectious agent.

I was online with a friend and we were discussing an online group that we had both joined.  It’s grown very large very quickly and many in the group are boycotting a particular business. Neither of us are sure if  all of the reasoning behind the boycott is sound, but that’s neither here nor there.  We were saying that the business in question would likely see some not so great repercussions from this viral phenomenon.  People were angry and it was spreading.. yup, like a virus. 

We discussed how viral marketing can go either way — can either hurt or help.  The same friend sent me the link to this video which was recorded at festival in Calgary.  It’s essentially a human reenactment of viral marketing.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA8z7f7a2Pk&feature=related]

Buddy is just enjoying himself.  His “product” so to speak is his dancing… and fun.

He’s just dancing away having a great time, doing the best he can and being quite entertaining ….then he engages a “customer” in essence… another guy comes and joins his dance.  These two guys are having so much fun that a couple of others are drawn in and come over to join… then a few more.. until there’s a rush of people at the 1:30 mark of the video.  Then SWARMS of people are tripping over themselves to be a part of this because practically everyone is doing it and it’s now THE THING to do.  Everyone gets caught up in the feeling.  His enthusiasm became contagious and spread through the crowd within minutes.

Buddy was just being himself and being real.  He was just being the best darn (possibly drunk) crazy dancer he could be.  He didn’t have any kind of slick come on or marketing or ad campaign. His “product” .. what engaged people.. was his fun loving attitude.. a couple people joined, then a few more.. until loads of people were infected with his spirit.. they all wanted a piece of the party. 

It’s very much the way social media and viral marketing both work.. like the old shampoo commercials said “I told two friends, and they told two friends.. and so on.. and so on… ”

If your first customer is super happy with you, he’ll tell lots of other people.  And they’ll tell others.  It becomes contagious.

And if you love what you do and enjoy it and provide a great product, you’ll be “infectious”… people will want to be a part of the fun.

At the very end of the video you can hear a girl say “HOW did he DO that?”.   Just by being real and enthused…  and being the best darn crazy dancer he could be.

Comments (1)

By Beth Warren, July 3, 2009 10:01 pm

I learned all about logos and promo at a very young age… my first “real” job was screen printing tee shirts at a promo company when I was 13.  So needless to say I’ve seen some very good and very bad work done.

After all, your logo is supposed to convey not only what your brand is, but hopefully what your business does or  is trying to sell. It’s supposed to represent.  When I saw the new Sony Music logo I just did not “get it”.  (Sony is not a client, this is my personal opinion.. just to be clear).  Yes, SonyBMG is back to Sony Music after several years and so were in need of a new “face”.  But, what is it? If you just saw the symbol, you’d think it was for a paint store or something.  It’s not offensive or unattractive or awful, it just doesn’t say “hey, we make music”.

Basic elements of a great logo are:

• conveys your brand
• memorable
• looks good in black and white, as well as in color
• simple yet distinctive
  

  NO ONE noticed? REALLY? WTF is right...

• no clutter or distraction
• scalable – looks good large or small
• easy to reproduce and maintain integrity
• keep in mind where it’s going to be used

A point that many miss is whether it’s easy to reproduce. If it’s going to be used for clothing, whether it be screen printed or embroidered, how tough or easy will it be to capture the nuances in colour or the fantastic detail?  What works on the web or in print may not necessarily work for your company uniform or promo shirts.

One of the biggest things so many seem to overlook is “what is this going to look like to my potential clients?” It’s important to get feedback.  What looks stellar to some, once unveiled, may not convey the message you wish to deliver.  After all, the purpose of your logo is to be “Logogrammatic”.

Transfiguration High School's Logo. The person who approved this has been living in a cave.

Logo for Catholic Youth Diocese. FAIL.

The logo that was decided upon. ArtistsHeart Productions - a film & television production company. What do you think?

Comments (2)

By Beth Warren, June 30, 2009 2:37 pm

As most Canadians are aware the “Do Not Call List” went into effect last September and of course, now everyone in the country makes it through dinner without having to answer the phone with their mouths full.

What? No?  You’re still getting calls?  Look at the shock on my face.

When the CRTC announced it’s intentions to launch the DNCL, the average Canadian was thrilled that they could simply make a call or sign up online and they’d never be “harassed” again.  More than 5.8 million numbers were registered with the DNCL right off the top.  There are certain exemptions (political parties, opinion polls and the like… check out the DO NOT CALL website for more info) so you are likely to still get some calls.

But, telemarketing is big business in Canada. In 2006 alone, $4.1 billion was spent on telemarketing in Canada, generating $26.1 billion in sales and creating 155,000 jobs.  And,  the issues with the Do-Not-Call list are many.  So the telemarketers are not going to roll over and play dead.. as much as you wish they would.

Anyone can go online and purchase the DNCL.  Telemarketing companies are obligated to do so in order to update their call lists – they have 30 days to remove your number.  However.. they have 30 days. In which time they can still call you.  As well, this only applies to Canadian companies.  Businesses calling from the U.S. or India can conceivably get the DNCL then dial to their hearts content. 

However, this isn’t the point of my post.  My point is to help you get through dinner each night without having to re-nuke it…

You’re eating dinner or painting the kitchen or bathing the dog or what have you and the phone rings.. you don’t recognize the number but you pick it up anyway.  And you immediately get “Hi Mr/Mrs Homeowner..my name is Nancy and I’m calling from the ABC Company to inform you about our huge promotional deal on lawn care/driveway sealing/storm windows…”

At which point you either are intrigued by Nancy’s great offer and engage in witty banter or hang up/tell her it’s a bad time/scream at her until you pop a blood vessel in your eye.  

These people aren’t trying to ruin your lives or poison your dog.  They are doing a job. How do I know?  I’ve done telemarketing on several occasions and I’ve been sworn at, yelled at, and instructed to perform various sexual acts to myself which I am very certain are anatomically impossible.

Most of these people did not pick this as their dream job. Likely, as in my case, it was a “make do” situation to pay the bills till something else came along.  It’s not strenuous, but it’s not an easy gig. At times it’s mind dumbingly boring.. waiting for someone to pick up the phone.  And the near constant rejection can be either extremely amusing (to someone like me… like when one woman told me she’d rather set her own hair on fire than talk to me…) or very hurtful.. You’d be surprised at what “sweet little old ladies” will tell you to do with your phone and your “great deal”. 

So here, my friends, is the biggest secret I will ever tell you: screaming at telemarketers, swearing at them, hanging up…. doesn’t get you taken off their list. 

The lists that these companies purchase are expensive and it’s a pain for them to take numbers off (so they say).  So they will merely file your number away to be called on another occasion several months down the road… when you might be in a better mood.   Telling them that it’s “not a good time right now” just makes them think that a later time will be better for you.

And then you will get another round of calls. And another cold dinner.

Here are the magic words.. the most important words you can utter: “Take me off your list”.  That’s all you have to do.  You can also ask for a confirmation number (they are legally obligated to provide one should you ask).  The telemarketer on the other end is likely more than happy to accomodate you.  It’s part of their job.

No need for threats or screaming or rudeness. Just “take me off your list”.  Five magic words.. It’s a win/win. You get a hot meal.. the telemarketer doesn’t have to figure out how to accomplish anything remotely anatomically impossible.

Enjoy your meal.

Comments (0)

By Beth Warren, June 13, 2009 11:19 pm

For several weeks now the big news was that at midnight last night Facebook would be offering vanity URL’s to their users. 

I know several people who were planning to stay up late to make sure they got their preferred names. I wasn’t planning on being one of them.. I just really wasn’t all that concerned.  There are a lot of “Beth Warrens” on Facebook and if I had to pick a different name… then no big deal. 

I use Facebook for fun, not for “business” or anything of that nature.. it’s a way to stay connected to my friends around the country and around the world.  It’s “personal” for me..  more of a  free time fooling around kind of thing.  Most of what I post is fairly humourous and tongue in cheek.. so if I had to go with something else.. I could live with it.  evilgenius maybe?  funniestgirlintheworld (my hotmail addy)?  Honestly, didn’t really give it much thought.   In fact, midnight came and went and I totally forgot about it and went to bed.

I was actually surprised at how many people were going a wee bit crazy over the whole thing.  Apparently within an hour a million user names had been registered. 

This morning I remembered that the URL’s were available and asked my kids if they were going to put vanity URL’s on their Facebook pages. First, they had no idea what I was talking about. Then, they confirmed that I was both addicted to the internet and that I was a geek.  (Uh, duh.)  And then they completely ignored the whole thing.

I logged on to FB and tried it out.. first try, http://www.facebook.com/bethwarren was available.. and I took it.  There are a LOT of Beth Warrens on FB so I’m really quite surprised I got it. 

I’ve taken a look through my friends’ profiles and some have added a personalized URL, some haven’t.  Most just used their own names. But some got creative. My favourite is my friend Avril’s… http://www.facebook.com/laughaminute (uh, I’m still the funniest girl in the world.. just so you know, Av.). 

But bethwarren will do.. after all, it’s my name.. oh, and evilgenius was taken.

(Take a look at this one.. this is hilarious.)

Comments (2)

By Beth Warren, June 12, 2009 12:48 am

The sponge

A friend of mine recently bought a bag of what she thought would be delicious snacks for her family.. only to be horribly disappointed.. and in more ways than one.

Elaine picked up a bag of Humpty Dumpty Cruncheez while grocery shopping.. brought them home and threw them in the cupboard.  A few days later her son pulled the bag out, looking for a treat.. and instead found a disgusting green cleaning sponge in the bag with the cheesy snacks.

CFIA taking sample

The cheese/cleaning fluid combination was so repulsive that both she and her son became nauseated and sick.  Elaine sealed the bag and made some calls.. the first to the Old Dutch Corporation, who owns Humpty Dumpty to report what she found.

She spoke with someone in customer service/quality control and also called the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.  Old Dutch asked for a sample of the sponge, but she said no as she wanted to give it to CFIA.   

CFIA inspects bag

Canadian Food Inspection Agency came to see Elaine and took samples back to their lab to analyze.  CFIA determined that indeed, it was a cleaning sponge that had fallen into a bag of the Cruncheez before being sealed.  CFIA inspected the Old Dutch plant and determined that the sponge did come from their plant.  It was determined to be an “isolated incident” and “inconclusive” as far as exactly how the sponge got in the bag, but it appeared to be accidental.

The CFIA wrote Elaine a letter explaining their findings.  Then Elaine attempted to get in touch with Old Dutch by phone and email to find out what they were going to do.  And she waited some more.   Finally, they sent her a letter. The letter from the Old Dutch Corporation cited that they had determined that there was “no failure at this time” and that “we will do everything in our power to ensure this does happen in the future”.. (hoping that’s a typo and not a Freudian slip)..  They also informed Elaine that they do not offer monetary compensation for non-injury claims, but had offered to give her a few coupons for some chips.  She told them not to bother.

Elaine was extremely angry with the response by Old Dutch.  For one, she says she’ll never purchase Old Dutch or Humpty Dumpty products again and therefore the coupons would be useless to her.  She was upset that they didn’t even offer to refund her money.  Not only that, but her treatment by the employee at Old Dutch was not the best to say the least.  She felt they were lax (she had to chase them to even get a return call) and initially she felt that they treated her like a liar.. as if she had made the whole thing up just to gouge them out of some money.

CFIA

When I asked Elaine what she had wanted to happen.. what COULD have made this right for her, it was very simple. The things that galled her the most was the fact that not ONCE did they ever even say SORRY.  The carefully worded letter she received avoided admitting any responsibility whatsoever.  They didn’t seem to care that she and her son had become ill from their product.  In order for them to make this right for her, and to retain her customer loyalty, all they had to do was apologize.

In the current economic climate, you’d think that most businesses would want to retain as many customers as possible.  After all, it’s much harder to win back a disgruntled customer once you’ve lost them.  And often an unhappy customer whose problem is resolved to their satisfaction can become that company’s biggest ally.   Customer service is supposed to be just that. It’s not called business service.  The point is to resolve the situation to the customer’s satisfaction, not the company’s.

And often times all it takes is an apology.

Comments (0)

By Beth Warren, June 4, 2009 11:57 am

Many years ago, I was tagged with the nickname “Evil Genius”.  I can’t remember quite how it started.. but it’s kind of stuck over time.. mostly because I have refused to let it die.  That being said, please keep in mind that I generally use my powers for good…generally.

I’ll be using this blog to comment on marketing, promotion, public relations and the like. My background in such is mostly music based.. (see ABOUT page if you like…)  but I’ve had a lot of different gigs.. and I’m a consumer, so I know both sides.  And I have lots of opinions that I can rarely keep to myself..

Cheers!