Lessons on Social Networking and Blogging from Traditional Media - Eric Rhoads - MediaBizBloggers

Bashing traditional media as "old school" is popular these days and, with the declining revenues and audiences of newspapers, television, and consumer magazines, it's easy to take shots. In fact, not all old media is crashing. Radio, for instance, has not seen declining audience numbers like other media. So bloggers and others using social media have a lot they can learn from traditional media.

Summertime Blues

In a recent blog, Internet Guru Leo Laporte reported that several weeks of his blogs had not been published due to a glitch in Google Buzz. According to Laporte, "no one noticed," so he was going to discontinue blogging. I pointed out to him that perhaps there is more to the story. For instance, these blogs supposedly went unnoticed during the summer. Traditional media companies will tell you that audiences shift into a passive mode in the summer, because they are occupied with vacations, cookouts, boating, fishing, hiking, and other recreational activities. For that same reason, television networks place their top-tier, fresh programming when school is in session and repeat a lot of their old programming during the summer months, when viewership declines. Perhaps Laporte's absent audience was just outside, instead of in front of the computer. I blog and post on Twitter and Facebook consistently most of the year, but I barely spent any time posting or checking social networking sites this summer. I usually do my posting late at night after the kids are in bed, but in the summertime it's light outside later, the kids are up later, and family demands keep me off the computer in the evenings. I also found less connectivity in the mountains, where we spent much of the summer.

Advice for Posting: Things slow down in the summer, so either take a break and resume when audiences return or increase your frequency so you'll get noticed more. (Note: The constant din of bloggers can sometimes be annoying anyway, and a break might give people a fresh outlook.)

Increased Clutter

As I gain more "friends" on Facebook and Twitter, I'm actually reading fewer posts because of the overwhelming volume. Unless I'm willing to dig deep and read back over several pages of posts, there is a strong chance I won't see the majority of messages my friends have posted. (I can tolerate three or four pages back, but some days my "friends" will post hundreds of times and I simply can't see them all.) In the advertising world, this would be referred to as increased clutter. To get noticed, advertisers have to run more ads to overcome clutter.

Advice for Posting:Clutter is increasing, so you need to increase the frequency of your posting in order to get noticed. In the ad world, it takes hundreds of impressions to reach every consumer seven to ten times in a week. Keep this in mind when posting.

Rotate Like Radio

The radio business understands a basic principle that can also apply to social networking and blogging. Radio knows how to play the hits. In the 1960s, a radio programmer who spent a lot of time in a bar noticed that the waitresses kept playing the same songs over and over on the jukebox. Radio discovered that people love certain songs and want to hear them as much as possible, so some stations put the hits into high rotation, playing the top 10 songs every two or three hours. Though some people complain because those songs may not be their favorites, they want radio to play their favorite song even more. A well-programmed radio station will always be playing a hit record when you tune in, no matter what time of day. What does this have to do with social networking? Ask uber-blogger Guy Kawasaki.

When I check Facebook, even with all the posts I have to wade through, I almost always see a post from Guy Kawasaki every time I sign on. At one of my recent conferences, Kawasaki told the audience that he has a team of people who search smart articles of interest and then post them for him. He even uses a software program that automatically repeats those same posts several times a day in different time slots. As much as I check Facebook, I've never seen one of his posts repeated, yet I always see something fresh and interesting from Guy. He is following the principle of repetition.

Advice for Posting:Repeat your best posts in different parts of the day to increase chances that people will see what you've written.

Three Important Principles

Media companies understand three very important principles: 1.) It's all about the content; 2.) stories sell; and 3.) big brands sell. It's no wonder that the highest-paid people in Hollywood are the writers and the actors. Great writing makes for interesting content and great stories. Great execution (acting) keeps people engaged and big brands (great well-known actors) will attract people more than lesser-known brands.

Advice for Posting:If you're a professional blogger trying to build your image or brand, start with great content. No one cares if your cat had a hairball. Not being promotional is imperative in the social media environment, so you need to post some personal things of interest — but make your content interesting, well written, and full of great stories people will want to pass on (which is how you grow). People remember stories. Edit everything you post (your writing and your photos). Less is more. Brand yourself like actors, who understand that people love knowing a little about their personal life and the exciting life they supposedly live. Create some mystique, and remember that controversy gets attention. Also remember that when you're posting on Twitter or Facebook you're on stage, and all eyes are on you. Make it your very best performance.

It's a natural tendency to want to shed all links to the past when something new has been invented, but the lessons we've all learned in the traditional media world can be powerful lessons in the social media world as well.

B. Eric Rhoads is CEO of Streamline Publishing, Inc. Rhoads writes regular columns for his publications and is an active blogger in the radio and art industries, including Radio Ink Tank, Artist Marketing, and Blue Chip Gallery Marketing. He is an active speaker, consultant, and advocate in the radio, art, and technology industries, and he sits on a number of advisory boards. Eric can be reached at eric@RadioInk.com.

Read all Eric’s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Ink Tank with B. Eric Rhoads - MediaBizBloggers.

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