Primer on Media Mixing

Marivic Valencia

I’d like to dispel the notion that traditional media and social media do not mix well together.  There’s a widely-held fear of giving the general public access to station personnel (even though it’s the job of local media to broadcast themselves).  But, social media is now much more of a two-way communication platform than it has been in the past, and it’s time for traditional media to jump in.

Why?

Traditional media (TV, Radio, Print) is seeing declines on many fronts (ad revenue, personnel) and at varying rates (some are laying off staff, others have shuttered operations completely).

Social media, however, is on the rise.  According to Jeremy Owyang, Senior Analyst at Forrester, the top social network sites are growing

So what does this mean for a radio station?  It means finding and leveraging the opportunities that (free) social media offers.

How?

Example #1:  One of the first budget cuts at any station is usually discretionary travel.  That means station personnel have fewer opportunities for networking and industry education.

Using (free) tools like Twitter can help connect station personnel to their like-minded peers and mentors.  With (again, free) search tools, they can focus on appropriate networking professionals.  Setting up a basic Friendfeed account (cost: $0) gives staff a central point of access to everything from Sales tips to system upgrades, accessible from any internet connection.

Example #2:  Another victim category is marketing.  Stations have tremendous promotional power with their on-air and web assets, but may cut back on community involvement, sponsorships and other branding events.  Giving your promotions, news and on-air talent a continued online ‘voice’ deepens your ties to your community.  Find other stations, talk to them, learn from them.

Both of these examples require live human beings establishing and maintaining relationships online.  No one wants to talk to corporate bots.  Your listeners want to hear from the people at the station, not the corporate logo.

That’s not to say social media is a free-for-all (it’s not).  As in any ‘real life’ situation, there a time and place for everything.  You wouldn’t network at a trade show by running up to someone and shoving your business card in their pocket and running away.  Instead, you would (hopefully!) introduce yourself, strike up conversation, and see where it leads.  If there’s opportunity there, time, effort and patience will reveal it.

So?

Well, consider this:  The Grand Island Independent (a small paper in Nebraska) turned off their auto-feeds to Twitter.  Since then, they’ve doubled their number of followers, and, according to their web editor Stephanie Romanski, “on the first day, I got two direct messages from readers, one who had a story idea for us, and another one who offered up his storm chasing videos”.

And yes, I realize this is a newspaper example.  According to the trades, though, the lines between local media outlets are blurring.  The co-opetition between social media and traditional media is something that can work for local TV, Radio and Newspaper.  Now.

Personally, I’d love to highlight a radio station jumping in (who are the media pioneers if not radio?).  Who wants to be first?

--Marivic Valencia, Director of Marketing, Broadcast Interactive Media
mvalencia@bimedia.net 608.255.2802 www.twitter.com/techpr