Radio & Social Media

So about a week ago I went to this very interesting panel discussion on the opportunities of utilizing social media (facebook, twitter, Linked In) for business use. At risk of leaving because I felt disheartened that two of the panelists kept bashing traditional media ie: radio, T.V., print, I decided to stick with it and be open minded. In fact I'm kind of used to the constant put downs that traditional media receives. For instance ever since I started in the game (aka advertising sales, I like to talk like I'm from the hood once and awhile) I was told satellite radio will be the death of traditional radio. But does anyone really remember Xfm or Sirus? They merged together in order to continue to exist in the market place, but currently their national subscription rate is lower than the cumulative audience of a Canmore Alberta radio station.



So back to social media. I see a complete complement between radio's branding effectiveness and social media to provide feedback and interaction with an advertiser's creative message. For example, one of the panelists was describing the fall out that occurred on Twitter when Amazon started profiling its search results with seemingly biased, what some described as "homophobic". Avid twitter's took to their PDA's and in a beautiful democratic process boycotted the Amazon site until a reaction was put forth by their communication manager. It significantly affected their sales and their brand.

Considering a radio, print, tv, web video campaign? Try testing it out first on your facebook, My Space page to receive feedback. Your commercial could be written, produced, conceived in part by a whole community of legitimate individuals who are receptive enough to provide you with valuable feedback.

Social Media allows us to listen first, assess, then use our tools to put forth an appropriate message that speaks to your target audience.

Make sense? Does anyone else feel like their addicted to twitter?