from guest-blogger, Bob Wood…

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My friend, Bob Wood, is quite possibly the most humble, understated successful person I’ve known in Radio. He’s also really smart, so when he offers a free lesson, it’s worth listening:

I have friends on Facebook who are in radio; in fact, some of their posts are touting their show or a feature. I think most of the time, it’s all wrong.

If you ask the same or similar question each day, and the answer could be anything, then there’s little magnetism to it. If you ask for ‘your favorite 3 songs’ for something like ‘Your 3 at 3’ — you’re doing it wrong.

If you blab about your show — what’s coming up, maybe what happened today — you’re doing it wrong.

I say this because all these examples are from your perspective, rather than from the perspective of the listener/reader. These posts come off as either clutter or blatantly self-serving.

You’re in business to service the listener, not the other way around.

‘We are doing this tomorrow…’ is better as a more inclusive statement. And you can do better than ‘join us.’

Make me want to listen!

‘Tomorrow on the show, Mister Plouffe will be here to talk about the hottest trends in holiday hair,’ should be more like…

‘If you have a party to go to this holiday, and you want to knock it out, we’re bringing in Mister Plouffe tomorrow at 8 to tell you how to make that big entrance where everybody checks you out and nods their approval.’

See? The first way, it’s a show thing. The second way, it’s a benefit or listener solution.

The first way, except to your most loyal listeners, is like a live Joe Buck :10-second plug for an upcoming show announced during play-by-play in a football game.

Do you ever take notice of those? Do they ever change your actual viewing behavior?

This coming year, try writing listener solutions. You’ll like the results.

If you’ve never met or worked with Bob, reach out now that things have slowed down a bit. He can be a very valuable part of your team. You can reach him by clicking on his name link above, or call him at 512.470.1802