One of the downsides of spending most of your waking hours on social media platforms is that you run across an awful lot of banal, boring, repetitive posts. That’s the price Lori Lewis has to pay for specializing in the social space. As clever as people try to be socially, the fact is that so much of the content we see on Facebook and Twitter is as repetitive as many people say that radio has become. (So there!).

As the year winds down, Lori has a request for you – stop using the same buzzwords over and over again. And to help you out, she’s put together a list with a little help from a Twitter friend. Enjoy. – FJ

At the end of every year, we are left with buzzwords or phrases that we hope will go out of style because they’ve become so cliché and overused. For example, in 2012, I was so fatigued by everyone using the word, “engaged,” that I banned it from my own vernacular. Never again would that word come from me.

In 2013, besides “Yolo,” there were many overused words in the marketing world, like “snackable content” and “two-way conversation” that needed a rest.

And now we’re approaching 2015 – and perhaps the best list of bad marketing clichés that should go away from this year comes from Walter Levitt, chief marketing officer for Comedy Central.

It’s a funny and dreadfully true piece.

You have to wonder if people even hear themselves when they use these clichés at events or in blog posts or comments. I often think it’s because some people just glom onto whatever they hear and regurgitate it back.

From Walter’s list, here are the buzzwords and phrases that we can purge from our collective vocabularies:

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“Our strategy is…”

To be clear, Walter notes the phrase itself is fine. It’s what comes next that’s often all wrong. That’s because it’s usually followed by a tactic. And maybe that’s because folks still confuse the two. It’s not one and the same.

What we do here at Jacobs Media is help great brands create strategies, plans of action or policies that are designed to achieve an overall aim.

From there,  teams develop and create tactics, the actions executed to achieve the strategic plan.

“We need to make a viral video.”

As Walter puts it, “Nope, you need to make a smart and funny and relevant and memorable video.”

The desire to make anything go “viral” is just your ego talking.

I’ve rarely even seen a station capitalize from something like a Facebook post or a video that goes viral.  Instead, focus on being remembered, anticipated, and trusted.

It’s better to have a small amount of different people talking about you every day socially than it is having one silly video “break the Internet” (another term I hope goes away), and eventually be forgotten.

“We don’t own the brand anymore. The consumer does.”

No, they don’t – you still own your brand.

You may watch fans create dialogue around your station or personalities that may be less than flattering and you can’t control it. But as Walter puts it, “That doesn’t give [you] the right to throw [your] hands up in the air,” as if you can’t do anything about it.

While Walter has a few more horrible marketing clichés that you can read about on his blog, I thought I would add a couple of my own and hopefully hear some of yours.

What buzzwords or phrases have worn you out?

Here are mine…

“Compelling content”

OK, we all get that “Content is King,” and that “compelling content” will help our brands, our shows, and our stations stand out. What needs to be discussed in 2015 is how we go about creating this so-called “compelling content.” What investments are we making to achieve our quest of attracting the attention of consumers to what we’re producing? What innovations and risks are we willing to take in this effort?

It’s time we stop stating the obvious and spend more time getting it done.

“Algorithm”

By now, the whole world has been introduced to the most cringe-worthy word of social media and pure-plays. An algorithm is code set in place that dictates what you actually see on some social networks like Facebook and hear next on channels like Pandora. Twitter, by the way, is algorithm free (for now).

But we have to let it go. The fact is that the space we have socially is limited, with or without code. And with content coming at us faster than we can consume, the only stuff that really stand out is what moves us.

The days of blaming anyone’s “algorithm” are over. It’s time to take responsibility for our own behavior socially and find a way to make our brands matter in a very crowded space – algorithm or not.

I’m sure you have at least one buzzword or phrase you’re tired of hearing.

Do the radio industry a favor. Leave your choice for buzzword that have to go in the comments section below.

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