Where did the year go? I know I’m speaking for many of you who woke up this morning, realized that Thanksgiving is here, and Christmas is just around the corner.
I always enjoy this time of the year because it offers a chance to reflect, remember, and recharge for the new year. As was the case this past January, Paul and I will be heading out to Las Vegas in January for the Consumer Electronics Show. Last year, we learned an immense amount during a whirlwind three days, as we jockeyed through throngs of tech fans, mavens, and CEOs, all grappling with how to best use the new tools.
So when we look back on this year and ahead to 2012, it’s helpful to consider the things in our business lives for which we’re especially thankful. While I share very little of my personal life on Facebook and Twitter, I am here to tell you how thankful I am for the gift of social media to our industry. It couldn’t have come at a better moment.
At no time in the history of radio have we had a better opportunity to uniquely connect with current fans, while reaching out to new ones. Social media offers us the chance to watch, listen, and win – to quote an old TV contest.
By tapping into the lives and conversations of our audience, listening to their stories, and interacting with them, we are offered a compelling opportunity to connect our brands with their lives. We can provide them with great brand experiences, and when we treat them respectfully and acknowledge them, we benefit from their valuable recommendations and sharing habits.
But it is never as simple as it sounds. Our Director of Digital & Social Strategies, Lori Lewis, has taught us a great deal during 2011 about understanding the reasons why consumers use platforms like Facebook and Twitter in the first place. It was always about hanging out with friends, talking, laughing, and sharing. It certainly was not to “like” our fan pages. When you have a clear sense of purpose about these tools, great brands can benefit from them while understanding the underlying motivations behind these channels.
We’ve had an exciting year with social media at Jacobs Media. For our company and for your stations, I believe the best is ahead. Through experimentation, observation, and discovery, we truly can develop digital hierarchies, allowing us to identify valuable audience members, as well as current and future employees who understand how to use these precious gifts.
Social media keeps us moving forward, forcing us to change and adapt with the times, breaking some old rules, and always learning about the Internet tsunami and how to make it work for us. Stridency, stubbornness, and complacency are all characteristics that are vanishing from modern radio. When was the last time you heard a manager or programmer say, “But we’ve always done it this way.”
Technology and social media have changed our lives – and they’ve altered the way we do business. This stuff will keep us young – and its connective qualities will keep our brands fresh and vital. If we are willing to listen, learn, and change.
In your world of media and radio, what are you thankful for?
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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I’m thankful for an amazing group of listeners who push me to do what I do and be myself everyday. I’m thankful to work in an industry where I can work hard, have fun and earn a paycheck. I’m thankful for my close group of friends and family and my “radio family” – and lastly I’m thankful for pro’s like Mr. Jacobs and Lori Lewis who remind us to strive to be the best everyday! 🙂
Jay, thanks for those high-fives to your audience. And happy holidays to you and your family.