It’s a Journey kind of morning. @JourneyOfficial#DontStopBelievin #LifeIsBetterWithMusic
— Nikki Haley (@nikkihaley) May 17, 2018
Here we are – more than a decade into the social media revolution – and radio stations and the companies that own them continue to struggle with social media strategies.
A case in point is the accounts and “socializing” of their top talent. At some stations, personalities use a station account for communicating, keeping their personal matters to a minimum. At others, DJs maintain personal accounts, and they post and tweet just about everything – from station business to personal politics.
And somehow, most companies still do not have a cogent, uniform policy that governs social accounts, and what gets said where. It is a true social dilemma.
But radio isn’t alone in dealing with this conundrum. That’s because at the highest regions of the federal government, this same level of confusion and ambiguity exists. And the stakes are much higher in the State Department than they are in radio broadcasting.
I’m not talking about the Twitterer in Chief. By now, the President’s inconsistencies, outbursts, and attacks have somehow become expected as his social norm. If a radio personality acted out similarly on social media, she would be suspended – or fired.
But for those of us who don’t work in the Oval Office, it is easy for social media boundary lines to blur. Even in government circles.
In this case, it’s Nikki Haley, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations who uses her personal Twitter account (@nikkihaley) to chat about her family and favorite bands (Journey and Bastille have been mentioned lately), as well as speaking out about world matters that impact millions.
RT @USUN: Yesterday, Hamas launched 70 rockets into Israel. Who among us would accept 70 rockets launched into your country? We all know the answer to that. No one would. pic.twitter.com/eVzmqoirvS
— Nikki Haley (@nikkihaley) May 30, 2018
A recent story in Politico addresses the problems Haley’s personal Twitter account causes – and it reads a lot like a market manager’s frustration with a renegade jock’s social media ramblings.
Check out this quote from Politico writer Nahal Toosi:
“(Haley’s Twitter account) spotlights the hotly debated questions of how much social media followers are worth and what it means to earn them. Former officials say that the State Department is unfairly deprived when prominent diplomats leave office and take with them followers acquired through their government service.”
Sound familiar? That’s precisely the conundrum radio companies face in establishing social media policies, particularly with their popular talent. The ability to take those social media fans to their next station is relatively simple – and a source of understandable concern on the part of broadcast executives.
Interestingly, the State Department has a policy – but it’s questionable whether Ambassador Haley is following it. Their rules require that an employee in her role “whose positions make it appropriate for them to engage in official communications on behalf of the Department over social media must not use personal social media accounts to do so. They must use official social media accounts, created and owned by the Department.”
Seems simple and clear enough, but like so many rules these days, this one’s being ignored by Haley. She does not use an official State Department twitter account for her tweeting. And her communiques on Twitter run the gamut from friends and family in her new residence of Manhattan to U.S. allies and enemies around the world.
So, what does this mean for radio companies and the personalities they employ?
I turned to Lori Lewis, Cumulus’s VP of Social Media. This was an issue Lori wrote a lot about during the years when she worked with us here at Jacobs Media.
As she told me, “When you’re on the air, only the ‘mothership’ (the radio station) social media accounts matter. The use of social should be seen as a mutual relationship. You help take care of the station socially when you’re on the air (live or voicetracked). And when you’re not on the air, that’s when you want to be active on your own social accounts.”
And so, the best path is juggling two different accounts – one that’s part of the station’s official social voice, and the second one to opine about whatever you like, post personal photos and memes, and simply be a social creature.
But when you see the federal government struggle to create and enforce its policy, it’s an opportunity for radio companies to hammer out their own social rules of the road – and stick to them – rather than learn (often the hard way) that talent is taking thousands of fans, followers, and friends to their next gig.
Meantime, you have to wonder with her love for music, does Ambassador Haley follow any of her home state South Carolina radio stations and personalities.
Somehow, it wouldn’t be surprising to learn she’s a P1 in good standing of the Rise Guys, the big morning show on WTPT/The Planet (@TheRiseGuys).
Perhaps she’ll post about them in between her tweets about Kim Jong Un and Benjamin Netanyahu.
What a wild social web we weave.
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.
- Traveling At The Speed of CES - January 10, 2025
- The One Thing Missing At CES? - January 9, 2025
- AI Your Commercials - January 8, 2025
That’s exactly why I urged my fellow broadcasters to create @ names that were about THEM, not listing the radio station in the name, for example, I am @joejohnsononair. when I tweet info our listeners would be interested in, I include the station’s twitter handle in the body of my tweet, but when I tweet personally, I don’t include the station’s twitter handle…BUT that being said, it’s possible for ANY radio or TV personality to “do a Rosanne” and tweet something offensive or racist….when that happens, listeners look at your tweet as coming from the station. So tweet with care, knowing that you’re always behind the mic in the listeners’ mind
Also, CAN the radio or TV station stake a claim to your/my personal account if I should leave the station?
cheers,
@joejohnsononair
Miami / Ft Laud market
Joe, you raise some good points and good questions? Every company is different and talent contracts should be reviewed very carefully. Broadcasters and talent each need protection. Thanks for chiming in.
Hey, Joe. See my comment to Tracy. Even on a personal account, you can get yourself in trouble with an errant, wrongheaded, or senseless tweet. Thanks for adding to the conversation.
I posted this after the death of Anthony Bourdain:
Sincerity, authenticity, and transparency are in short supply in the broadcast business, even though that’s exactly what listeners and viewers desire. Anthony Bourdain either completely understood that or was simply unable to do it any other way. Maybe it was a combination of both. All broadcasters should honor his memory by at least attempting to be a little more real.
Why not let personalities just use their personal accounts and post whatever they want? That’s real. Some basic guidelines are fine and everybody should have a pretty good idea where the line is located, but don’t kill creativity with silly rules or make it too difficult to be active on social media by creating multiple sites for the personality to manage.
Tracy, I”m certainly not trying to complicate the process (it’s complicated enough). On personal accounts, personalities are free to say whatever they like, but when you work for a radio company, a sports team, or any business that interfaces with people, defined are part of the territory. When you tweeting on a station account (@terry93X), you’re on the station’s dime – they ultimately determine the boundaries, as well as “own” your followers. On a personal page, you’re on your own. That means you can post anything you like, but you’re still representing a company, a brand, an entity.
So, have I made it more complicated?
Thanks for writing.
Hi Fred, very interesting piece! I’d say, it really doesn’t matter who “Owns” the Internet handle. If it’s pat@WXYZ or [email protected].
If I pull a Roseanne, I’m gonna be FIRED. If I quit, go to a bigger market or join a hedge fund and really start making some money, the station will hire another guy and change the Internet addresses. Here’s the age old question: Who owns the name Jack The Bellboy?????? Is it the estate of the late Ed McKenzie? or Storer Broadcasting? (grin) I hope it brings back memories when we were both young punks in The Motor City. All the Best! Pat http://www.appleson.com
Hey, Pat. Good to hear from you. You’re right about the Roseanne thing – it doesn’t matter which account you use – you do something stupid, you’re toast. I think the other key issue, however, is who “owns” the followers you accrue with your account(s). Therein lies the rub. Thanks for chiming in.
Interesting article, Fred.
I’m not sure I would even have the answer to “who owns the account” because it seems to be a fine line for guys like me who have been on Twitter and Facebook since the beginning of those platforms.
The whole reason I started those accounts was to share transparency and shift into a new form of communication that was not the studio phone. I saw the decline of interaction in studio phones when Twitter was just starting out and popular with flip phones.
In the beginning I would use those platforms from my personal account to drive traffic back to the radio and inversely use the airwaves to drive traffic back to what we had available on our website.
The beauty of using a personal account was to delineate from what seemed “canned”, automated and corporate. It was real and that’s what people liked. I continue to share personal stories and pictures that help brand me and the radio station in tandem. I may be personality, but I’m also a human who struggles to wake up and get my day started on some days. How can a corporation tell me how to feel when I wake up or what I can say on social while I’m on the radio?
This topic is wildly subjective because if you are allowing the company to control your personal social media, then it waters down everything that anyone does from a human perspective. I would hope most on-air talent use social media for “good” but I know that isn’t always the case.
I respectfully disagree with Lori’s insistence that the on-air jock only make it about the radio station social media while on the air. This becomes subjective when you’re dealing with a larger market social media account vs. a smaller market account and vice versa.
The way I look at a personality and station accounts is through a matter of leverage, brand building and brand reinforcement. For instance, by using my “fan” page on Facebook, I share anything I want that is within reason to gather engagement on each post. Engagement could look like a link to local articles, music news, memes, pictures, etc. As a result, the station account reshares what they feel is going to be relevant (and is also tipped off by me that I will be making a certain post) and helps build my own personal brand.
Inversely when the time comes for the radio station to promote a particular show, I will reshare their post onto my timeline because algorithmically it makes sense for me to double-up on the content to get more eyes on the post we’re trying to drive traffic to.
I truly believe more stations should allow a individual personality account to say and share what they want as long as it is within reason. Ultimately at the end of the day, if the personality is more controversial than normal, then I believe it’s within reason for a market manager to intervene just as ABC had done with Roseanne.
How different is this if I participated in an activity outside of the station that didn’t meet the morals and standards of the radio station? Does the radio station have the right to intervene in something that I may be passionate about? What if I decided to respond to tweets about my outside activities while I’m on the air? Does a social media director have the right to tell me “no, you can’t tweet back.”?
The topic becomes muddy and it will vary amongst markets.
I believe that 80% of the problem with on-air personalities is that they DON’T know how to use each individual platform for their benefit so they just post what they want. In turn, this makes management squirrely and question the content that is being posted on each platform. None of these platforms are created equally, but most DJs feel they are. This isn’t the case.
As you know, I’m a huge advocate of being as transparent as possible with who I am as a personality and what I do outside of the radio. This has awarded me with loyal fans who know I will hang out with the on Twitter/Facebook and do exactly the same thing at a concert all while promoting the radio station events.
I won’t tell you that the way I do it is the right way. The way I do it works for me and has done so for years. I also know what my audience wants and likes, so I give them what they want and try to not reinvent the wheel.
Shannon, thanks so much for this heartfelt comment (actually, it would make a great blog post – let’s talk about that). I think the difference between you and many of your peers is that you were on these platforms early on, your instictively understood their value and potential, and you carved out your social presence. I appreciate your desire for companies to let talent say and share what they want. But it’s that “within reason” piece that gets muddy. As companies have grown, they have moved to more top-down policies because it strikes them as the only way to ensure consistency, uniformity, but also “good behavior” from air talent. No doubt, that probably ends up stunting the growth and value of social accounts. But no one loses their license or important advertising.
I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to weigh in on this issue, one that radio is still trying to get its head around.