The World of Social

Adam Cubito	Michael Eva	Nick Condon	Tony Thomas

In one of the final sessions of today's CRA conference, the topic was "stop committing random acts of social media", with the theme being around making your social media effective, what not to do, how not to overdo it, and to not simply do what everyone else is doing.

Below are some of the key elements from the session…

Tony Thomas is Group Marketing Director at dmg radio australia, he commented;

"We always had a PR person between our talent and the media. The publicist has gone…..Our content is not our own, it's shared. We've made significant change and has benefitted us as an industry."

"We don't suffer from a lack of content, it's immediate. One of the biggest drivers of participation is entertainment content. Social media backlash now won't only impact the talent's reputation but now also advertisers".

Adam Cubito who has worked for dmg radio australia and now works at perfeckt;

"Brands that use social media, tweet and Facebook and then don't do anything for weeks. If listeners interact with a radio station on social media and don't get a response, that's damaging."

"It is a two way street. Talk with them, not to them. Keep things simple, but keep them relevent. Better to have 200 people than 200,000 that don't care about you."

"Do not tweet or facebook it if you don't want to see it in the newspaper or on TV"

 Michael Eva is the Digital Content and Social Media Director at Southern Cross Austereo, and said;

"Having a plan around social media is critical, you need to understand where you're taking social media. It is not just a marketing channel, it's a content channel. Not just about what's coming up. Creating content out of social media. Engage listeners in the content we create."

"Engagement is critical. If no one is sharing, retweeting etc then it hasn't been successful. The thing that keeps me up at night – not what talent put on social media, it's what the rest of our staff put on social media. Education for all staff is important."

Michael went on to say that talent putting inappropriate content on social media is a steep learning curve; "Every social media crisis is different. Develop a crisis plan. Understand it and know who you want to have to get together when the crisis breaks."

Nick Condon ARN's Digital Director commented;

"Radio's the original social media…..Be where our listeners are everyday. Billboards are now in our listeners pockets. It must also change constantly."

"Choose what platforms and say no if you need to as many are coming out each day. One size doesn't fit all so make sure fits the relevant brand. Don't just start the conversation then stop."