I am adding a new benchmark “bit” to the blog today and calling it the Water Cooler. There’s a good reason to call it the Water Cooler. In my first couple of years doing radio, I had a PD that would always try to get me to think about what people were talking about that day, “Around the Water Cooler” and if I could figure that out I’d be golden.
Even just a few years later, the world has changed dramatically, but that concept still holds true. If you can be talking about what your audience is talking about, you’ll get them every time. Thus, the new benchmark post, every Tuesday, called, “The Water Cooler.”
In writing this post, I am reminded of a story an old co-worker of mine once told me. He did radio when radio was “the thing.” He was a rock star in the community and everyone made sure to never miss his show. (Times have sure changed.)
Remember the show Family Ties? Alex P Keaton and his many girlfriends? Well, there was a moment where Alex and one of his many girlfriends were getting together finally and EVERYONE in America was on the edge of their seats watching this. The song playing in the background? Billy Vera and the Beaters – At This Moment. You may not remember the song now, but in it’s day it was a HUGE #1 hit.
The night the episode aired with that song in it, my friend had a gut feeling that the next day everyone would be talking about the episode and particularly that song. So, he ran his VCR on the show (yes his VCR, this was before DVR’s) and grabbed the song from the show. The next morning he had the song ready to go for his morning show and he was talking about what everyone else was talking about, but they all shut up and listened to what he was saying about Alex P Keaton’s romance.
The moral of the story? Times haven’t changed as much as we think they have. There is still a desire to have shared experiences in the world (even with 12-24 y/o’s.) The difference now is, how do we have those shared experiences.
It does make it a touch more difficult to figure out what those shared experiences are, because there are very few events now that EVERYONE is watching at the same time, thanks to OnDemand and DVR’s.
So this benchmark post is a way to talk about the Water Cooler topics that are on everybody’s mind and to figure out the best way to go about connecting with your audience about them.
Today’s water cooler topic is President Obama’s speech to the joint session of Congress tonight. It is the first of his presidency and a very important one at that. So then, how do you cover it?
1.) Link to this website, http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/ – This website lists all of the campaign promises that candidate Obama made and is now checking to make sure that President Obama is keeping them. Link to this page from your website and ask your audience, is President Obama keeping his promises. If not, why not? Do you think he is doing a good job? All of this can be done through e-mail or if you have a more immediate solution like chat or message boards, then use those solutions, but get the conversation going.
2.) Twitter: I know Twitter seems to be my solution to everything, but trust me it is one of the best tools around for keeping in touch with your audience. Most of the major news outfits have twitter accounts. Start your own and “Follow” each of them. CNN, MSNBC and FoxNews all of them and then there are political figures including the President, Newt Gingrich and Karl Rove who all have Twitter accounts. Imagine, your audience can directly connect to these power players through you. Start a twitter account and get the conversation going before, during and after the speech tonight. http://www.twitter.com
3.) Not a news station? Or your audience doesn’t care that much about this speech? Or it’s just an easy thing to goof on? Take the video of the speech and splice it together to make a funny video bit. Take the President’s words out of context. Cut them up and remix them to a beat. Have him in a conversation with Big Bird. Do goofy things with the video and then post it to your YouTube channel. Wait, what, you don’t have a YouTube channel? GET ONE. Then do this. Who knows, maybe your video will be so good it will be talked about around the water cooler.
These are just some of the ideas you can use to connect to the conversations around the “new” water cooler, the internet. There are so many more ideas though, so be creative. Think about how your audience thinks and talks about these Water Cooler topics and you’ll once again be golden.
Things have changed with how people get media and how they interact with it, but the principle remains, if you’re talking about what they’re talking about, they’ll check you out.
