Friday, October 1, 2010

Facebook Fairytales: Damage Control

"Facebook Fairytales, Modern-Day Miracles to Inspire the Human Spirit", a collection of Facebook related success stories was compiled by Emily Liebert. It outlines a variety of successful outcomes, both business and personal, predicated on the social media medium Facebook. 
Chapter 20, Damage Control, outlines the challenges faced by an up-and-coming comedian: Johnny Dam. After years on the stand-up circuit trying to build a name for himself he launched an internet television show called the Damage Report. He continued to struggle in a sea of extensive online media though. In early 2008 his show was picked up by an online LA talk-radio station. He now has a regular slot for 2 hours, 5 days a week.
Johnny found it very challenging to select material and appeal to a broad audience while spurring a dialogue with his listeners. This all changed when he started a Facebook page and started posting news articles he intended to discuss on his show though. With listeners/Facebook followers were now well versed on his topics of discussion the, dialogue began to build, listeners were debating more, his material became more interesting to everyone. After establishing a Facebook friend list of over 4,000 and building a successful listener base for his now more than 300 radio shows, Johnny was approached to create a TV show.
This story outlines a perfect example of how social media in general should be utilized. Here, a comedian trying to build his popularity and interact with his radio show listeners posted relevant news stories so his listeners can be better prepared to debate topics discussed on his show. This is in starch contrast to a company trying to pitch a new product or service, an endeavor that becomes perfectly transparent to the sensitive social media participants online. I believe Johnny stumbled into the perfect marketing technique at the perfect time for his radio show. Think about it, Johnny was try to interact with people to exchange ideas on current events (become more social). He wanted to do this to build a larger and more engaging audience for his online radio show (media). Do you think the most profound Social Media medium of the time would be a good way to do this? Probably.

3 comments:

  1. Social media really works for marketing one self. This shows how almost ever business now states in their advertisements to go to the Facebook site or to follow them on Twitter.

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  2. I would be interested in understanding a little more about the Person vs. Company using Facebook idea. You are right, Doug, Johnny Dam was able to use his status as an individual to garner participation and interest on Facebook. And I'll bet it might be harder for a company like, The Gap, to have a successful presence because they are just pitching products, there is not much of a personal connection. I wonder, then, if there isn't a hybrid solution, where a company's Facebook presence is through their mascot or whatever. You follow Ronald McDonald, not McDonald's, or the Dell Dude not Dell, or Wally not the Red Sox. Any legs to that idea? Ultimately, though, one thing you can't beat with Facebook is audience, access to 500m potential customers who are connected to you through a simple, predicable, accessible channel - the FB interface.

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  3. I agree with you also, Doug. Dam definitely used the "right tool for the job." He needed to connect with his listeners, get their feed back, and promote conversation among the group. Facebook facilitated all of these issues with ease.
    Your view on company vs. personal profiles is interesting (I also think it's correct). The next question I would ask is "Why does Facebook work for political candidates". Aren't they ultimately trying to sell a product (themselves) to the public?

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