Does Your Imaging Reach Out And Touch Someone?

Radio is an intimate medium. Overall, it is broadcasting a message from one-to-many, but when done right, the listener should feel like you’re speaking from one-to-one. Your imaging is a key component in shaping that one-to-one experience.

I came across an article from social media guru, Lori Lewis on crafting content that connects with your followers emotionally. It was right in line with some thoughts I had on imaging content. So I’m going to “borrow” some of those thoughts and apply them to the content we craft in between the songs.

The first item is pretty easy: “Provide Amusement/Enjoyment/Fun”. I think we imaging folks use this as our go-to, make the funny. One of the sources I look to for some quick inspiration is someecards.com. They’re quick, sarcastic takes on life and current events and people share the crap out of them on social media. With topics on work, holidays, weather and family, they’re great to mine for some quick, funny content between the songs and make your audience laugh.

For the second content type, “Teachable”, I hear all the smart-speaker how-to content we’re now generating. These teachable pieces have been around for years, for contest formatics, app usage, web-streaming, websites, etc. When done well, they can make the listener have an ‘ah-ha’ moment when they realize, “I didn’t know my radio station could do that”.

The third & sixth content types in Lori Lewis’ Social Media examples, “Inspire” and “Empathy” could relate to content we generate for radiothons, community events, fundraisers, or holidays like Memorial Day, Veterans Day, etc. Radio can tell a story that really connects and pulls at the heartstrings. “We don’t know them all, but we owe them all. Remembering the fallen on this Memorial Day, Y108!” Keeping the words ‘inspiration’ and ‘empathy’ at the front of your mind while creating will help you create something meaningful for a good cause.

“Inclusive” is the fourth content bucket. Welcoming listeners who have an appreciation for the music you play, “Whether you drive a 4x4 or a four-door, if country music drives you, then you’re in the right place.” Or “If you’re at the age where your mind still thinks you’re still 21, your humor says you’re 12 and your body feels like you’re in your 80s, then you’re in good company here with the Mix 105.7.” There’s also an angle for including those that may be on the fringe of your audience as well, “Country music to keep your boots scootin’, even if said boots are UGGs.” Or “A fantastic way to relive the 80s, even if you weren’t even born then.”

Bucket five is “Relatable”, or as I might describe it, content about living life. We all have shared experiences: we wake up when we don’t want to, we work because we have to, we get excited, we get scared, we laugh because it’s funny and cry because it’s true. This can be the bucket where your topical content lives. Sweepers about weather, local current events, sports teams, traffic and the daily grind in your town are the relatable things your audience can recognize in your messages that will have them saying, “my station really knows me.”

Bottomline, we’re in the ‘feelings’ business. If we don’t make people feel something, good, bad or otherwise, we’re not doing our jobs.