The Daily Beast posted a short, but fun clip yesterday about Katie Couric returning to a morning news show for the first time in six years. She joined George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s Good Morning America, which is apparently a ratings move since GMA is very close to beating out the long-dominant Today Show on NBC for the top morning spot.
Here’s the clip of Katie getting ready for her first day on the set of GMA:
As I watched a few of the videos that were released about Katie’s return to morning news, I got to thinking about these shows and their immense popularity. They run 3-4 hours during the busiest part of the day for most people, but they have huge audiences. There is amazing loyalty amongst viewers, proven by the fact that NBC’s Today Show has held the top spot for 16 years.
What is the magic formula?
Morning news shows have created a format that connects with audiences and makes them feel part of what’s going on.
- They start off with a little light-hearted banter,
- Move into some minor news items and work their way slowly into the heavier news items,
- Dial it back with some weather, and
- Jump back into banter before an interview or performance.
It’s a formula that works.
As much as we like to say that social media is on a different plane than traditional media, a case could be made that social media use should look a lot more like a morning news show.
Provide Value, Humanity and Some Fun
Businesses often start out in social media looking too much like the stodgey news anchor as they deliver the 6:00pm news. Serious. Unflappable. Untouchable.
Every day between 9:00am and 6:00pm, the news becomes too serious and too brief to spend time creating the connections audiences experience on morning news shows.
Social media users want to see a human. When businesses don’t interact with followers, it creates a wall that’s hard to breach. There’s value in broadcasting content, but engaging the audience, making them feel like they’re part of a two-way conversation will go a lot further. That’s how loyal audiences stick around for the long-haul.
Source: RadarOnline.comHow can you apply the morning show method to your content?
- Don’t take yourself too seriously. It’s okay, even as a business entity, to have a little fun.
- Talk to people. It doesn’t have to be deep, personal conversations.
- Share your business (and even repeat it). Just don’t make business the primary focus.
- Be true to your brand. Professionalism, integry and appropriateness do matter.
- Post relevant content from other sources. Your business/content isn’t the only thing going on in the world.
Tell us about a business you’ve connected with through social media.