Zarrella says,  ”I looked at more than 100k randomly chosen active Twitter accounts and their Tweets. I analyzed the percentage of their Tweets that contain a link… [and] I found that accounts that had high link-percentages between 60% and 80% had the most ReTweets…If you’re interested in ReTweets, broadcasting lots of interesting content works much better than ‘engaging in the conversation.’”

The key there, of course, is “interesting content.”   Read his full report HERE.

Zarrella’s website is packed with useful insights on how to use social media more effectively, including writing and timing tips.  Check him out at www.danzarrella.com.

By the way, have you signed up for the Talkfrontier.com RSS feed?   Do it and you’ll get a steady stream of useful insight and advice for spoken-word media professionals delivered straight to your email box or RSS reader.

Steve Allen

Before devoting himself to the art and science of social media, Steve Allan programmed radio stations in DC, Detroit, Boston and Cincinnati and held corporate programming positions with AM/FM and Clear Channel. As a former radio guy, Allen despairs at the medium’s apparent lack of  understanding of social media.  Too many stations/personalities continue to use Facebook, Twitter, et. al, as just another place to plug upcoming guests or deliver news headlines.  While there’s no wrong way to use social media, those are probably the least effective ways to employ this powerful new medium.  In this exclusive piece, Allen suggests five ways that talk stations and hosts can  better harness the power of social media.

Seventy-one percent of US Internet users have a Facebook account and half of them visit it every single day. According to Nielsen, the average Internet user spends over seven hours per month on Facebook alone. To say that Social Media has become the water cooler of social interactions is a gross understatement.

How are you harnessing the power of social media to improve the content and reach of your show? More importantly, are you using social media as a tool in your creative arsenal?

Here are 5 things you can do – right now – to make your performance stand out.

Socialize – Stop sending listeners to your website and start inviting them to join you on Facebook. Your GM will hate this but he is swimming against the tide. Radio stations drive listeners to their websites for one reason only – to increase visitor count and page views so they can sell banner ads. This process has nothing to do with engaging your fans and making them more a part of your show. It does nothing to increase the emotional bond between host and fan. Website interaction is generally a one-way street while Facebook can create a conversation and generate real time feedback.

Think of it this way. Which is more powerful – 1,000 unique visitors or 1,000 Facebook fans? Calm your GM by telling him that you’ll drive your fans to his website.

Test topics – Assuming you have built a strong fan base (think of it as a good AQH) you can use that audience to test topic. Ask questions and gauge reaction. You’ll find that there are many fans out there who will converse with you in Social Media who will never call you on the phone.

Replace the bad phone call – How many local talk shows have a trained call screener whose sole function is to separate the wheat from the chaff? Today’s overworked show producer generally does not have the time to truly determine if that next caller is entertainment worthy. However, by using social media you will actually see good, repeatable comments and be able to attribute them to real people (or at least their handles).

Spread the word – Getting people to talk about you is the most powerful form of marketing. Getting them to spread the word about you to their social networks puts that marketing on steroids. As a talk show host you are (hopefully) a content creator. People love to share great content. This is the equivalent to the old politician’s trick of shaking hands and kissing babies.

SEARCH – Everyone Google searches.  That is what we all use to find information. But how does that help you know what your audience is talking about? It doesn’t.  But these tools can assist you in finding out what topics are being discussed in your market. After all, shouldn’t your content reflect your audience’s interests?

Google Real Time – This is a topic search to find out what is being said in, well, real time. You pick the topics and the engine reveals the conversations.

Samepoint.com – A multi-functional search engine that specializes in social networks. Like Google Real time – you pick the topics.

Twitter – Set up your search function on your Twitter account to list your local market. You can go deeper by using the advanced search. This helps you find what the biggest trending topics are in your area.

These serve as a great starting point to learn what people are talking about and can help you decide what topics are important to your show.

Social media can be a difference maker for you and your show. It brings you closer to your audience than ever before. In turn, they get a better feeling for who you are than they ever could. Social Media is not just an essential part of your show prep – it has become part of the show.

For more insight from Steve Allen check out his blog http://smthree.wordpress.com or visit his website www.smthree.com.

Steve Rubel

Steve Rubel is very much like a talk radio host; he’s smart, curious, opinionated and has lots to say.  As SVP/Insights at Edelman Digital, Rubel’s job is to share his curiosity and opinions, using the latest and best technology.

Thus, Rubel recently launched a “Lifestream,” which allows him to post text, video, and audio quickly and easily from anywhere.  Rubel is using a platform called Posterous.  He will continue to write his popular blog, and use Twitter, but… Well, I’ll let Rubel explain:

Blogtalkradio.com

For Facebook, our hosts will be able to easily create events, update their status to let their friends know they are broadcasting live and finally, after the show is over, the archived show will be embedded directly into their status update.

For Twitter, tweets will be automatically be sent from your Twitter profile, when the show is live and then again when the archived show is available for consumption.”

Note that these updates are generated automatically.  Any way for a talk radio station or syndicated show to do the same thing – automatically?  That would be useful.  Send along your ideas, and we’ll share them with the group.