There’s a story I often borrow from my consulting mentor Tracy Johnson when I’m coaching talent because it teaches a great lesson about entertainment and listener interaction. While running a group in a major market Tracy hired a news talk host who knew everything there was to know about politics. He was incredibly smart, articulate and understood how to break down all the stories of the day. Yet, despite being in a large market on a big signal he never got any callers at all regardless of how many times he threw out the number. Frustrated, he asked for Tracy’s advice one day. Tracy kindly explained to him that by answering every possible angle of every question he threw out himself, he wasn’t leaving any room for the listener. If he wanted engagement, he had to be willing to be wrong and intentionally leave something out on occasion. Two things that are very hard for smart people to do. But, the talent agreed and within days the phones were lighting up. This trick for getting phone calls on any topic also works well for driving engagement online. Here are a handful of ways creators and on-air talent use this simple hack to increase engagement and why it works.
Leaving out an obvious answer. If we’re ranking the top 5 Tom Cruise movies of all time and we never mention Edge of Tomorrow, we’re unlikely to get any calls because, while that’s a great movie, it’s not top of mind for most people. However, if we leave out Top Gun the phones will light up immediately and the comment section will be filled with people writing the movie title in all caps. An aggressive move that I understand but don’t condone.
Misspelling something intentionally. Personally, I can’t stand this one because I grew up with an English teacher as a mother, I’m a reasonably good speller myself and it really eats at me when I realize I’ve put something out to the masses with an obvious spelling error in it. But, it also works. I can’t bring myself to do this one on purpose, but when I’ve done it accidentally it absolutely increases the comments and therefore the reach. Plus, it’s not all people dunking on you for the spelling error because there’s generally others who jump in to defend you. However, doing this too often can negatively impact a personality’s brand.
Math that’s not adding up. I recently saw a right-wing political pundit that doesn’t have a massive following get a quarter million reactions after posting about how there were 20 million new votes in Texas during the midterms that went 100% for the Democrats. Clearly that’s false. Texas has just under 32 million people in it and only 5.4 million of them voted for James Talarico (Slightly less for Gina Hinojosa). Did the pundit say 20 million when they meant 2 million or do they just understand how the attention economy works because they get paid for engagement?
Why the trick works. Unless the world is about to end and we need a genius to save us from that impending doom, nobody likes the smartest person in the room. Especially if that person has the annoying trait of making sure everyone knows they’re the smartest person in the room. Flaws humanize us, and if we’re willing to laugh at our own, they make us relatable. Even if that flaw is occasionally manufactured or exaggerated. We’ve already reached a point where we’re spotting AI content because it’s too perfect to be real. Going forward mistakes may even be celebrated.
Mainly though, it works because radio at it’s best is a communal experience. Great radio isn’t a lecture it’s a conversation the audience is allowed to listen in on. People feel more connected to radio personalities when we bring them into that conversation by allowing them the space to interact and making them feel like they’re on our level intellectually. We all talk back to the radio during our favorite shows even though we’re well aware they can’t hear us. We all also get a thrill from personally interacting with them on the phone, on-site at an event and in the comment section. That thrill is much bigger when we feel like we impressed them with our point.
To be clear, I’m not advocating for talent lying or being inauthentic about things that really matter like election results or any serious news story. But, commercial radio is in the entertainment business first and information business second. At least if we want to earn enough money to stay in business. The reason most successful talent stick to riffing about things that aren’t that important is because it’s not really hurting anyone if we exaggerate and embellish at times to make our breaks more entertaining.
What do you think? Is it important for talent to be willing to be wrong occasionally?
Pic designed by Magnific.