Are You HR Fanatical?

Online Talk Radio and Video and Formation of a HR Fan Base

Define Fan

What creates a fan? While in school at Univ. of Memphis, everyone had their favorite Memphis In May BBQ festival team. And you rallied around the pit smokers to cheer on the pork cooking frenzy. (And you know I have to mention bacon of some kind in my post instead of sports medaphor.) That “team moment” resulted in cultural communities formed to discuss the anticipation of the next BBQ championship and the discipline of dry rub vs sauce. Don’t mess with my dry rub! It is “Fan Mentality.” Bob Baker has a great blog post on fan mentality. He defines a fan as “someone who is touched in a positive way by what you do.” How all this relates in the online HR world seems to be fan mentality growing around these wonderful blogger radio shows that have sprouted up over the last year or two.

Bob goes on to describe the difference between patrons and fans. “Patrons are people who visit your Web site, subscribe to your newsletter, and pay for your services. Fans, on the other hand, cheer you on, rave about you to their friends, follow everything you do with interest, go to great lengths to attend your public appearances, and more.”

Online Entertainers Creating HR Fans

I can tell you I am a Fan to many of these HR BlogTalk or Stickam radio shows and YouTube Channels. And social media video and radio are the perfect platform to build a fan base. It is all about connection, outreach and access. Access is proven to endear your fans to your content. The great bloggers and online radio show hosts reach out to their fans and provide access, tweeting, and commenting. And the fans reach out to gain access by dialing in, tweeting and posting comments back. Social media is the ultimate “Fan Fair.” Plug the human brand into the mix and you have the perfect platform to endear your fans to your business, your product, your employer or your employees based on the great content you produce that touches us all. Not to forget the cast of HR characters that call into these shows. I challenge you to seek them out.

One of those characters is Margo Rose, the bubbly host of the Weekly Blog Radio Show “Compassionate HR” and the blog “HR Margo”. She tells me that her “number one reason for fan growth is simple: content, content, content…like real estate it’s all about location 3x. People really need to hear about the good news. We are inundated with bad news, smart-alecky blog posts, and sad stories on reality tv & radio. What Compassionate HR does that no one else is doing is tooting the horns of ordinary people in our industry who are doing truly extraordinary things. Each week, I celebrate the work of Heroes. What can be better than that? “

Yes, lots of content fuels a fan base. I feel Margo goes the extra mile to endear her fans with her consistent message, which allows her to touch people in a positive way. And it is that “compassion” theme along with her willingness to provide access, be helpful and reach out that builds her fan base through what she describes as “Servant Leadership.” Margo says, “On “Compassionate HR,” we chat about steward leadership and a relatively new concept called ‘Servant Leadership.’ According to wikipedia : In order to be a servant leader, one needs the following qualities: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, growth and building community. Acquiring these qualities tend to give a person authority versus power.” I say Margo walks the walk. She is real! The show can also be lively, quirky, intelligent and fun. The engaging entertainment factor does play a part to create fans.

The Fanatical Workplace

My hope is to see this online fan mentality methodology translate out of the box, internally within corporate intranets to grow company cultures, be tapped for teambuilding strategy and foster ongoing information exchange to motivate employee performance. Think you could become a fan of staff meetings or your boss? The key is to find your host, tool a great upbeat message and allow access to work content that touches employees in a positive way. How fun would that be?

Check Out This Mash-up Short List of
Hot HR Blog Talk Radio and YouTube Channels

If you can’t catch the live shows, replay archives are always available.

Catch you on the call-in or the Twitter back channel!

Compassionate HR with Margo Rose – Weekly, Mondays at 6:30 PMET

HR Happy Hour with Steve Boese and Shauna Moerke –Weekly Thursdays at 7 pm ET

Job Search Secrets With Greg and Jessica Merrell – Weekly Sundays 9pm ET, 6am PT

Influence Insider with Paul Hebert –Check Blog for Air Dates Quarterly

Benjamin McCall –“Re-Thinking HR” _ YouTube Page

Drive Thru HR with Brian Wempen – Daily at Noon CT

Talent Revolution with Amanda Hite/ AKA: Sexy Thinker – YouTube Page

Punk Rock HR with Laurie Ruettimann – YouTube Page

The Recruting Animal with your host: Animal – Weekly Wed at noon

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2 Responses

  1. Steve Boese Says:

    Great post Lyn and many thanks for including a link to the HR Happy Hour show! We have some great shows planned for the next few months and really appreciate all the support.

  2. Lyn Hoyt Says:

    You are welcome Steve! My hope is that you will see me on the HR Happy Hour back channel as often as possible! Love the show. Always have.

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