How to Get on Radio and TV

About midday on December 14, 2012, I was landing at Hartford airport from a speaking gig I had in Omaha, NE. As I entered the terminal I noticed a large group of people gathered around a television in a nearby gate waiting area. I had to see what was so interesting on the news that had captured the attention of so many people. They were watching breaking news of a mass killing at an elementary school in Newtown, CT., just a few miles from the airport.

As I arrived home, my business phone rang and the caller ID showed me that it was the ABC affiliate newsroom calling. The producer of the news program asked me if I would drive down to New Haven to appear on camera and offer some advice to parents on how to help their children deal with the tragedy that just took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The point of this post is not to relive the awful incident, but instead, to ask you this question; how did that show producer know to call me? The answer lies in the formula on how to grow your platform and become the ‘go-to’ person in your niche area of expertise. The answer is to get yourself and your message out there so much so, that show producers know to call you when they’re in a pinch for an expert.

I share techniques for making this happen in my book THE 2.0 ENTREPRENEUR that you can purchase on the right-hand side of the screen, and I also share it in this teleseminar courtesy of the NONFICTION AUTHORS ASSOCIATION. Click THIS LINK to register for this event. If you’ve found this blog post after the date of the event, I will do my best to provide a link to the interview so you can hear it in it’s entirety.

How I Used Web 2.0 to Land a Regular Paid Radio Gig

Courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Using Web 2.0 to market yourself as a requires both broadcasting AND tuning in to what is being posted on the Web #web2.0. That means, posting content is not enough for effective marketing, it requires a great deal of listening to what others are saying about your industry, your business and about you. As a case in point, here is an example of what can happen by spending time listening and monitoring, as well as posting.

A tweet was posted that mentioned my name and it asked me to reply. Some quick research on my part revealed that it was posted by someone with the title of PRODUCER of a late-night talk show on the BBC, the UK radio network. With the high volume of SPAM out there and mass marketers trying to get our attention, I was cautious but curious, and replied to the tweet.

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This conversation on the micro blogging site Twitter instantly became a telephone conversation. The producer at the BBC said he was seeking an expert from the U.S. who could be a part of a 90-minute radio show that was scheduled later that evening and it needed experts who were prepared to discuss the topic from various countries around the world.

I accepted the opportunity and was connected later that evening with the show's host via Skype, when the show began. The conversation took many interesting turns and twists as callers from about the UK called in to voice their opinion or concern, supporting one side or the other of a much polarized, yet conversational, topic.

As a result of answering that original tweet, I landed myself a regular paid spot on a popular late-night radio show. My bank even called to confirm the legitimacy of a regular deposit to my bank account made in British Sterling Silver. I record each show using a skype recording application and use the recording of the show I was a part of as another digital product I can offer my followers and fans, including another recording as part of my podcast.

Finally, in the original phone call conversation that came from the tweet, I asked the producer how he knew to contact me as an expert in my field. He admitted that he was not seeking me alone. Instead, he did a series of Internet searches on the topic of the show and selected the top five most active experts based on Internet presence and posted content. This fact alone has inspired me to continue to be an active participant using Web 2.0!