The late night talk show circuit is a cut throat business. Becoming a late night talk show host is a rare feat but staying on top even rarer. One person that has managed not only to survive this business, but also grow and build their own audience is Jimmy Fallon.
How difficult was it for Jimmy Fallon? Well, first he was replacing the wildly successful Conan O’Brian, who had a loyal following. Second, Jimmy had never hosted a show like this before. Now most comedians would have cracked under that type of pressure, however Jimmy didn’t. In fact Jimmy Fallon has done so well that he is schedule to take over The Tonight Show from Jay Leno in 2014.
Now you might be thinking, good for Jimmy, but how does this apply to social media and my church?
Well, as I have watched Jimmy Fallon grow in his craft, I began to see some similarities between what he was creating for late night television and what churches create for social media. Much like churches, Jimmy had niche audience that he had to build and maintain a relationship with. How did he do it and what your church learn? Here are some takeaways for I believe could help your church with social media:
Jimmy Provides Interesting Commentary
A lot of people use social media to comment on current events or life in general. In fact, for most people that’s what social media is, commentary. People are commenting on daily activities, what they see on television or maybe what their coworker said. Well, I think we both know that is pretty mundane and boring.
Jimmy Fallon comments as well. However, Jimmy provides commentary in manner that is interesting and unique to his audience. For example, Jimmy noticed something interesting about Justin Beiber’s twitter account and decided to employ one of his writers to have some on Twitter. See the interesting results below:
http://youtu.be/XSkGNNnmek8
See how Jimmy comments on what could have been a mundane topic and instead makes it interesting for his audience? What is going on your church that needs an interesting spin? Is there anything that mundane that needs some interesting commentary?
Jimmy Knows How to Curate for His Audience
Curating for audience not only helps establish your church as an authority, but it makes your church a resource for your audience. It’s pretty clear that Jimmy understands this. During E3 week (a huge electronics expo) Jimmy brought on the Xbox and Playstation on respective nights to demo their product to his audience. Why? Well, Jimmy understands his demographic and what they care about. For Jimmy’s audience it’s videos games. See an example below:
http://youtu.be/jNX576Dg07Q
Now, you might not care about the Xbox, but Jimmy Fallon’s audience does. Are you delivering content to your church members that they care about? Find out what your church memebrs cares about and deliver it to them.
Jimmy Knows How to Create for His Audience
Creating original content is probably the most difficult thing to do. However, Jimmy accomplishes this task well with original videos that are geared towards his audience. By creating original content, he gives them something to share.
Note that not only does Jimmy create original content, he gives it away for free on Youtube. You can easily view the content and then share it with a friend. This helps builds audience loyalty and keeps them engaged. See this recent video the Jimmy created along with Brad Pitt:
Is the content that your church is creating original and engaging? Is it easy to share with others?
So what does Jimmy Fallon do well? Jimmy provides interesting commentary,curates content and creates original content. Does your church needs to be able to do all of these things to be successful? No, but if you can do at least two of things well your chance of connecting with your church audience on social media is much more likely.
Question: How does your church comment, curate and create? Click here to comment below.
photo credit: ElizaPeyton via Compfightcc