Communicate Like Drugs

Communication is a drug. Active ingredients: Force, Information, Relevance, Entertainment. Across any medium, from email to blog, newsletter, tweet, text, status, song, or video, when you communicate you want to deliver verbal Valium. Two elements of F.I.R.E. is the survival minimum. Three is a gateway drug. Four is mainline euphoria. Molecular composition, drug facts, and suggested uses below. Warning: F.I.R.E. triggers action.

F.I.R.E. Communication Is A Drug: Force: traction, impact, momentum, efficiency; Information: news, insight, knowledge, truth; Relevance: interest, purpose, stimulation, location; Entertainment: art, emotion, creativity, story.

Street value.

Like drugs, great communication has high street value. It absorbs into the bloodstream and hits the heart. It expands the mind. It makes people feel better. It elevates emotions, influences behavior, and reshapes thinking. It has chaotic side effects, and it’s highly addictive. It can destroy you. You want more. When supply is scarce, the price goes up.

Art attacks.

A medical degree or a beeper won’t help you prescribe drug-like communication. You don’t need to be certified, you need to be certifiable—voices in your head. Listen to the voices, because they keep their ears to the streets of imagination. To be someone’s cure, it takes art, heart, and a finger on their pulse.

Be someone’s cure.

Say A.J. is on your mailing list. What would get him high? How would he react to this drug? What brainwave-bending experience would it take for him to peer-pressure his friends into taking a hit? What would make it matter to him, or make him love it? Experiment like a jaded teenager.

Imagine you’re a doctor. Allison is a patient in your office. You can ask questions and hear her story. You can feel her pain. You can recognize her symptoms and make a diagnosis. It’s all harder through email because you can’t see or hear the same way. You might not know if you caused an allergic reaction. You have to take empathy to the next level—you have to be human. You have to show your own emotion.

F.I.R.E.: chemical breakdown

Information is facts, news, or intel. Entertainment engages emotions, without which information has a short life span. Announcements are cyanide without a story. Be vivid. People remember stories. Entertaining stories open the emotional connection. Information blended with entertainment is a powerful memory mix. Ref.: list of emotions

Relevance is the catalyst to the reaction. Relevance is the reason. Force is the purity of the dose. Force is all about time. Force can make or break you. It’s the reason for warning labels. Information overload is overdose. Better efficacy and absorption rate are obtained when you don’t dilute the punch. Be concise. Time it right. Land every punch.

mnemonics
Force—impact t.i.m.e.
Information—k.n.i.t. what you know.
Relevance—without it you s.l.i.p.
Entertainment—open the c.a.s.e.

http://www.mediazoic.com Greg_MediaZoic

Verbal Valium and mainline euphoria? In that case, may great communication continue to course through your bloodstream!
http://twitter.com/ryanve ryanve

LOL Next stop, Nirvana! <-the mind state, not the band:)
http://twitter.com/slainson Suzanne Lainson

A very interesting piece. Unfortunately I can't think of any musicians who are socially skilled enough to pull this off. Although some of them are great performers, and others can translate emotion into music, I don't know many, if any, who think about what their fans/audiences need and how to give it to them. Most musicians seem to be focused inward, on their own feelings, rather than outward to actively engage others. The entertainment and sports industries tend to have stars surrounded by support networks and entourages. Ask any musician who has been in a band if ego is a factor in music and you will hear tales.
http://twitter.com/ryanve ryanve

Thank you+LOL there has to be some out there. 'Reality web' gets higher ratings. I mean, there's an increasing expectation for the up-close-and-personal, right? Better communicators have a definite edge. Music itself is a form of communication, and yes, F.I.R.E. applies there too.
http://twitter.com/slainson Suzanne Lainson

It's entirely possible that the most successful musicians of the future will have these social skills. Right now people tend to get into music to make music. But in the future more social types might get involved. Amanda Palmer is very social, and I think that really works to her advantage.
http://twitter.com/ryanve ryanve

Like you said, musicians often convey emotion via music, and songs often tell a story (to varying degrees of clarity). I think a lot of people have the social skills in person, but don't translate them onto the web. I think the underlying motivation behind music is to be expressive. Palmer would find a way to do it across any medium. The Beatles are an example of hitting all the elements via music.
http://twitter.com/etiennesin Etienne Sin

Yes,how can I learn to apply it?I would like to light some F.I.R.E under my fan list.Only 10 to 15 % open my mail.
http://twitter.com/ryanve ryanve

Hit songs tend have a immediate hook. In an email, you need a hook in your subject line. What's a good hook? Well, what would make you open it? I think a short complete sentence (statement or question) works better than a random sling of words. Use the subject line to key in on R (relevance). Keep it fresh each time.

If you smile while you're on the phone, then the person on the other end of the line can hear your enthusiasm. The same idea applies to email, so write your emails when you have the most energy and inspiration.

I wrote another (more PC) article on the F.I.R.E. concept and included some do's and don't's. (But I'm guessing you already saw that seeing as your site is powered by BandZoogle.) Practice/experiment and see what works best for you and your fans.