Social Influencer Series | CRO Heather Monahan, Beasley Broadcast Group

I caught up recently with someone of great social influence, that I have known and admired for years. Heather Monahan is the Chief Revenue Officer of Beasley Broadcast Group where she has been driving sales success since 2003. We talked about the key to her success - retaining and attracting the best talent and her biggest accomplishment - her pride and joy, Dylan.

In addition to her corporate success, Heather is an active board member of City Year Miami - a service organization that provides mentorship opportunities for at-risk youth. She is also a devoted, single mother and a role model and mentor to women in the industry with an impressive social following and her own personal hashtag - #BossInHeels

"My mission is to empower women to run the world by showing them how to own their unique strengths to achieve success" - Heather Monahan

Here is what Heather had to say:

In spite of a soft radio economy, you have managed to drive continued revenue success at Beasley Broadcast Group. What has been the key to your success?

The key to our success has been retaining and attracting high-level talent. Any team is only as good as it’s weakest link. 

One of the biggest selling points for radio continues to be "live and local" activation. How important is your focus on localism as a broadcasting company that is expanding its national footprint? 

Live and Local has been and continues to be, extremely important to our brands, our listeners and to us. We are in the business of creating content that is meaningful for our listeners and we will continue to focus on giving them what they want. 

You are hiring for an EVP of Digital. How integral is that role for your company and who are you looking for?

This is a critical hire for our company. We are very excited about the opportunity of bringing on a proven talent with exceptional digital experience and forward-looking vision. As a broadcast company that has evolved into a media company, it was the next logical step to bring on a digital expert that can help us continue to innovate and evolve our business for our listeners and our partners. 

Let's talk social. How important is social media to a radio company?

Social has become increasingly important to our listeners and therefore our brand partners over the past few years. Social has created the opportunity for our personalities and brands to interface with our audience beyond our broadcast. Social has also allowed us to extend our two-way conversations between our listeners and talent to yet another platform and the introduction of video has been received overwhelmingly well. Facebook live has given our listeners the chance to see what it is like inside our studios and become much closer to our personalities. Social has also brought the opportunity to our brand partners to further align their products with our talent. We are HUGE fans of social at Beasley. 

You have a personal brand that I have followed on social media. For industry professionals, what advice would you give on leveraging and building their personal brand on social? 

Social has provided me the opportunity to scale my network at a rate that I never knew would be possible. In the old days, I would have to work a room at an event to connect with others and give them insight into who I am and why they would want to work with me. Today, social has provided me the opportunity to share who I am with thousands of people I didn’t previously know in any given day. Building a personal brand on social is a strategic advantage that I would recommend to anyone in business. 

What did Ivanka Trump say when she called you? 

Ha! Ivanka did not call me herself but her Editor did call me. She told me that they liked my story and thought I would be able to bring unique value to Ivanka’s followers and readers. I was extremely honored to be included on Ivanka’s site this month. 

Speed Round: 

I was raised by an incredible single mom, which is part of what drew me to Heather's story. When I asked her who was the inspirational role model in her life, she dropped the mic with a beautiful and heartfelt answer - "My Son". She considers her greatest accomplishment as "becoming an adversity ninja". She likes to celebrate her victories with a glass of "Chardonnay". Her childhood celebrity crush is "Kirk Cameron" and she still may have an "NKOTB" poster or two.

Her parting advice in three words or less - "Pursue Your Passion Relentlessly". (Heather, that's four words, but poignant nonetheless.)

Heather Monahan is the Chief Revenue Officer of BBGI. You can find her influence on six social channels, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube and Linked In OR follow her blog here - #BossInHeels.

About the interviewer:

Mark Keaney is a Husband, Dad, Coach, Mentor and Leader. With over 20 years of experience in the media industry and a wild ride in the world of tech start-up & social - Mark is helping brands deliver world class CX at Lithium Technologies, where he is the Regional Vice President of Sales for the East and Central. His mantra is - Brand Globally. Market Locally. 

e: markkeaney8@gmail.com or t: @markkeaney2pt0