“Your July memories” pops up on my Facebook timeline.

“One year ago” pops up. Then “5 years ago.” Then “two months ago last Thursday.”

In radio we call this “recycling.” In social media vernacular it’s about keeping the conversation going. Facebook is all about engagement, so they create prefabricated milestones designed to prompt you to engage.

What do we want them to say?

A few years ago my friend Joe Battaglia and I had the privilege of spending several days in San Diego to help Ken Blanchard develop the national radio campaign for “Lead Like Jesus.” As we brainstormed ideas Ken shared his experience of training the staff of the recently opened Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres baseball club. They began with the end in mind.

Now, keep in mind that the stadium staff had no control over whether the Padres won or lost, no influence on how interesting the game was. The only thing the stadium staff could influence was the experience fans had at the ballpark, win or lose, rain or shine.

The exercise Ken walked them through posed the question, “What do we want them to say when they are leaving the ballpark?” It culminated with the response…

“I want to come back and bring a friend.”

That one sentence crystallized their definition of success. The staff then went to work on creating the experiences that could result in what they had imagined in the first place.

In radio we call that word of mouth. Facebook thinks of it as keeping the conversation going.