June 23, 2011
by Tara Servatius
The radio listener contest. It?s a classic study in audience manipulation. And it works when done well. Here are a couple of my favorites from around Charlotte right now. Charlotte?s Alternative Rock station 106.5 is running the classic send in a picture of the hottest person you know and we?ll all vote and see who wins contest. What is smart about the way they are doing it though is that they are asking people to get their social media friends on facebook and twitter to vote for the photos of their choice.
That means that listeners who enter have to paste the radio website on their Facebook pages to direct their friends to the contest. Presto. Mega-bucks worth of free advertising. And since most people have a couple hundred Facebook friends, this multiplies the exposure the contest, and ultimately the radio website gets.
I also love the big hair contest thatWRFX 99.7, Charlotte?s classic rock station is running right now where you send in a picture of yourself when you had big hair and the person with the worst hair wins VIP seating for four at the upcoming Def Leppard concert. What?s smart about the contest is that listeners can vote once every 24 hours, which keeps them coming back to the website day after day instead of just once. They also have to give the station their email address to play.
Tara Servatius was a drivetime News/Talk host at NewsTalk 1110 WBT in Charlotte. She was recently exiled.
Reach out to her at her website http://www.taraservatius.com/.
Twitter Tara @TaraServatius
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