4-24-2012The simple rules of the road are mostly about expectation. When you build a radio station, you know that trust and expectation are two essential elements that cannot be faked. The same is true for social media and personal contact opportunities. Here's how you grow listener trust and usage over time using social media?
1. Think local communities, and give listeners a brand-central place to meet, discuss, and activate. That is correct -- your outreach should involve opportunity on your website, Facebook page, and other social media platforms where your listeners can gather and engage. Giving them a place to do that freely makes your place important to them, and it also leads directly back to your primary brand. This helps bring listeners closer to using your brand -- and believing in your brand as more than just playing music they want to hear when you're playing their favorite song.2. Never forget that you must earn trust with valuable regular content. If you truly want listeners to care about you, you must key on constantly developing relevant and trustworthy content that has real value for listeners, within their expectations of your brand. That is the only way grow trust over time in social media environments. Regular valuable content focused on desired benefits to the listener is critical. There are no shortcuts.
3. Provide easy access for listeners to connect with you. I cannot tell you how many times I see content of all varieties from radio stations and personalities with no additional contact or usage opportunities. We are in a full-contact business. We should seek ways for people to connect with our personalities and our brand. If we don't, we will be less and less in the actual lives of our listeners. How is that in our best interest?
4. Always give listeners the opportunity and reasons to use your on-air product to get additional benefits. Yes, that means you should refer to on-air benefits in relevant content on social media platforms and in loyal-listener e-mail. It is not enough to offer content in areas other than your primary signal. Every contact you have with a listener should be an opportunity to connect that listener to your primary business. These are four easy steps rarely followed by radio. Take these steps and make sure you are responsive to listeners in social media space the way you would be responsive at a station event or concert, and you will win. Loyd Ford is the direct marketing, ratings, and social media strategist for Americalist. He has programmed successful radio brands in markets of all sizes, including KRMD-AM and FM in Shreveport, WSSL and WMYI in Greenville, WKKT in Charlotte, and WBEE in Rochester, NY. Learn more about Loyd here: http://about.me/loydford. Reach out to Loyd via e-mail HERE Visit his Facebook radio-social media page HERE
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