1-29-2015
Facebook's recent earnings report indicated a total of 526 million of its users access Facebook using only a mobile device. Those numbers are up from 296 million last year and is almost 40 percent of Facebook's monthly user base of 1.4 billion. Android Headlines
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9-19-14For the first time, eMarketer broke out time spent with Pandora and says in 2014 U.S. adults will spend 7.1 percent of their daily time listening to Pandora. The time spent daily with Facebook is 6 percent. And perhaps the folks at Pandora now know how radio feels. Advertisers will only allocate 1.4 percent of their digital ad dollars to Pandora, a fraction of what they devote to Facebook. Facebook will receive 10 percent of the U.S digital advertising dollars. eMarketer says the reason for the big difference is that Pandora is often on in the background, and users can tune out the ads or simply not hear them. Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend
9-12-14
Both Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman and CBS Radio President and CEO Dan Mason started their radio careers on the air spinning records. Today they run two of radio's largest companies. Both were on a panel called "From the Control Room to the Board Room" at the Radio Show. After hearing old airchecks from Pittman and Mason, dug up by the NAB's John David (who slipped in an old aircheck of his own), Pittman told the packed room that radio is a business where impatience pays off. "Urgency wins. It's better to do things sooner rather than later. We need to be trying new things. We're not going to beat technology, we need to figure out how to use it. Facebook is today's new request line."
Pittman says when he came into radio he was surprised at how much fighting for dollars inside the radio segment goes on and says other industries don't operate that way. "The TV guys stick together. When I was working at AOL, we all went and sold the Internet. We need to bring more money to this category. We have such a great product but we have not gotten our act together in telling the story." Pittman went on to say that the Nielsen/Catalina R.O.I. study that's been quoted so much this week is a step in the right direction. Pittman also says when he talks to advertisers who attend the iHeartRadio Festival or the Jingle Ball in New York (which sells out Madison Square Garden) he has them look at the audience and tells them, "This is the power of radio."
Pittman also said both CBS and Clear Channel are companies that put talent first. And, what some Clear Channel jocks may find surprising, Pittman listens to hundreds of Clear Channel stations every weekend, on iHeartRadio. And he's constantly sending Tom Poleman notes about those stations: Why are we doing this in this market? Why are we doing that in that market? He also admits the industry is not seeing enough young people come into the business and radio needs to figure out a way to fix that. "Programmers are our creative."
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7-17-14
As the radio industry awaits a Nielsen strategy to measure radio listeners migrating to mobile devices, The L.A. Times is reporting Facebook users who watch TV on a cellphone or tablet will be reported back to the ratings firm. More and more TV is being viewed on-demand as consumers watch their favorite shows when they want to on whatever device they choose. The social network will scan its databases and send the age and gender of the viewer to Nielsen. And, the two companies are promising this is not going to be an invasion of privacy as some worry.
According to the L.A. Times, the information sent to Facebook is not the name of the show, but a numerical code. The data sent back to Nielsen are in aggregate so Nielsen doesn't know the identities of any of the Facebook users. Facebook won't even know what show the code stands for. But Nielsen will learn, for instance, the age and gender breakdowns of the digital audience watching "MasterChef" or "The Bachelorette." One Nielsen executive said, "It is all anonymous and privacy-protected."
There is good reason for measuring the habits of consumers on mobile. EMarketer projects digital video ad revenue is expected to expand 40% this year to $6 billion.
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6-5-14
There are 30 million active business pages on Facebook and now the company is making an effort to convert them to paying customers. Of course that means, like Pandora, they will be coming after local businesses. Ad Age has the details about Dan Levy, Facebook's director of small business, who's on a five-city tour, talking to small-business owners. One strategy Levy is suggesting is to experiment with social posts, find the ones that have some success, then pay for wider reach, using Facebook's "Boost Post" promotion tool. In Q4, one million of the 30 million business owners on Facebook became paying customers.
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3-12-14
You'd never know it if you listened to how sports talkers use the two social media, but Facebook is, by far, the dominant social media choice of Sports Talk listeners. For the hosts, they clearly prefer Twitter. Some rarely even mention Facebook during their shows. Larry Rosin brought along some deep detail from the 2014 Infinite Dial study Edison Research recently completed with Triton Digital. The social media data for Sports Talk listeners was very interesting and quite surprising.
According to the survey, 56 percent of Sports Talk listeners use Facebook. And despite what the kids might be claiming, 58 percent of the 12-plus demo is on Facebook. LinkedIn came in second with the Sports Talk crowd at 22 percent. Twitter was fifth at 18 percent. When asked if they ever post on Twitter, 9 percent of the Sports Talk listeners in the survey said they did; yet when they were asked how often they heard Twitter being talked about in the media, 50 percent said they hear about Twitter almost every day.
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4-1-2013
Most radio managers probably think Facebook is more important to their business than LinkedIn. I humbly disagree. We?ve focused so much on social media as an advertising opportunity, we?ve overlooked its business development capabilities.
If radio AEs spent as much time on LinkedIn as they do on Facebook, I guarantee they would see an increase in their sales.
A recent Wall Street Journal study of 835 small businesses found that 30 percent of business owners use LinkedIn regularly versus 22 percent for Facebook.
LinkedIn is where business gets done. Facebook is great for killing time with friends.
Here are five ways to turn your LinkedIn profile into the most efficient lead generation tool at your disposal.
1. Let LinkedIn Scan Your Email Contacts
The fastest method for building up your LinkedIn network with minimal effort is by enabling LinkedIn to scan all of your email contacts. Just click on ?add connections? in the ?connections? part of your profile.
Think of the hundreds of email contacts you can quickly convert into your LinkedIn network. You might be thinking, ?If I?m already connected with them on email, what?s the benefit of connecting with them on LinkedIn?? You?ll actually create a ?bandwagon effect? by adding new contacts not currently connected with you on email.
2. Always Be Connecting (ABC)
Social media has forever changed the world of sales. The old sales mantra ?Always Be Closing? popularized by Alec Baldwin?s character in the movie "Glengarry Glenn Ross" is disappearing in favor of the new mantra of ?Always Be Connecting.?
Get in the habit of constantly asking your prospects and clients to connect with you on LinkedIn.
Before you call on a new prospect, search your LinkedIn network to see if you are already connected with someone inside that business. If you don?t have a contact, see if there is someone in your network that can introduce you to someone who does.
3. Use a Headline Along With Your Title
Does your title fully explain how you can help one of your clients? Probably not.
As you build and maintain your profile, take every opportunity to showcase your expertise and how you can help solve your clients' marketing problems. Try something like, ?Advertising Consultant at WXYZ -- Creator of Super-Fun Contest Promotions? or ?Marketing Consultant at WXYZ -- Slow Business Turnaround Guru.?
The industry titles we use to describe ourselves are meaningless to our prospects. Create a headline that specifically lets them know how you can help them.
4. Join or Create a Group of Your Target Clients
Join groups that are of the greatest interest to your target clients. Groups are a great way of sharing information and attracting new contacts.
Radio sales professionals should search LinkedIn to see if there are any local business associations in their area that have already created a group.
If your local Chamber of Commerce or Ad Club doesn?t have a LinkedIn Group, consider starting a LinkedIn group of your own about local marketing ideas and solutions for your market.
5. Share Ideas
To really grab the attention of potential prospects on LinkedIn you need to share ideas. As someone selling advertising and marketing solutions, your ideas are your ?free sample.?
Share content right on the homepage of LinkedIn in your newsfeed. Your post will be seen by everyone in your network. Your idea may reach an even wider audience if someone in your network shares it with all of their members.
LinkedIn is just a tool. Habits make tools effective. Consider committing yourself to only calling on prospects you find on LinkedIn for one month. This will force you to get in the habit of connecting and sharing on LinkedIn. By the way, would you like to connect with me on LinkedIn?
Stephen Warley is the founder of inboundarts.com, a research and training firm dedicated to helping radio broadcasters use digital tools to generate more qualified sales leads. He is also the founded of LocalBroadcastSales.com in 2008. Have a question for Stephen? Email him at stephen@inboundarts.com or connect with him on LinkedIn.
(4/1/2013 3:49:58 PM)
What a dork!
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3-13-2013
For anyone who does not know, rich visuals are a huge key to being successful in attracting and giving energy to the most important participators in social media, mobile, or the Web.
Uh, if you don?t know how important mobile is, the Facebook news feed redesign in 2013 should highlight that for you and you should be paying attention.
So, what does the redesign of the Facebook news feed mean for your station in 2013? Well, first, change is something Facebook has to do regularly to stay relevant and keep the interest of their important participators. If it is important for them in social media, it?s important for you. So, pay attention to what I call ?turn the lights up, turn the lights down? in your social media, Web, and mobile strategy and actual execution. This is similar to how fast food restaurants like McDonald's keep people interested by rotating in ?limited time specials? or how nightclubs have to regularly remain interesting and change to stay current and ?in.?
Here are some other things you should be paying attention to and how you can make them meaningful for your team:
1. Visuals are more powerful in social media, mobile, and the Web than ever. Your visuals should be high-resolution photos and you should use visuals that are the most universally appealing to the listeners you most want to attract. Facebook is increasing the size of visuals; you want to appear ?splashy and fun.? In other words, your picture is worth more than 1,000 words. Make it look good at any size by using high resolution pictures in your sharing.
2. While I have been preaching this for a long, long time, you should be using video. Pay attention to how much bigger Facebook will be making all visual images and make your plans to provide quality higher-resolution visuals of all kinds. We are in a fun industry and people like to receive backstage views of radio. Yes, even now, when the doomsayers point out that consumers only care about new media (not true; Don?t believe me? Start posting the fun of our business and think about the jobs most people have today).
3. Always consider how your content will appear on mobile. It should be no surprise that Facebook is pushing how they appear on mobile out-front. This means that every consideration is given to how to become more engaged specifically with smart phones. If you are not thinking about this, too, that is an error.
4. Pay attention to how you present your brand in all ways. Presentation has always been important, but now that is intensifying in social media, mobile, and the Web like never before. It all starts again with visuals. Consider that Facebook is going to push everything visual forward in importance. This includes your visuals, like your cover photo, on your timeline. Remember that listeners are real people and connect with people over brands (personalities). Your personalities should pay even more attention to every visual detail of their Facebook pages.
5. Focus on high-quality content that is not only promotional. I know, we beat this into the ground and the contesting-only radio feeds continue by some stations. The new feed will encourage more control by Facebook users that could be negative for radio if you don?t make your content more relevant to Facebook users -- as if they were friends that you are sharing important, smart or fun content with, not promotional spam.
6. You must make your content fun, friendly, smart, and focused on the audience you most want to attract, but you must also have a variety of content by strategy so that your listeners are passionately engaged. When you do these things, the new revamp is much more likely to reward you. This starts with developing the right strategy for your individual local radio brand that focuses only on your market and only on those people most likely to love your primary product. Not your Facebook content. Use Facebook to bring people closer to your brand and to encourage usage of your brand.
7. You should be encouraged to allow your personalities to post and engage local listeners as themselves and to reflect their image and lifestyle as they do over-the-air. If they are successful doing this, evidence will be everywhere. They will have more contact with advocates of your brand, they will encourage listeners to engage the station, and they will do more than post content. They will validate listeners and it will appear (and be) personal.
In the end, it is just like the beginning. In other words, whatever changes come on Facebook and other social media platforms, you can count on this: Keep up with trends that are relevant to your ?format life group,? open up, engage listeners on subjects and with visuals that they are passionate about today.
The old days are gone. If you want to be successful today, you have to be a 21st Century person. Don?t go along with the wisdom that social media does not matter. Consumers are naturally assuming more power. If you don?t have a relationship with them that is current (including being active and relevant in social media), you will be ?out? soon. If you are in radio, you are in marketing. That means you must be in the ?now.? You should be highly tuned into what your audience is doing -- and that is easier now than ever.
Do that and you will be successful with any change that comes along because you will be current and relevant.
Loyd Ford is the direct marketing, ratings and social media strategist for Americalist and programmed very successful radio brands in markets of all sizes for years, including KRMD AM & FM in Shreveport, WSSL and WMYI in Greenville, WKKT in Charlotte and WBEE in Rochester, NY. Get his radio ? social media blog FREE right on your cell phone or email here: www.rainmakerpathway.wordpress.com. 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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1-14-2013
Three clients have approached me in the last few months, all worried because the station they work for is threatening to cancel their Morning Show Facebook page. Not because their behavior on Facebook is out of line with the station brand, or because it is distracting them from the on-air product, but because they view it as a threat to the growth of the station?s Facebook presence.
While I understand the need to streamline the on-air message regarding social media, I believe morning shows deserve their own social media accounts. Here are five reasons why:
1. A radio station is only as strong as its shows, its music, and its promotions. A show that is using social media to engage P1s and attract new listeners is serving more than itself ? it's serving the station as a whole.
2. A smart radio station Facebook or Twitter account represents all aspects of the station brand. This includes new music, artist news, promotions and contests, and shows. Because there are only so many posts that should be made in one day, the morning show has limited opportunity to promote their show and its content (typically within the time the show airs). Having their own Facebook and Twitter presence allows them to be a source of entertainment for listeners 24/7, creating brand loyalty and increasing tune-ins.
3. Fans ?like? and ?follow? radio stations for different reasons than they do shows or air talent. They expect the station to keep them updated with concerts, music news, contests, and promotions. They like or follow a show or air talent accounts to find out more about what they?ve heard on the show, and to personally connect with the specific jock they love. Following a person and a brand are different, and they both have a place in social media.
4. Morning show talent almost always ensures their online presence is in line with the on-air brand. If they are growing a fan base online, it?s because they care about their brand and the show?s success. They want to give listeners what they expect, and would not post any content that doesn?t reflect the show?s branding. It?s unlikely they will behave badly? Facebook isn?t Vegas, so they know what happens there will always make it back to management.
5. Facebook is a great place to test on-air topics. Many shows use Facebook as a gauge by posting phone topics the night before. Often a topic they thought would be huge has ?no legs,? evident by the lack of engagement on Facebook. And sometimes a small topic turns into a huge segment, as the show sees different angles in Facebook comments. Using Facebook to ?test topics? makes the on-air product stronger, as it weeds out the topics that don?t resonate with listeners.
And why not let the show keep their page?
If you?re worried that the show?s on-air promotion of their Facebook page is hurting the growth of the station page, set parameters.
If your station Facebook page lacks morning show presence because they only post on their own, set guidelines for when they must post on the station page.
Just don?t cancel their account.
This is a controversial topic by nature. I welcome your opinions, as they may help guide compromise for management and morning show talent.
Stephanie Winans is Social Media Specialist and Content Curator for the Randy Lane Company and Stephanie Winans Digital. E-mail: stephaniewinans@gmail.com
(1/16/2013 7:14:46 AM)
Thanks for your comment, Dave. You make great points- treating each platform differently and engaging, not selling, are both keys to success for talent and stations.
(1/14/2013 12:36:24 PM)
Good article. You might add, that different mediums need to deliver different content to "engage" their audience. FB likes are ultra heavy users. Video is the #1 engagement tool and they should include a Youtube channel as well as FB, Twitter. Creative talent can grow their audience by thinking of each medium a little different to spread their message. Always entertain and never sell.
Enjoyed the read-Dave
11-21-2012
Perhaps another case of a radio host not thinking before using Social Media. And clearly a sign of how quickly you can get into trouble and jeopardize your job when emotions take over logic. WNWS is in Jackson, TN and host Bill Way (pictured) is off the air after he made a Facebook post about President Obama that a lot of people took offense to. Here's a portion of the Way FB post.
"A short message to Obama voters. To vote for him with a 9.2 unemployment rate, $16,000,000,000 in debt and an israeli war, a pimp walking prez married to cheetahs daughter...expect what you will most certainly get. bye bye medicare. hello homeless.. I love America except for the idiots." Way apologized for his comments but it was too little too late. The NAACP quickly jumped in and criticized Way
General Manager Larry Wood told the local newspaper he learned about the comments Way made on his personal Facebook page. "In no way do they reflect the positions or thoughts of any of us at WNWS-FM. We certainly don't condone the comments from Bill and appreciate his public apology. We're discussing his comments and apology. Considering the gravity of the situation, for now, by mutual agreement, Bill is taking a few days off."
(11/21/2012 2:32:57 PM) Still, does this mean the man should be disallowed to speak - even though it is to demonstrate his ignorance and lack of humanity...? My guess: probably not. The trick, I think, is in making sure those comments are also challenged - and in certain terms. And challenged openly.
It is impossible to argue with ignorance!
(11/21/2012 1:53:30 PM)
There is absolutely no excuse for the line <>and there is no defense either. It may be his 1st amendment right to speak freely, but it shows him to be a racist. If I were his GM, he'd have been fired immediately.
(11/21/2012 1:53:15 PM)
There is absolutely no excuse for the line <>and there is no defense either. It may be his 1st amendment right to speak freely, but it shows him to be a racist. If I were his GM, he'd have been fired immediately.
(11/21/2012 9:55:30 AM)
I don't know how American broadcasters would respond to such comments, but from up here in The Great White North, they seem to be absolutely astonishing.
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11-7-2012
What is out there other than Facebook when it comes to social media? We?re not taking anything away from Facebook, but to have a true overall plan for dominating social in your market, you must look at other opportunities that can have critical impact on listeners and advertisers.
If you have followed anything I have written on radio and social media, you likely already know that I think all of your off-air activities in the digital world should begin with ?things you own,? starting with your website. Of course, you should appear ?easy to connect to? on-line, on Facebook and on other social media platforms and email. After all, in our overcrowded message world, beginning a relationship with you should be easy no matter where a listener (or advertiser) comes in contact with your brand.
Before I talk about other social media platforms, let me also say that I believe that radio should be investing in digital portals that drive local-based revenue, passion for our brands, and social media engagement for listeners and advertisers. But that?s just me. To leave this money ? and additional local brands we can build ourselves ? ?on the table? is concerning and unforgiveable.
Okay, so you have a website. Do you really have an excellent website that represents your brand and your local community? Is it really engaging or is it just ?up there?? Is there rich content that changes frequently on your website or are you operating off of the 1990s radio online plan of yesteryear? Is the changing content focused on what the listeners you want to attract care about and want or is it only focused on your radio station? Can listeners engage the content on your website and share it easily on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites? Do listeners want to share your content? Does it make them look smart and tuned in if they share content from your site? If not, do not pass go or collect $200 (or anything else). Invest in making your website work for you so that listeners want to share you with others on all social media platforms.
This can impact real listening and real revenue. Please don?t even read the rest of this unless your own website is in top-flight working order to serve listeners with great photos and content, and creates the opportunity for continuous engagement including easy sharing on all relevant social media platforms. Go spend time with your website and see if your company will allow you to make it a powerful tool to really engage your audience and help you win.
So what are some other bigger or growing sites ? other than ?just Facebook? -- where you could help communicate and share your story with listeners and comment on their lives in social media? With each of these sites, you have to be responsible for educating yourself and determining the value of each of them and how you could best use them, or if you should use them at all.
1. YouTube ? Not sharing on YouTube? Shame on you. Radio is creative, right? Use that creativity with your format, your listeners, your events, your promotions, and both the attitude and lifestyle of the listeners you most want to attract. As with Facebook and your own website, the content must be focused on what your listeners want ? not just on you. And you must make the content special enough where listeners will feel smart or funny to share with friends, family, and others in your market.
2. Google+ ? Where there are people hanging out, your station should be there. This one is not a favorite of mine, but you should have a presence and you should make the most of it. If you haven?t seen the basics for Facebook strategy, go back and look at past articles on how to make the most of this type of social media environment. Sharing is all about listeners and a little about you. Make it visual and rich with content they want and you will win.
3. LinkedIn ? Yes, salespeople in your building can use LinkedIn to showcase how they solve problems for advertisers and local business owners. They can also engage in showcasing what makes them a special resource for clients and connect with groups that can help increase revenue.
4. Pinterest ? New kid on the block, so-to-speak. You (the user) are encouraged to pin photos of items you like into categories. You should tune in to see who is most likely using Pinterest and how they fit into your target audience. Adults are spending a lot more time on this site as it continues to grow. Spend some time with it and look at the photos shared to figure out how to work your brand into the types of photos your potential targets love. No, I am not kidding.
You can?t do everything well. You must pick your battles. However, you should know by now that Facebook can?t do all the heavy-lifting for your social media. Facebook is a mirror. Use it, but don?t let it be your only resource (or even only free resource) to help connect with listeners. Start at home with your website and other digital brands your team can develop locally to grow engagement and non-traditional revenue.
Facebook is dominant in social media, but as a closed environment ? they make lots of rules to limit your success. Yes, it can be important if your focus is on true engagement on the local listener level and their lives on the social media giant. But look at your overall plan and make sure you really have one that is listener focused. Make sure you are truly focused on those you most want to attract to your radio brand and engage locally. That makes you the real winner in social media for your radio station or cluster. It will make you a winner with the boss, too.
Loyd Ford is the direct marketing, ratings and social media strategist for Americalist and programmed very successful radio brands in markets of all sizes for years, including KRMD AM & 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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11-1-2012
One reason Entravision had a big 3rd quarter (see story below) was one of the company's most successful annual events. Entravision hosts one of the largest Latin music events in the United States. This year was the 14th year the concert was held and the first year the company incorporated Facebook in its strategy to sell tickets, according to Entravision CEO Walter Ulloa. It was also a record year for national sponsorships at the show which featured the most popular Latin Rock bands in the format who played to over 13,000 fans for over 6 hours at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Entravision incorporated its Facebook page by asking listeners to "like" them on the Social Media site. Listeners would then receive a pre-sale code for tickets to the show. Entravision sold half its tickets to the Staples Center concert via this Facebook promotion. The event was completely sold out in 6 hours. Major sponsorships were sold to Budweiser, McDonalds, AT&T and Toyota. Ulloa says it was a record year for sponsorships.
This year 12 million Latinos will vote according to Ulloa. That is a 25% increase in the total from 2008. In 2012 Entravision expects to generate $16 million in political advertising (including its Television properties), an increase of 107% from four years ago. Ulloa believes the Latino population may very well decide who sits in the White House when it's all said and done next week. The company has properties in Nevada, Colorado, Florida and Virginia. All are considered very important states in this election.
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10-31-2012
We?ve had a good amount of time now to get used to the idea that there are these social media platforms (led by Facebook) that allow you access to opportunity (if you are willing to give up some of your 20th Century ways) to grab onto new ideas that will help your radio station in the seemingly new ?If it's free, it?s for me? environments like Facebook.
Now the Facebook team has essentially taken all groups and brands and moved them to the back of the connectivity bus (unless you are purchasing advertising on Facebook). Where you could post content to be seen by most or all of the people in your ?group? on Facebook in the recent past, that is now not even close to true. Now only about 10 percent of your ?fans? or ?likes? will see any content from you whatsoever. Those in radio who have not been listening as relevant social media ?types? talk about having a specific real strategy are falling farther and farther behind. Still, it?s not too late to catch up, but you better kick it in the butt because the social media train is leaving the station and it isn?t coming back for old people who don?t get it. The days of depending on Facebook to do your social media for you are gone. In fact, they never really did do it for you if all you were doing was ?phoning it in.? No game = no benefit.
What can you do to really start winning in social media now? Elevate your game and get off of the old ?post a little bit and forget it? philosophy. Don?t see Facebook as the center lane of your social media strategy for 2013 and going forward. See Facebook as one part of a larger puzzle. Really engage and commit to local relationships that matter to your brand and your listeners. Here are some basics that you must begin working on now unless you want to be left in the past:
1. Seriously develop a social media strategy that involves your goals (what you want to achieve and how you will judge your efforts). Make sure you have a plan that includes why you use Facebook, why you use Twitter, and why you use other social media platforms (and for what). Put real effort into developing the actual ?plan? before executing anything. This plan should deal with individual ?high-profile? personalities on your radio brands and their content in different social media environments, along with very specific content strategy so that you have a balanced approach to creating high-quality social media content that engages the passion of your target listeners (those you most want to attract to your brands). You should have a strategy set where everyone on your team knows what kind of content they are to post by percentage and when they will be responsible to post daily.
2. Challenge your team to engage listeners on their content and encourage them to have back and forth conversations as well as sharing with others they influence. This might seem difficult at first, but it won?t be as difficult if your focus is truly on building actual relationships from social media and bringing listeners to your actual online and on-air world. If the newest changes on Facebook indicate anything, it is that investing in Facebook for the purpose of ?living on Facebook? is the wrong philosophy. Sure, your goals should involve high-engagement on Facebook, but you must include drawing them to your owned-media (online and on-air). Attracting and drawing listeners should be the strategy; not attract and play with listeners on Facebook.
3. A picture says a thousand words. Nope. It?s more like a million in social media and specifically on Facebook. Listeners (Facebook consumers) are drawn to photographs and our lives are filled with them (listeners? lives and the lives of your radio brands). Your station staff not taking photos of events, concerts, and ?happenings"? Shame on you. Invest in a digital camera. They?re cheap. Think about what your radio station stands for, how listeners you most want to attract use radio and why. Then, give them the visuals on Facebook (and other platforms) that tease and by purpose draw them back to your brand.
4. Have your on-air personalities blog on your website. Talk about those blogs on-air (and sponsor them, please). Give personalities purpose in content. This means make sure your personalities stand for something that reflects well on the on-air brand and draws specific types of listeners to your brand. Work to link these personality blogs with bloggers in your market and entertainment-based sites so that they draft listeners toward on-air content. Encourage them to ?get sticky? and engage listeners to share, participate and educate others about their blog and causes they share with the personality. Your personalities can?t write? That?s so 2008. Today is about engagement; that starts with having something to say that reflects interests of the listeners you most want to attract on-air and off.
5. Use YouTube and other resources to explode sharing. Of course, nothing will happen to any of your content unless it is rich and targeted to the listeners you want to attract. Get creative and share things listeners will want to share with friends, family and others. Do this and your social media influence will explode.
6. Go back to the school of hard knocks. Invest in knowledge and learning new tricks. Great radio always reinvents itself. Learn how to use new knowledge to bring what is fun, hip, cool, valuable, and relevant to your attractable audience every day in social media. And always focus on luring listeners back to the website and on-air that you own because that is the true measure of success in putting social media to work for your brand.
Times are changing. They really are. If you bend, you won?t break. If you are rigid and refuse to adjust with the changing times, you will be run over and left behind.
Now is your time. Embrace the future because it is here today with social media and digital solutions that can be used by radio to grow our future.
Loyd Ford is the direct marketing, ratings and social media strategist for Americalist and programmed very successful radio brands in markets of all sizes for years, including KRMD AM & 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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10-24-2012
Facebook reported revenue of $1.26 billion in the third quarter, an increase of 32% over the same period last year. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, "I believe that over the long run we're going to see more monetization for time spent on mobile than on desktop. On mobile, we believe ads will be more like TV." Mobile only accounts for 14% of total Facebook ad revenue, which only rolled out mobile ad products in March. Facebook has 604 million mobile monthly active users, up from 543 million three months ago
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7-30-2012
The folks at Triton will be hosting a free webinar on Facebook this Wednesday at 2PM Eastern. The 60 minute event will focus on how stations can use Facebook to connect more effectively with listeners. If you've ever asked yourself any of the following questions, you be well informed if you sign up for the webinar. Is Facebook a strategy or a tactic for reaching your audience? How do you continue to grow your database? How is your audience really using mobile? How loyal is your audience and what are the most effective loyalty practices?
Register HERE
5-23-2012
I knew it was coming. Living in the great netherworld between social media and radio, I?ve come to be able to predict with almost dead-on accuracy what kind of emails I?m going to get, and when.
As soon as the story came out that 50 percent of people think Facebook is a "fad," I heard from just about every social media doubter in radio I know. This, in their eyes, was proof that the masses were going to eventually reject Facebook, as well as all things digital, and channel all that time back to terrestrial radio listening. I reminded them it?s not such an either/or proposition and pointed them to a previous blog I did about multitasking.
Well you can imagine their delight when GM announced they were pulling all paid advertising from Facebook. You?d have thought the "shot heard round the world" happened all over again. They couldn?t have been more pleased.
But let?s think about that. Radio?s entire business proposition has always been that we gather a large mass of users (listeners), and then sell access to those users to advertisers. I don?t know what your cume is, but Facebook has 800 million users worldwide. Anyone in radio who celebrates the fact an advertiser doesn?t feel the need to pay a penny for access to 800 million users needs to stop blasting themselves in the foot.
Not only are those users there, advertisers can drill down to focus their dollars on extraordinarily specific demographics, locations and interests, then get data back on what kind of engagement, if any, their ads got. Can you do that with your over-the-air signal? GM says the paid ads didn?t lead to actual car sales. Really? Did GM find a rock-solid ROI formula for social that none of the rest of the industry has yet discovered? They?re in essence making a statement that branding doesn?t lead to sales. That ain?t good for us in radio folks, so let?s not shoot off fireworks.
The next round of "I told you so" emails I got came after the opening day of Facebook?s IPO. Everyone expected to find me crushed that the stock didn?t skyrocket on Day 1. It was a total validation, in their eyes, that this "social thing" holds no revenue-making value. I wasn?t crushed. I wasn?t even really surprised, given the hammering Facebook took during the pre-IPO blackout period. And again, do we really want to celebrate indications that paid advertising no longer works?
I personally believe Facebook will figure it out. They live, eat, sleep and breathe figuring things out. And by the way, GM never said they weren?t marketing on, and making big investments in, Facebook. It?s just not on their paid ad product side. GM has no problem admitting there?s tremendous value in having the kind of access to consumers and relationship-building functions social offers. And so far, no other big advertiser seems to be following GM?s lead.
If you?re celebrating the rejection, by one company, of paid advertising to reach a cume of 800 million (with heavy "TSL" by the way) because there was no indisputable proof that Ad Dollar X led to Sale Dollar Y?then what the hell are you out there selling?
Mike Stiles is a brand content specialist with the social marketing tech platform Vitrue. Check out his monologue blog The Stiles Files and follow him @mikestiles.
(5/23/2012 1:10:24 AM)
I think Mike might agree that: no matter the perceived strength of the presented certainty or the cut of the corporate suits, Radio people are experiencing a desperation that is relatively new in the industry.
Any small whiff of a cloud over somebody else's turf is considered a sign their doom is imminent.
Of course, that same cloud over our territory is hoped to be a harbinger of blessed rain for parched, radio throats.
Facebook, meanwhile, is seeing to their own knitting. We aren't.
Mike Stiles
When you think about what you use the Internet for, you probably come up with a list of the usual suspects. You research stuff, you might use it to buy something or book travel, you watch videos, you get the news, you use it to communicate, etc.
Now what can you do on Facebook? Well, you can research stuff, buy something, book travel, watch videos, get news, use it to communicate, etc.
See what happened there? Facebook has become so ubiquitous and, thanks to its Open Graph capabilities and ability to pull offsite apps into Tab views, spread its tentacles across absolutely everything people do on the Web; to the point where it has, for all practical purposes, become the operating system for the entire Internet.
Remember back in the Stone Age when the Web gurus were pressuring you to get a website up and running, telling you how essential it was? Getting that website up was definitely the right thing to do (unless you put it up only to abandon it). But ironically, thanks to the hyperactivity of technology and innovation, things have changed so fast with the dawn of the social revolution that, quite frankly, you don't really need your own website anymore.
Facebook users can access nearly every company currently doing business. They can play games with friends or strangers. They can message and video chat. They can see updates, pictures and videos. They can participate in sweepstakes and contests. They not only can get the news, they can organize the news they want from the sources they want with Interest Lists. They can do just about anything they would want to do anywhere else on the Web?all within the context of their social graphs.
Which might leave you asking the question, "What am I doing or offering on our station website that our listeners can?t also do on our Facebook page?" I think you'll be surprised when the answer comes back, "Not much." And a couple of recent Facebook developments may soon be giving the social networking heavyweight an even larger percentage of users' online time.
Development 1: They're rolling out a service in which your Facebook email and Facebook Timeline are more connected and intertwined. Not even Google has married Gmail this tightly to its Google+ platform. With this development, Facebook advances deeper into the hub for messaging and email activity.
Development 2: "Groups For Schools" is Facebook?s new college collaboration tool. This puts them firmly in the file-sharing arena. Students can share un-copyrighted files up to 25MB with groups organized around classes, frats, whatever. Other students can download the files right from the News Feed. Don't expect Facebook to stop at colleges. Business groups could quickly emerge, and Facebook's file sharing could become the hub for both business and social collaboration. If Google Docs has reason to worry, should you?
Facebook realizes they will hit a point at which bringing new users to the platform will top out. Pretty much everyone who's going to be a social network user at all will be on it. To grow further, they have to focus on engagement and the time people spend on Facebook. What better way to grow that than to offer every online activity conceivable within the Facebook environment?
Am I suggesting you shut down your website? No. Many of you have digital advertising strategies up and running on them. But are you telling listeners to go to your website or your Facebook page? Telling them to go two separate places is not exactly a laser-focused approach. Station brands that place their focus on building an actively engaged fan base on Facebook, then leveraging that community by integrating the exciting array of emerging apps and functionalities that will constantly be debuting, will be the brands operating from a position of social strength.
Mike Stiles is a brand content specialist with the social marketing tech platform, Vitrue. Check out his monologue blog, The Stiles Files, and follow him @mikestiles
(4/20/2012 12:40:16 PM)
We have only about 3,200 followers! LOL!
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3-28-2012
A lot of radio stations think they are participating in engagement on Facebook. However, this is just like anything that becomes newly accepted by the masses. There are people who think they are using it for their own brands and those people who are just doing a lot of empty promotion. How can you make sure you are using Facebook instead of Facebook using you?
Don?t spend your time judging your efforts by how many listeners ?LIKE? your Facebook page. No matter how many times I say this, it is the first thing most program directors want to do to show they are doing well on Facebook. Facebook is designed to be an effortless way for people to share instantly. Making it a game for ego by seeing how many people you can get to click ?LIKE? is not a good judge for how you are actually doing.
Have a purpose. Make sure you spend enough time building a strategy that incorporates encouraging listeners to use your brand. Building a plan means thinking about the people you want to attract (target) and building content that engages them on what is important to them. But it also means encouraging them to visit your website and actual on-air brand regularly (and I don?t mean only with contest appointments; think value).
Know your listeners and serve them. The smart programmers have always kept a strategic plan that identifies what is important to listeners in their market. They focus on the audience they want and they truly build programming that serves that audience. What you are doing on Facebook is similar in that you should be serving your audience by knowing what is important to them and placing content to engage them on what they value, but your Facebook content should also lead Facebook ?actives? to your on-air brand so you can better serve them.
Make sure listeners know from your Facebook engagement how many other ways they can engage your station. That?s right. Your listeners should very, very easily be able to see how many OTHER ways they can engage your station on the web, email, in your market and on-air. Make it easy for them to engage you and make sure they can see that quickly and easily while they are on Facebook.
It is easy to fall prey to using Facebook to ultimately promote Facebook. There is a lot of engagement on Facebook, but there are even more people involved with trying to manipulate instead of adding value to the lives of the people they want to attract to media brands like your radio station.
Take advantage of the fact that your competition is likely only participating in Facebook out of manipulation or an effort to be in the space. Do more. Take the time needed to think about the audience you want to attract, think about what is important to those people and engaging in serving them with great content they care about that also leads to your actual on-air brand. If you do, you will be participating in building important strengths for your brand while your competition focuses on ?LIKES? and really only engages ?time suck.?
READ MORE ARTICLE FROM LOYD HERE
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Loyd Ford is the direct marketing, ratings and social media strategist for Americalist and programmed very successful radio brands in markets of all sizes for years, including KRMD AM & 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 www.facebook.com/socialnetworking4radio
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3-22-2012
By Mike Stiles
Have you discovered Facebook Interest Lists yet? There are times when Facebook adds something and your reaction is, "Why would anyone ever need that?" And then there are other times when they add something and you say, "I can't believe it took them so long to do this."
Private users (not brand pages -- yet) can now group brand pages they like into Interest Lists. For instance, if one of your listeners wants to see posts from radio stations together in their news feed, they would create a list called "radio stations," and include your page (yay!) and your competitors' pages (boo!). They can create their own lists, or they can subscribe to lists that other people have constructed. The great news about people subscribing to other users' lists is it exposes them to content in their news feed from brand pages they may not have "liked" yet. That could include you!
Most of the talk so far has been about how journalists, bloggers, anyone who follows a particular beat are using Interest Lists to better organize and keep track of the topics they cover. So here's your takeaway item No. 1: Make sure your jocks and producers know about Interest Lists, because it can be a time-saving show prep godsend. Now they can fly through their Facebook account, list by list, and quickly see headlines for the specific kind of content they're looking for without having to go to individual pages or scroll endlessly through their news feed looking for that content amidst pictures of their friends' puppies.
Takeaway item No. 2: Whether or not you're a news station, whether or not you have a dedicated news person, you're going to want your page's content to show up in the news feeds of potential new fans. You do that by being included in as many Interest Lists as you can, and news/information is one of the most popular kinds of pages users like to add to their lists. Sadly, you can't force or manipulate your way in.
Your fans will only add your page to the Interest Lists they create IF your content is relevant to the list they're making (if it's music news, you should have a better-than- average shot at it), and IF they feel your content has been consistently worthwhile enough to be worthy of inclusion. It keeps going back to the drum I'm always beating on: giving the creation of quality content the level of priority and resources it deserves. It's an awkward time to be beating that drum, because at the same time radio managers are on a crusade to squeak by with as little content as they can get away with on-air, the demand for engaging, original content on the digital side is absolutely exploding.
If you try to make your social presence an automated, effortless, low priority, your odds of showing up on Interest Lists is mighty slim because, well ... you're not interesting.
Mike Stiles is a brand content specialist with the social marketing tech platform Vitrue. Check out his monologue blog, The Stiles Files & follow him @mikestiles
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Rules and regulations governing the execution of contests and promotions is nothing alien. We?ve been doing it so long it?s in our DNA. But what comes second nature to us on-air may not hold water in the social media world. In fact, the ongoing casual conversations our stations and air personalities are having on corporate, and even their private Facebook accounts, may be violating Arbitron or Facebook (or both) guidelines and terms of use this very minute. Gulp.So in the interest of avoiding nasty letters loaded with dazzling legalese or endangering your stellar ratings results, here?s a summary of what Arbitron doesn?t like on Facebook and Twitter, and what Facebook doesn?t like when you?re using them in a promotion. If you?re good and read all the way through, I?ll even give you a bonus warning about the new Facebook Timeline that?s coming at the end of the month.
Arbitron
Here?s what Arbitron cares about and always has. They want survey participants to be completely anonymous. They don?t want them giving false info (rating distortion) or giving a station unfair preferential treatment (rating bias). So, since they?re supposed to keep their mouths shut, you can imagine how Arbitron?s eyebrows would go up if they saw someone talking about being in their survey on Facebook. If they see interaction between the participant and a station, the eyebrows go up even higher. So don?t fish for participants online, and squeal like pig if one reveals themselves.
Did you know that Arbitron has computers too? And they monitor social sites all the time. Not just the station?s, but the accounts of your personalities if they?re using their on-air name. Nice feeling huh? You can?t discuss ratings on Facebook and Twitter, even if you want to brag. Arbitron thinks that prompts participants to reveal themselves. I didn?t say I agree with all their policies, I?m just listing them.
Just make sure your staff, especially your air staff, knows that the rules for Arbitron are the same on social as they are for on-air. If your station wants to post something and you?re not sure about it, Arbitron will check it confidentially for you and let you know if it?s okay.
But here?s what they really hate. You can?t use Facebook functionality to register or enter people. Liking a Page or checking into a Place can?t be an entry. You can make people Like your Page in order to play (that?s called fan-gating), it just can?t be the entry. You can?t make registrants use Facebook functionality, such as comment on a post, or share it, or upload a photo on a Wall. And you definitely can?t use the ?Like? button as a voting mechanism. Lastly, you can?t use Facebook to notify winners.
There?now you can?t say you didn?t know. Now for the bonus I promised. One of the most prominent features of the new Facebook Timeline for Brands Page you?re about to get is the large cover photo at the top. Many of you are probably already crafting this soon to be iconic image. BUT?there are rules for what you can and can?t include in that image, and you can read about them in my Vitrue blog.
Mike Stiles is a brand content specialist with the social marketing tech platform, Vitrue. Check out his monologue blog, The Stiles Files & follow him @mikestiles
For more articles from Mike Stiles about Social and Digital Media go HERE
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