Emmis KGSR Makes One Listener Very Happy

6-13-14

High schooler Mason Endres was critically injured in the March 13 South by Southwest car accident. On Wednesday, thanks to Emmis' KGSR Endres had the opportunity to meet singer Ed Sheeran Wednesday before he a taping of Austin City Limits. Endres tells The Statesman she was still pretty much freaking out after meeting Sheeran when reached on her cellphone at the Moody Theater. Endres has long been a fan of Sheeran?s. Shortly after the crash, her friends started the hashtag #EdMeetMason. KGSR found out and set up the meet and greet.

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(SOCIAL) Turn Social Video Into Listener Power

7-17-2013

If you have read my columns on radio and social media, you know that I am a firm believer that you need to be constantly visual to gain access to the attention of a lot of eyes across all social media platforms. Today we focus on video. After all, radio has so many video-based opportunities. There is absolutely no reason that your morning shows should not be very pro-video in their social media content and no personality on the radio should be left behind when it comes to being social media active with local listeners. So, let?s talk about how to develop a pro-video social media strategy.

1. Recognize that people are much more engaged visually than with the spoken word. Why do you think Google purchased YouTube? It was because of fear that people would stop using words (yes,that is for real) and they wanted to have a search engine that was not based upon words.  That bet has paid off for Google. If the recognition of the visual over words in content is good enough for Google, it should be good enough for your local radio station and personalities.

2. Let go of your fear over putting video up-front in much of your social media engagement. While I hope you will recognize my strong recommendation that you balance content and content delivery in social media (that comes from having an actual well-defined social media strategy with goals for the radio station), many broadcasters (this includes morning show talents and other personalities) have fear of using video regularly with listeners. What if it doesn?t look professional? What if I do it wrong? You must learn that letting go of this fear is the actual path to really having fun in social media and engaging your audience with easy-to-make video that will work in attracting the people in your market you want to have listening to your station and engaging you in social media. That?s that job here and it doesn?t have to be perfect or professional. People respond to imperfect people (like themselves).

3.  People read content or watch video to be entertained or to learn something or to be a part of something. They also share things that make them look smart or ?in the know.? Recognize this and build your video content around these things and you will be successful.

4. Regularly seek information on what is trending in online searches in your market. After all, knowing the "hot buttons" will help you better create content that puts you at the top of what your audience is looking for in the first place. This should be done continuously.

5. Your morning show and other high-profile personalities should link their videos to their blogs (they have a blog, right?), to your website, and to your social media assets (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). After all, you want to create a larger and larger local audience for your videos. Promoting the content is the key to driving your participation numbers higher.

6. Use Twitter to post your link for your content. If it is more evergreen content, you should think about posting the link 10 to 12 times in the first 48 hours over a variety of hours to maximize the ?pull.? 

7. I do also recommend that you include a call to action on or inside your videos to join your ?(radio station) loyal listener email to get more fun and free benefits.? You may not always get huge sign-up, but you will build traction over time and participation builds real familiarity and that builds real value if you focus especially on number 1, 4, 5, and 6 and above. After all, if this is a part of your overall content plan on social media, you will create a path to build real value regularly for these listeners. That?s real engagement.

8. Include your best videos in your monthly loyal listener email. This allows maximum coverage with high-participators who are likely to send your content to others.

Local ?listeners? on Facebook or Twitter or another social media platform are not just going to experience a video or your other social media content and immediately react to you by becoming a loyal listener of your brand. This is not advertising. It is targeting listeners that best match up with your brand in social media and giving them content that entertains, educates, and creates community they want to be a part of over time. That?s the real key. Social media offers you opportunity to engage and then influence them to become a part of the ?culture? you are encouraging at your brand.

Finally, here is a message for every morning show personality or other high-profile personality on radio today:  We?re halfway through 2013. This is the time for all personalities on radio to really develop deep, penetrating engagement in local social media within your market (no matter who you are). If your radio station doesn?t have a plan, you certainly should. This is the path to developing your own future so that you will have real career growth and value to other employers. Learn to excel with social media content and you will be learning to be more successful to meet the challenges of the future, connectivity, and loyalty with local listeners. That makes you a winner.

Good luck!
Loyd Ford is the direct marketing, ratings and social media strategist for Americalist and has programmed very successful radio brands in markets of all sizes, 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. Get his radio-social media content sent directly to your smart phone or email for free here:  www. rainmakerpathway. wordpress. com. Reach out to Loyd via e-mail HERE.  Visit his Facebook radio social media page HERE.

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Pandora Listener Hours Drop In June

7-9-13

Pandora reported it had 1.25 billion listener hours for the month of June compared to 1.35 billion in May and 1.31 billion in April. The company also says it has 7.04 percent of all U.S. radio listening, the fourth consecutive declining month. In May, Pandora reported 7.29 percent. April was 7.33 percent. May was 8.05 percent. That number had been steadily increasing until the company started charging subscribers after 40 hours (per month) of use. Pandora's total U.S. listening percentage is not a number that can be verified.

(7/10/2013 10:35:16 AM)
Nobody who understands radio says that radio is dead, or dying. But there are plenty who think that radio industry execs sat on their hands while the technology sector whizzed by, drawing audience and advertising dollars. And, that they are doing a poor job of catch-up.

Those who comment on not being able to quantify Pandora's claims, or who look at what Triton Digital's Webcast Metric report and say that there is not a shift in listening are keeping blinders on. Scarborough is produced by a company that relies on the radio industry - just like this publication - and so are the "couple of others" you reference. Do you believe they are the ideal counter-claim to lost TSL and the building of online radio's audience?

What's being missed is that Pandora is always compared to the entire radio industry. It is one company with thousands of other companies that have an aggregate audience you should be worried about. If that's not concerning you then you're hearing something in the "above and beyond" that I'm not hearing. Post consolidation programming is a shallow self of its former life.

Would love to see data that proves "...listeners make a distinction between a jukebox and the things that radio offers..." Perhaps we can place them next to those reports stating listeners don't want babbling DJs (especially youthful listeners).

(7/10/2013 8:38:59 AM)
Bill, just curious about your take on the latest Scarborough research on Pandora, which shows that that PANDORA users spend more time with AM/FM radio than non-PANDORA listeners. There are a couple of other studies that corroborate this.

One of the takeaways is that listeners make a distinction between a jukebox and the things that radio offers above and beyond.

(7/10/2013 3:48:25 AM)
Sandy, you missed one from Dictionary.com:
"4. the broadcasting, content, etc, of sound radio programmes: he thinks radio is poor these days"

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/radio?s=t&path=/

(7/9/2013 11:34:18 PM)
Sounds like some folks here are quibbling over semantics (like apples and oranges) What real difference does it make if one calls it radio, internet radio, music streaming, or what ever? The fact is that substantial numbers of listeners are turning off their radios (if they ever had them on in the first place) and tuning into Pandora or some other internet based music service. It's a different world now.
(7/9/2013 10:43:24 PM)
Definition of RADIO

1
a : the wireless transmission and reception of electric impulses or signals by means of electromagnetic waves
b : the use of these waves for the wireless transmission of electric impulses into which sound is converted
2
: a radio message
3
: a radio receiving set
4
a : a radio transmitting station
b : a radio broadcasting organization
c : the radio broadcasting industry
d : communication by radio

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SOCIAL)Take Loyal Listener Email Back

6-19-2013

My sister-in-law and I were at a family event recently and she asked me, ?Why are radio station websites so crappy?? But she could have asked the same about loyal listener email. Do you get those exciting emails that have no logo and only an ad from Ticketmaster? What about the generic no-value emails that scream, ?We don?t care about you ? take our crap??   

Suppose you send a loyal listener email once a month. Maybe instead of the generic stuff, we could reform our love for listeners and give our most loyal listeners content that is of interest and value to them. You can do this as ?brief or bullet-point content? with some design to it. How about some content examples:
1. Listeners love people (believe it or not). They don?t warm up to brands first. So, if you still have a morning show or high-profile personality, use them. Let them have a few words of welcome at the center of the page on your loyal listener email. Big festival this month? Something high-profile happening (that will involve a ton of people and probably many of your listeners)? Put it in the greeting! Post a picture of the personality and include their signature.

2. Publish a quick reference concert calendar for the upcoming month. If you are a music-based station, fans love concerts. This can be shows in your market or in the region (remember:  fans will travel). If you want to do so, take an extra step and see if you can secure an extra pair or pairs of tickets to give away. Tell these ?loyal listeners? you are going to draw names only from those who receive this email and hit you back at a special email address you include in the email below the concert info!

3. Each month you have ways listeners can ?escape? in the coming month. Most people don?t love their jobs. Most people are stressed. Given even a moment of silence, most people begin immediately to think about these questions: What can I do after work? Where can I go or what can I do this weekend? You know, me time or family time. Time when you don?t have to be bound to work and responsibilities. So, give them ?options? in your loyal listener email.

4. Focus on what you own. If you know me at all, you know I encourage that in everything you do you must point people back to the on-air product and the digital products that you own. If you have a loyal listener email with this much content, include an on-air feature with great value and where listeners can find it on your station.

5. Include a community engagement calendar featuring about three charity events and/or activities where you know the cause is excellent and the community or charity action matches up well with your target audience. This should be a very brief feature, but it is a ?plug in? for active and caring listeners of your station.

6. Publish a link where listeners can find a feature (like Ten Questions) focused on one of your personalities and where they like to eat, relax, spend family time, and what they enjoy doing on the weekends. Remember: People connect with people. If your personalities are engaging and fun, use them to draw listeners closer to your brand.

7. Include an opportunity to receive a reward just because you emailed these listeners. That?s right. Tell them that you know they are busy and stressed and you know that you are not the most important thing in the world. Tell them just for pushing this email into their busy day, you are going to select several loyal listeners to receive tickets to a concert/movie tickets/dinner for two/some other ?reward.? Tell them this is not a contest; only someone receiving this loyal listener email will even know about it. Ask them to email you back at a special email address if they want to be considered for the ?drawing.? Not sexy, right? Well, that?s the point. You are just saying you value them and you want to reward them just because you intruded into their day.

It should go without saying that you should include every possible way for listeners to connect, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, website, e-mail, on-air studio line, and text. We are in the connection business.

Of course, you can include ads from the sales department. I think all parts of the radio business, including loyal listener email and all digital assets, should have a proper business plan that includes generating consistent advertising, sponsor or placement revenue. That is the point of this business. At our best, radio personalities are the local connectivity experts with their fingers on the pulse of what is important to listeners (this is you, right?). 

If Ticketmaster comes calling for a ?blast? to loyal listeners, make something special for that ?blast? that includes a variety of value and your own branding. Don?t just "do the easy.? Don?t simply blast out a piece of content for Ticketmaster only with no soul, connection to your brand, or extra benefits to people who might not like whatever act they are selling. Take that extra step or two.

It may be difficult to see how working smarter will always pay off in an environment that rewards cutbacks, but smart work always pays off. Do these things and you will stand out to listeners, maybe management, and perhaps an even better employer when your career goes ?next level.?  

Loyd Ford is the direct marketing, ratings and social media strategist for Americalist and has programmed very successful radio brands in markets of all sizes, 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. Get his radio-social media content sent directly to your smart phone or email for free here:  www.rainmakerpathway.wordpress.com. Reach out to Loyd via e-mail HERE.  Visit his Facebook radio social media page HERE.

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(SOCIAL) More Local Listener Loyalty

6-10-2013

Think of each social media platform as a club of sorts. Of course, individuals are going to favor certain social media platforms over others. Spend some time watching what people do in different social media environments and jump in to be part of the conversation. It?s tempting to just selfishly share something that asks listener to tune in. Get in the stream of things before engaging. Consider some of these things when you start to comment, post visuals, and utilize content assets that you want to ultimately use to lead local listeners back to your station. 

1. Engage listeners by first validating them. Listen first. When you see something interesting happening on Facebook or Twitter with local listeners, drop in and comment with something that is relevant to what they are talking about. I am a big fan of posting as personalities and not as ?the station.? That?s because people connect to personalities better than brands. Try to trace the local listener back to their Facebook page or engage them directly on Twitter. Going a step further and posting on their page or sending a message directly to them really does engage them. They see that you see them. It makes a bigger difference to people when they see you care about them, their thoughts, and what is important to them.

2. Blogging can be useful to bring listeners closer. Think about this: The use of a blog can allow you to bring written content, pictures, and video content back to something the station or broadcast company owns. You can use a blog by posting it in a variety of social media environments. Use the right tease or the right picture or video, and have subject matter that is important to the local listeners you most want to attract, and you will be instantly successful in bringing these listeners closer to you and your radio station. Just don?t forget to focus your content on an important subject to your listeners. Importance could be based on a local cause, a recent or future concert, fun listeners are known to have entertainment-based interaction with radio personalities, and music artists (if you are in a music format). Or it could be purely funny. But make sure if you are going for funny that you are?.really?.funny.

3. Use INSTAGRAM. Does your morning show use INSTAGRAM to post pictures during the show or post pictures related to show content? Do you use INSTAGRAM to post concert pictures, backstage pictures, pictures of artists and listeners having fun at a radio event? You can use pictures as an informal invitation to join you ?back at the station? because listeners can see the kind of fun that attracts them. That brings people closer to you to see if they can ?catch the fun vibe? where things always seem to be happening.

Radio has always essentially been interactive. Traditionally listeners have moved through contacting radio stations and personalities by phone, fax (who faxes anymore?), text, email, Facebook, and Twitter. Social media is about communication, helping others, and having fun. Some stations work to always promote their station on social media platforms. You?ll see their posts are always, ?Me, me, me, me, me!? Look for ways to bring your social media efforts together and point listeners to your own assets as much as possible without it being purely promotion of tune in.

Don?t always go only for ?likes? on your Facebook page. Use your creativity to draw listeners to your personalities and your on-air brand, but we always have to start by looking at the local listeners we most want to attract for individual radio brands and work to engage those listeners on the social media platform of their choice with content that attracts them.

You don?t always have to be talking about the ?station? or "tune in" on social media. In fact, you should be talking as much about the community as about the station and as much about the format assets (if you are in music, this means the ?stars?) as you are the station itself. If we do focus in on the goal of bringing them back to your own over-the-air and digital assets by showing why we are fun, why we are relevant, and that they are missing out on the ?party? at our station, we will be impacting loyalty because we will attract these listeners to our original content and overall ?vibe? (which should mirror what is important to them) and our programming will keep them engaged for longer listening.

People do what they want. Find out what they want in your market, mirror that, engage them after you listen first in different social media environments. Validate them as people in social media and follow them back to their Facebook pages. Make sure they know you care about them and the things that are important to them. Do these things and have fun and you will grow participation on different social media platforms and then on your own assets. Be consistent with your content, both written and visual, and make sure you deliver every time these listeners tune in and you will grow loyalty and become more dominant against your strongest competitors. Isn?t that the point?

Loyd Ford is the direct marketing, ratings, and social media strategist for Americalist and has programmed very successful radio brands in markets of all sizes in the U.S., 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. Get his radio-social media content sent directly to your smart phone or email for free here:  www.rainmakerpathway.wordpress.com. Reach out to Loyd via e-mail HERE.  Visit his Facebook radio social media page HERE

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Pandora Listener Hours Down Slightly

10-4-12

Pandora released its listener hours for the month of September and says that number was 1.15 billion. The August numbers were 1.16 billion. Active listeners for September were 58.3 million compared to 56.2 million in August. The company also says it now has 6.53% of all radio listening in the U.S. That's an increase over August which was 6.30%. It's difficult to prove the total accuracy of that number. It's derived from listening hours publicly stated by Arbitron for radio and public statements made by Sirius XM. According to Pandora Executives, those two totals are added to the total listening hours from Pandora to make up the total universe of listening hours. From that Pandora says it now has 6.3%.

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Listener Writing Book About His Favorite Station.

6-17-2012

WOXY-FM in Oxford Ohio station was known as "The Future of Rock & Roll" and long-time listener Phil Lacefield (pictured) is raising money on Kickstarter to write a book about it, called ?BAM! The Untold Story of 97X, WOXY, and the Future of Rock & Roll.? So far, he's collected $2,500 of the $7,500 he needs. The station would have been 30 years old. In 2004 owners Doug and Linda Balogh decided to sell the facilities using the proceeds to retire.

"The Future of Rock & Roll" became one of the first stations to completely transition from terrestrial FM radio to broadcasting solely as an Internet radio station at WOXY.com. Due to financial challenges, the station ended its online feed in 2010.

Lacefield tells Radio Ink that place was like a family member to him and thousands of others. "I've been toying with the idea of writing the history of the station since before they stopped broadcasting online. I've remained good friends with a great many of the old jocks and staff, and I'm a member of the Facebook alumni group, so it's been discussed for ages. Next year would have been the 30th anniversary of the FM station going live, so it seemed like a fitting time to get the thing written and out there. Plus, with the advent of Kickstarter making such projects easier and easier, the stars were in perfect alignment.

Lacefield says the book won't be so much a history of the station. "It will be a collection of the stories and the people who made it happen, from staff and jocks to listeners, advertisers, musicians, labels...you name it, everyone I've spoken to about the place has not only fond memories but amazing stories. THAT'S what I want to capture (plus perhaps put a bit of shame into the state of radio these days, which just ain't what it used to be)  Once finished, it is my intent to shop the book around to publishers, so that I can get it on bookshelves worldwide."

Read More HERE

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Hobbs Joins Listener Driven Radio As Advisor

April 16, 2012

Gabe Hobbs, former SVP/programming for News, Talk and Sports at Clear Channel Radio, joins the Daniel Anstandig-led Listener Driven Radio as a strategic advisor. Hobbs will be working with LDR on the long-term development of the new LDR.TopicPulse, which scans news sources, blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other social media, and generates real-time reports that News/Talk producers can use to judge hot and trending topics.

LDR CEO Anstandig said, "Gabe Hobbs is one of the most respected names in the industry when it comes to News/Talk programming. His vision and insights are key in achieving success with our systems for spoken word radio."

Along with his stint with Clear Channel from 1998-2008, Hobbs has served as a consultant to Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Program, The Glenn Beck Show, The Dr. Laura Program, and Jason Lewis. He also worked on the launch of Fox Sports Radio in 2000 and remained an advisor to the network for eight years.

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(SOCIAL) 8 Steps To Higher Listener Participation And More Money

April 16, 2012

Great content is the key to success in our business. Unfortunately, in many markets, the business of radio has been reduced to paint-by-numbers corporate measures to extract dollars from the local market with little choice, chance, or opportunity for elevating content. There's little question as to how this is causing radio's relationship with listeners to dissipate. However, happenings on the digital-evolution side of our business can change that, if the right content-seeds are planted. This content can expose and engage listeners for your brand.
Here are eight steps you can take to create an engaging brand on social media which leads listeners to higher participation levels, and helps your team to increase revenue generation.

1/ Focus on having a specific content plan so that you know what content your team will be putting on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms each day, week, and month of the year, as well as who will be doing it. Having a plan in advance, which includes the right mix of messages, visual content, audio, and written word, will give life to your presence on these social media sites. Done correctly, it will also grow your on-air brand over time.

2/ Truly engage your listeners. When someone comments on your station page, follow up with them in public, and also by emailing them personally. It's easy in today's Facebook world. Not engaging and embracing listeners is the path to death for radio in the coming months and years. Engaging them and responding to them will help strengthen your position and influence in the market. And other listeners will see that you are authentic and care about listeners and what's important to them. That has long-term value. And that's money for broadcasters.

3/ Content should be free. Radio has understood this from the beginning, but it seems that too often we filter our content through "what's in it for us," instead of considering how our targeted listener will see what we offer as easy, free, fun, and useful ? like Facebook has done so well over the past five-plus years. It's not free if your content is actually just an ad for your product, or a product belonging to a sponsor. Be creative and offer messages that contain value for the listener, and you will grow, both on these platforms and on-air.

4/ Consider subscription-based models for growing participation on your website and on-air-talent blogs. What? Your talent isn't blogging? Why not? Are we not evangelists for our brands, formats, and listeners' lifestyles? If you allow people to subscribe, and offer consistent content that is relevant and important to them, you will grow participation, and that will give rise to familiarity, which will in turn lead to growth of your station's audience. You can actually offer listeners exclusive content (such as videos of backstage or private events with artists, if you are in a format that allows such things) if they sign up for your content. All formats have some exclusive content you can cultivate for subscription purposes. It's attractive to the end-user, and carries a price they can easily afford ? free. Building audiences this way will also lead to other opportunities, in terms of leading them back to on-air and developing revenue models to expose clients ? lightly and within philosophy ? to the subscription base when it is large enough to "rent" (again, within the overall social media philosophy you are cultivating; not spam emails). Subscription models give you cold, hard value to showcase for advertisers and marketers. That's money to broadcasters.

5/ You must be prepared to "build it first." Then, you monetize it. Unfortunately, many broadcasters have looked at social media too simplistically: just drop in promos and everything will work out. It's not quite that easy. You must build real value before you monetize. If you commit yourself and your team to growing the value in a subscription or participation model, it will attract people who want to utilize it. Again, that's money for broadcasters.

6/ Reinvent your loyal listener database based upon value for the listener. Most loyal listener databases are filled with half-baked info on an audience we don't actually know. In many markets, and with too many stations, no attention has really been paid to developing and "cleaning" a database of people who are active and passionate about what you offer as a brand. More than this, most radio stations are not committed to building a loyal listener database by offering exclusive content and genuine insider opportunities that show the station values them as listeners. They just "have" a loyal listener database. Ho hum. As a result, no passionate participation comes from listeners who are truly engaged in your product. If that's how it is at your station, you can reinvent your loyal listener database by creating exciting offers (not ads) that excite listeners. Get with your staff and create serious attention-getting opportunities that offer them content they can't find anywhere else. That's money for broadcasters.

7/ Get busy thinking about how to make your content as visible as possible on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. We humans are visual creatures, so use visuals, along with other content, that entices potential new listeners to sample your on-air product. Be creative. Don't simply offer visual commercials for your station. Driving participation through visuals works in social media spaces. And that participation will mean revenue down the line.

8/ Figure out the five most important things to your listeners. Radio stations used to do this all the time. If you have an adult format, it'll be health, education, money, etc. These things should be top-flight content generators for you in social media. Decide what's important to your listeners and design your social media content around them. This will lead them to have a relationship with your personalities and brand, which also means more money for your company in the future.

As an industry, we need to constantly think about the future. Otherwise, revenues will head south and so will the value relationships we have with listeners in local markets. Using these eight steps will allow you to build ongoing value. So build it today for tomorrow's advertisers and promoters.

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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(SOCIAL) Top 10 Musts For Your Loyal Listener E-mails

4-9-2012

If you?ve been in programming, promotions, or associated with guiding a radio station over the last decade, you may be up to speed with your listener e-mail ? or it may be time to freshen your approach. We?ve all seen stations send ads sold and forced down our throat from the sales department. That is a disservice to them, to your station, and to the listeners.

Don?t think of your e-mail as just an e-mail. Think of it as an opportunity to use limited visual ads and a personal note along with small banner ads to give the listeners a truly hip content update that interests them. Think of it as a great opportunity to refocus listeners on why they should be listening to your station right now.

Here are some tips on how your loyal listener e-mails should look:
1. Colorful logo, front and center if possible. This can be done as part of a banner across the top of your e-mail and can actually include a very brief graphic about your current major promotion (but make it visual; not too much copy).
2. Immediately underneath your logo and/or banner, you should have easy-to-see links for:  Listen Live, Morning Show, Facebook, YouTube, Concerts/Events. If you don?t have a Facebook page, a YouTube Channel, or a way to listen live, you have a lot to consider about your competitiveness.
3. To the left-hand side of your e-mail, underneath these links, should be a very brief personal note with a similarly brief invitation to listen to win your major promotion. This should be signed by either the morning show or other major personality on the station.
4. To the right of the ?personal note? you should consider having an ad from the sales department or a public service ad. Even if it is a public service ad, you can sponsor it. This is an excellent way to engage the sales department for additional non-traditional revenue using a database or loyal listener e-mail.
5. Beneath the personal note and ad, you can placed a banner ad that is either a station event, concert, or format concert. And, yes, it is okay to put the logo of the station in this ad if it fits the image of the station.
6. Next, you can have smaller ads, with visuals to the left and copy to the right, about your upcoming WINNING WEEKEND or STATION CONCERT or event.
7. Below these, you can have smaller ads sold by the sales team mixed with either public service ads or an ad about interesting content that listeners can find on your website.
8. Below this, you can visually present (small) a special feature on the station, bottom left, and specific activities listeners can do this weekend, on the right.
9. There is still room for a sponsored banner ad across the bottom (going all the way across the e-mail). Another opportunity for the sales department.
10. Finally, you should have more social media links at the bottom of the e-mail:  your station website, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.
Again, your e-mail should be in a format that looks like a cool content bump or content update, with visuals that allow listeners to choose the content they enjoy. With a variety of content opportunities all together, you avoid making it look like you are spamming listeners. Why? Because you?re not. Youre giving them connectivity to the station in a variety of forms.

Always put an opt-out or ?Unsubscribe here? at the bottom of the e-mail. I usually recommend something like, ?If you would not like to receive this free benefit from (station name) via e-mail, simply unsubscribe here. Thank you for listening to (station).? Of course, you will want to have a disclaimer at the bottom of your e-mail with brief privacy policy and contact information.

We fight it out with other distractions every single day. When you send listeners e-mail, you are intruding on their day, their space, their e-mail. Make it mean something; make it visual and fun. This is truly an opportunity for you to give important listeners brief and impactful content that leads them back to you in social media, your website, and, of course, your frequency. Use it.

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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SOCIAL)- 6 Keys To Building Listener Relationships

2-9-2012
There's a lot of hype involved with social media, and there are a lot of radio pros that have not yet awakened to the idea that systemic shift can ?get you? if you don?t move now to protect your best relationships. If you are not using social media to expand contact, encourage loyalty with real value-based content and grow listening occasions for your brands, you are setting up future critical failure of your brand. 

Since about 81% of your listeners would be more likely to try friends? suggestions (such as a new station, music or an on-air feature), social media offers an essential way for you to really make a difference in your ratings?.if you do it right.  So, the question remains:  How do you best build a strategy that your limited staff and resources can execute to strengthen your brand for the future?

Here are 6 Key Ingredients To Build Listener Relationships thru Social Media:

1. Dismiss social media apathy.  Don?t just let your competitor take all your listeners and listeners on the fringe because you are not active.  Many radio stations don?t have active real social media strategies.  If your competitor does and you don?t, you are on the road to lower ratings.  Social media is being used

by select radio stations to strengthen relationships and actually grow new ones. 

2. Have a specific social media strategy that very frequently leads listeners back to the broadcast signal.  While radio companies would never allow DJ?s  to show up and play whatever they want, this is often their total social media strategy.  What are the details in your strategy for social media that focus on getting  listeners to spend more of their loyalty with your broadcast brand?  If you can?t think of any, you don?t have a plan.

3. Learn the posting patterns on social media sites.  Some of this is social media science (7 a.m., 5 p.m., 10 a.m.).   Some of this is also basic listener  science.  Look at the drive-time patterns in your market.  Getting in a groove with your listeners and potential listeners is important.

4. Use video and marry it with usable content that is important to the listeners you want to attract.  Have you ever used YouTube to look up ?How To?  do something?  Your listeners have done this a lot.  Try it.  Then, think about ways you can create content based upon local questions or lifestyle-based  opportunities with the listeners you want to attract.

5. Focus your social media on how and why listeners choose your brand and what makes you special.  With an eye on attracting more listeners like the  ones you already have, focus on bringing the message of why and how people connect with you on your social media.

6. Bring your social media into your other forms of contact marketing (such as listener email, website, direct mail and more).  Make it easy for listeners  to make the choice to use your brand. 

If you?re lucky, you have a competitor who doesn?t believe in social media. So, use social media with a real strategy to cut their throat.  Don?t be quick to judge  your social media negatively.  It isn?t advertising (so don?t treat it like advertising).  It?s a relationship building opportunity.  Judge your social media work by  your strategy and stay focused on relationship building based upon what is important to the listeners you want to attract.  Spend your time building the proper  strategy and focus on what you know is right for your radio brand. Over time you will feel real impact based upon your filters (from the strategy) and leave your  competitor puzzled.   

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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Finebaum Makes Surprise Visit to Special Listener

Despite being embroiled in an ugly controversy with his employer, popular sports-talker Paul Finebaum made a special surprise visit to a listener this past Friday who's mom told the local paper "this was the greatest thing that could ever have happened to him." Robert Fisher is 33 years old and has cerebral palsy. Friday morning Finebaum and other members of his show got on a private plane and left Alabama headed for Waterloo.

Fisher is not only a regular listener to the show, he's become one of Finebaums regular callers and is somewhat controversial. According to the Cedar Valley Courier, "while a couple of hateful callers took issue with Finebaum putting Fisher on the air, the vast majority of listeners embraced him." Finebaum says "everybody loves the guy on the show. He's known from coast to coast."

Fisher received packages from all over the country from other listeners, and a coach from Eastern Kentucky University sent a hat, according to the Courier. Others sent inspiring books and wrote letters. Some suggest Fisher seems to grow confident and articulate the more he goes on the show. One listener, an 83-year-old man, wrote a poem and sent it to Fisher. He finished by encouraging Fisher to keep calling the show because everyone enjoys listening."

Read the entire Courier story HERE.
Out thanks to Paul Finebaum for sending over the pictures from his visit.

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How to Increase Listener Participation And Client Involvement.

June 23, 2011
by Mike Stiles

Location based challenges are a way for radio to restore the glory days of listener participation and client involvement. Remember when you could get your listeners to jump through hoops and create an attention-getting spectacle to win a prize?  You still can.  But I?m not talking about that small core of diehard players who always show up, willing to perform any zaniness you come up with to win?whatever.  You know who they are, God bless ?em.  They sure do love you, but you have secret desires of seeing a lot more people than the ?usuals? show up. 

Want wider listener participation?  Want them to have fun with you?  Want to drive them to your clients? locations and prove the power of radio to them again?  Fine, but you should do it with your social media. Coca-Cola is using location-based service SCVNGR for a summer promo in which teens are challenged to go around malls, concerts and amusement parks, taking pictures or checking in to get an instant prize and/or accumulate points that?ll score them an even bigger prize.  Live Nation is aboard as well, offering challenges at 31 ?secret sound check? locations.

Radio can come up with check-in challenges that take the technology users have already shown they like to use to play games, and kick them up a notch with the creative elements your team are such pros at dreaming up.  What?s a client prospect more likely to get excited about, your morning show getting a few people into their parking lot on a Saturday to turn themselves into human banana splits, or experiencing an influx of hundreds of brand new people over the course of a week or several weeks?

SCVNGR passed 1 million users in February and is also working with brands like Subway, Sears and Swatch.  But you?ve also got options in Foursquare and Facebook Places.  The point is, there?s verification that the players did what you wanted them to do. 

What?s the on-air component for location based challenges?  Use your station to do what it does best, advertise the mobile/social game you?re running.  Use your left hand not to execute, but to be the promotional partner to your right hand.  Resist your urge to make on-air the driver, because your social is where all the real action is going to be happening?and that?s okay!  It?s your brand driving prospects into their stores, so it?s your brand they?ll come back to so it can happen again.

Mike Stiles is a writer/producer with a social network marketing company and head of Sketchworks comedy theatre. Check out his monologue blog, The Stiles Files.

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Lee Says Only One Of Five Radio Commercials Engages The Listener.

June 21, 2011

According to WBEB owner and 2011 Radio Ink Lifetime Leadership award winner Jerry Lee, only one out of every five radio commercials actually engages the consumer. Lee is introducing a new product to the industry called writetoengage.com. He says engaging commercials is the key to bigger gains in revenue for the radio industry. "We have numerous successes that show dramatic increases in sales when switching from a non engaging commercial to an engaging commercial. We are batting 100%. Now that we have the formula down pat we expect over the next 5 years' to have significant increases in billing as a result, from our ability to produce outstanding engaging radio commercials." Lee says when a person hears a radio commercial they are recalling emotional triggers from their past and when a person views a TV commercial they are seeing what the producer of the TV spot wants you to see.

Engaging radio commercials are the last major profit frontier for radio, according to LEE. "Only one in five Radio Commercials are Engaging as compared with TV where two out of five commercials are Engaging. According to the NY Ad Agency OMD in a 2007 study, engaging commercials are 8 times as effective as non engaging commercials. John Philip Jones, one of the top 5 researchers in the world has come to the conclusion, using scanner data, that for Fast Moving Consumer Goods that Radio produces $1.14 in sales per dollar spent and that TV produces $.47 per dollar spent."

So the question we need to ask, according to Lee is, why TV gets 85% of the broadcast revenue and Radio only gets 15% in the FMCG sector. "Part of the answer is that almost all of TV spots are tested and virtually none of Radio Spots are tested. WBEB has developed a network of copywriters from all over North America. Each is trained and certified by Dan Hill, founder of Sensory Logic, using the science of Facial Coding where the 43 muscles of the face are analyzed in response to listening to a radio commercial. A set of principles have been developed. As a result the Copywriters that WBEB has certified can produce an Engaging Commercial every time for an advertiser."

We are willing to share what we have learned with the entire Radio Industry. A rising tide lifts all boats. We have developed a webinar called "WriteToEngage.com" that teaches you how to write an an Engaging Commercial. The future of Radio is extremely bright. We have a platform that will out perform TV and do it at less than one half the cost of TV.

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