Spending a lot of time looking at Radio Station websites, as well as their respective social outlets, the trend in radio seems to be one of the following:

• No social media presence at all
• Boring posts that don’t do much to promote things happening at the station
• Good posts are fragmented and untimely

This isn’t the case for all radio stations, as some have really nailed their social strategy and are capitalizing on all of the benefits that a strong well-defined social presence provides.  There are many different ways to do this, but they all generally have one common theme: good content.

One strategy is to choose one person at the station to take ownership of the whole process.  This is usually effective in creating a “voice” for your social presence.  Your “Digital Strategist” will help to ensure brand consistency across all of your social channels.  Typically this person is able to find a sweet spot in terms of the content, knowing content that your listeners are more likely to interact with.  To do it right can be a time consuming task, which is why sometimes more of a team strategy should be put into place.

The team strategy needs to follow the same general guidelines in terms of creating interesting content via a well-defined social presence and strategic direction.  Allow DJ’s or other team members to utilize social media to promote specific parts of their shows.  The possibilities here are endless: listener interactions for song requests, user generated content, contest promotion, the list goes on.  When you have mostly live content with DJ’s open to speaking their mind not only on the airwaves, but online, the team strategy has the potential to pull in different types of listeners to your “hub” who may not have spent the time subscribing to your updates before.

As your following grows and your posts become more engaging, you’ll start seeing your listener interaction numbers start to grow.  You’ll be exposed to more and more potential followers and listeners, (in the case of Facebook, the amount of interactions is directly proportionate to how many eyes will be on your posts, as the interactions grow, so will the potential eyeballs).

Advertisers will start taking notice to your well defined strategy and increased listener participation, giving your social media presence instant value.  Sure you can advertise via Facebook’s platform, but why not provide sponsored posts and cut out the middle man?  Not to mention the increase in perceived value of working with your station gained from a thriving community on the web.

Your station has the ability, and in most cases the personalities to create this experience.  It’s up to you to leverage these powerful tools to your advantage, and put a strategy in place to maximize the social web.

We all know the stereotypical sales person: Herb Tarlek from the 70′s sitcom WKRP in Cincinatti.  Think about the last time someone tried to “sell” you something.  Did your eyes glaze over?  Stomach turn to knots?  Couldn’t wait for the meeting to end so you could run to their nearest competitor yelling eagerly, “Please save me!”

Now transform that thought process into one where the salesperson treated you professionally.  Learning about you and your needs; while at the same time creating a custom tailored solution for you.  The value was clear and concise, making the relationship one of a valuable ally.

The first sales person is in it for themselves, the second consults what solution(s) will be of value for the client.

What’s your sales style?  If you are truly interested in growing your customer base, think about helping your clients build their business.  It will only help your station grow it’s customer base.  Help your customers fully understand how both terrestrial and digital advertising in conjunction can help them.  Be knowledgeable of what their marketing strategy is, and the impact of how advertising through your station can help them.

There are countless ways to create value with digital advertising, especially for a bona fide local media presence like radio. Sharpening your ability to relate to an advertiser’s needs and deliver a custom marketing campaign utilizing all of your public facing channels is the key to success. Are you placing blame on your customers, or taking ownership for your results?

We all know a Herb, and it is easy to adopt his selling style.  The salesperson who takes a little bit more time to listen to the needs of a customer will keep that customer coming back again and again for more.

Arbitron and Edison Research recently released their annual Navigating Digital Platforms report, and if you weren’t convinced before that online listening will continue trending upwards, you’ll want to take a close look at their findings.

 Nothing will replace the terrestrial broadcast, and radio will not die, but competition in the online space is growing and getting better at providing the end user with a polished product.    That being said weekly radio audiences are up 30% from last year at this time across all platforms: broadcast, video, mobile, social media, and online.  It is no longer about dominating one channel; stations need a comprehensive cross platform strategy to survive.

Demographics should play an important role in analyzing your digital strategy.  For the 12-34 year old age group, 68% say the Internet Is the most essential medium to their lives among TV, Radio, Newspapers, and Internet.  While only 33% in the 35+ group say the same.  Reaching these new listeners is crucial in the long term.

In 2011, 34% of the polled population listened to online radio and 39% for 2012 (an estimated 103 million people).  Compare these numbers to 2002, a mere 10 years ago when only 12% of the population listened to online radio.  Not only has the amount of listeners increased, the amount of time they listen in an average week has increased as well.  In 2008, it was 6:13, and in only 4 years, that has increased to 9 hours 46 minutes for 2012.  The numbers don’t lie, it’s all about how you react to them.

Where Are Your Listeners Coming From?

• Terrestrial Radio: 68%
• Web Streaming Radio: 18%
• Mobile Streaming (Smartphone, Tablet, etc.): 13%

Click for the webinar or slides from the presentation.

Advertisers are always looking for the best way to spend their advertising dollar.  New advertising capabilities are a great way to not only promote your advertisers, but also show them quantifiable results.

In addition to providing a banner that clicks through to a sponsor webpage, there are several other capabilities available in a mobile advertising campaign: Click to: Call, Calendar, Email, Map, App Download, YouTube, Video, Like on Facebook, Follow on Twitter.  Providing a feature rich advertising solution for your customers isn’t the only option, your station can utilize these features to promote station activities and other promotions as well.

SurferNETWORK realized the need for radio stations to capitalize on mobile platforms, and we’ve joined forces with Verve Wireless to give our stations the ability to provide new and exciting cross platform content solutions for advertisers.

If you haven’t gone mobile yet, now’s the time to start!   Contact us for more information.

The Pray for Trey page on Q1075′s website is a great source of local events to benefit Trey, as well as a hub for the flurry of social activity around the story.  Visit the link below to read more about the outpouring of support.

It’s terrible to hear this kind of story, but great to hear about radio and a community coming together to raise money and awareness for Pancreatic Cancer.  For more information on how you can help, visit the Pray for Trey page here: http://theqmemphis.com/trey.

Other Links:

• Radio Ink interviews Q1075 OPS Manager Chris Taylor
• #PRAYFORTREY

According to the study, most advertisers are using a CPM based rate for their Video Advertising, and while this is popular in some formats, it definitely isn’t the only way to sell your video inventory (pre-roll and in-stream).

Advertisers actually prefer a cost per acquisition model which allows them to more accurately provide an ROI on the advertising investment.  The web is a great venue to prove to your advertisers that their money is being well spent.

Hyperlocal publishing sites were the most effective at achieving results for Small Businesses, according to 43% of respondents in a study by StreetFightMag.  Radio stations need to capitalize on this growth and provide an engaging website with innovative opportunities for advertisers.

Connecting the dots, your radio station is that hyperlocal publishing destination.  For years radio has dominated that market over the airwaves, and in the digital age, it must translate over to the web.  Don’t stick to one type of ad pricing model.  Mix it up with a combination, and get creative with how you pitch the material.  Show your local small businesses the power of the web for their advertising campaigns, and they will keep coming back for more.

Have you sat down and thought about your Digital Sales Strategy this year?  If you have any questions give us a call, our Sales Training Program can help you start increasing sales and thinking about Internet Advertising in a new light.

47.6% of mobile users (Smartphone and Non Smartphone users) downloaded an app and 23.8% used their phone to listen to music.

Have you put any thought into your mobile strategy?  Are you positioning yourself to take advantage of the changing mobile landscape?  Now is the time to ramp up your mobile efforts!

• 2012 Mobile Future in Focus Report
• December Mobile Subscriber Report

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been sitting in the car listening to the radio thinking to myself, “Man, I really wish I knew what song this was!”  Sure there are tools out there for a tech savvy person to find out what song is playing, but for the most part, there is a void between the songs that a radio station plays on the air, and their ability to pass that information along to their listeners.

That’s why we decided it was time to help our radio stations fill that void, and give your listeners what they’ve been looking for: details on the song that’s playing, the ability to see the album art, and a way to purchase the track and add it to their personal library.  Even if your listeners don’t know it yet, they’ll thank you for this user friendly addition to your digital offerings.  In a time when page views, click-thru rates, and video views are driving advertising revenues online, your bottom line will probably thank you as well, for new exciting content on your website.

This widget will give your listeners (and potential listeners) the ability to know what’s on the  stream as well as what’s being played on the air too.

Click here for a walkthrough of the Artist and Title Widget’s features!

Contact us today to find out if your station is eligible for the widget, and we’ll help you get started.

A radio station must then file a Notice of Election with Sound Exchange and pay their minimum fee.  Their fees are based on a per performance basis.  A performance is defined as one person listening to one song.  Each January 1, a minimum yearly fee of $500 is required to be submitted.  Then each month a report of the total number of performances and the associated monetary liability is to be submitted.  This fee is then deducted from the initial $500 payment.  A second monthly report is required.  This report is a report of use and identifies the artist, title, album cover, marketing label and IRSC number along with the number of performances for that month.  In 2009 the NAB negotiated a separate licensing agreement that provides a codicil for small market stations.  If you have 27,777 or less aggregate tuning hours for the previous year, you can pay a $100 proxy fee in lieu of doing full census reporting.  You are still required to submit the monthly statement of account with the number of performances.

If you have syndicated content you need to be able to report on that or it can’t be streamed.  You must be able to provide at the artist, title, album cover, marketing label and IRSC number for each piece of musical work performed in that month.  Your content provider should be able to provide that data to you.  Your streaming vendor should have a solution to address this, if not you can’t stream it.  I know there are some providers out there that take a stance of if it doesn’t come through the automation system it doesn’t get reported.  If you stream it and you don’t report it, you are leaving yourself open for potential legal action.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) was initially formed in 1952 to standardize practices of vinyl recordings.  They also participate in the collective rights management of sound recordings.  They represent the distributors of the recording industry and consist of record labels and distributors. They also certify gold and platinum albums and singles in the U.S.

Sound Exchange initially an unincorporated division of the RIAA, spun off in 2003 as an independent organization.  It is a non profit performance rights organization that collects statutory royalties from satellite radio, Internet radio and similar platforms for streaming sound recordings.  The digital performance royalties are collected on the behalf of recording artists, master rights owners (record labels) and independent artists who record and own their own masters.

The Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel was a part of the United States Congress and was involved in making decisions regarding copyright royalties.  It was created at the suggestion of the Register of Copyrights.  Its primary purpose was to make decisions involving adjustments of copyright royalty rates as well as terms and payments of royalties that fall under copyright law.  CARP was phased out by the Copyright Royalty and Distribution Reform Act of 2004.  Under the new system created by the reform act, three Copyright Royalty Judges establish the conditions and rates for copyright statutory licenses.

The fees for Sound Exchange explained next week…

Disclaimer: The information is presented for informational purposes, you should consult with legal council or adviser for more detailed information.