Don't Target Me!

"...most people who are members of online communities don't really want to be the targets of marketing campaigns..."

I have been and continue to be a loud voice regarding the need and value of utilizing social networks for radio stations.  But, the prize here is not only promotions and forced listening events BUT relationships and engagement on a higher level.   

Does your station offer something worthy of that deeper relationship?  Something interesting enough to cause two-way communication between the station, a station personality, and the listener(s).  Worthy of telling a friend?  Valuable enough to return a second, third, or forth time?  


Don't feel too bad, companies of all kinds are feeling the same pain.  Everyone is trying to figure it all out. 


 Mediabistro's WebNewser had this piece this morning:  

Companies Continue to Fund Social Media Initiatives (Even Though Many Really Don't Get It)

By Chris Nerney on Nov 02, 2009 09:37 AM

Shaky economy and tight budgets notwithstanding, companies still recognize the potential of social media to help their businesses.
Computerworld's Mitch Betts reports on a recent Deloitte LLP survey that shows an overwhelming percentage of respondents intend to "maintain or increase their investments in social media tools and online communities."
Specifically, 94% of the 400 companies surveyed said they'd keep spending as much or more on social media going forward, with only 6% reporting they would cut social media spending.
This despite the rather primitive efforts to measure the ROI of social media. As Betts reports:

Businesses use metrics such as the number of active users and how many people post or comment to gauge the success of their social networking efforts.

And what are the top goals of corporate social media initiatives? Deloitte's 2009 Tribalization of Business Survey reports:

Increasing word of mouth -- 38%
Customer loyalty -- 34%
Brand awareness -- 30%
Idea generation -- 29%
Improved customer support quality -- 23%

There's a potential problem inherent in those numbers. As Deloitte concludes:

In the majority of companies surveyed, marketing continues to be the primary driver of online communities, resulting in a significant gap between community goals and the organizations' capability to fully leverage these communities on an enterprise wide basis.

In other words, most people who are members of online communities don't really want to be the targets of marketing campaigns. Yet that's what many companies see as the primary value and purpose of social media. That's a real disconnect.
You can read more details of the survey here.

Pandora's Box Opens A Little Wider

For listeners of Pandora Internet Radio sharing favorite songs with friends is a simple click away.  The new sharing feature posts a favorite song or station on Facebook or Twitter...or by email.  While this type of sharing isn't new, it does prompt me to ask how many "traditional" radio stations are doing this? 

 

This is a great example of how a radio station doesn't exclusively own the megaphone anymore. 

If your station has a fan page you could use this type of feature to turn listeners on to the new music you are playing.  If they like it they will share with their friends and maybe even turn on your station to hear the song. 

Dare I say there is also a sales opportunity here as well.

All one-way streets are now two ways.  Look both ways and opportunities abound. 

Totally Twitter

Last week Twitter scored a mega funding deal--said to be 100 mil. It got me thinking how pervasive Twitter talk seems to be these days and social media in general.

Many radio folks are trying to figure out how to use social networking to their best advantage....aaaaa.....make money from it. That seems to remain allusive thus far. There may not be a home run money play anytime soon. Of course that doesn't mean it should be kicked to the curb. Done right, there may not be any better way to connect with your station's fans. Done wrong, and risk pushing fans in a different direction.

Companies of all types are also wrestling with how to allow their employees interact with social networking sites during the work day. Many are concerned of too much time wasted, inappropriate comments, and of course liabilities and trade secrets. Some workplaces have banned social networking activity all together. If you are working through these issues there's a website that provides links to companies who already have a social networking policy in place.

More on the subject...Ad Age had this story--Six Reasons Companies Are Still Scared of Social Media.

And finally...a chuckle. The latest craze: Twitteleh

How Social Is Your Brand?

There's a company called Vitrue . They have products that help brands become more "social" -- more on that in part 2 of this post.

Upon reading a PR story on this company I was intrigued enough to go to their web site to learn more. I guess their PR worked--at least on me! Once at the site they had a tool called the "social media index" that allows you to compare two brands and see who is more social. They explained how it works this way:

The Vitrue SMI report is an easy to understand measurement of your brand's online conversations. Based on our patent-pending technology, index scores are comprised of various online conversations from status updates to multi-dimensional video sites. The Vitrue SMI score provides a snapshot in time to help make sense of the overwhelming amount of measurable data.

We derive the Vitrue SMI by reviewing popular social media sites. We update the Vitrue SMI once daily. Our sample set represents different dimensions of social interactivity:

• Social Networking - general sharing
• Video Sharing - high engagement of viewing time and authenticity of dimension
• Status Updates - aka Micro-Blogs; key influencers who chatter and actively push content
• Photo Sharing - social meta data
• Blogs - general blogsphere, commentary mentions

The index numbers are not intended to be used in absolute terms; rather, they provide a numerical basis to compare the social media prominence of two or more terms. We frequently update the algorithm based on changes in usage patterns, overall traffic and social network results.

I gave it test run--thought it would be fun to test two sets of rivals...Bill O'Reilly vs. Keith Olbermann and the NY Yankees vs. the Boston Red Sox. Here's how they did:

































Interesting snapshot. It would be fascinating to track over time.

Part 2:

So here's the scoop on this companies new product as outlined on Media Bistro's WebNewser this morning:

Vitrue SRM Debuts

Social-marketing company Vitrue debuted its Vitrue SRM (Social Relationship Manager), which it describes as a Web-based application suite that enables brands to manage, schedule and automatically publish across Facebook and Twitter. The Vitrue SRM also offers measurement and real-time analytics.

Vitrue said Vitrue SRM consists of three components: Social Publisher, which lets marketers fully customize and format their wall posts, including images, branded URLs and additional content blocks; Social Planner, enabling marketers to plan, create and execute customer communications months in advance; and Social Insights, which delivers real-time, rich analytics to monitor brand communication.

Seems like a reasonably useful product. I particularly like the real-time analytic capabilities. A suite like this might very well be an answer for making our social networking activities less tactical and more strategic.

Twitter 101

When it comes to social networking I am an advocate of "fishing where the fish are;" meaning making use of the public social networking sites to connect with listeners. As relationships are built, then, give listeners good reason to visit and partake in proprietary station digital platforms. I believe this strategy enables radio stations to connect and build relationships with many more people in a much shorter time span.

To many, Twitter is still a bit mysterious--it's use, it's value, and it's benefits. Today I read this from post on WebNewser. As you will read Twitter has launched Twitter 101--a guide to how businesses can effectively use the service. It will be basic for some, but for others it will provide a wealth of information.

Twitter 101: Twitter for Businesses

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone announced the launch of the Twitter 101 initiative during an interview with Fortune editor at large Adam Lashinsky during the magazine's Fortune Brainstorm: Tech summit in Pasadena, Calif., Thursday.

Lashinsky asked when Twitter will implement plans to begin making money, and Stone replied, "The plan is to do that this year—to show some signs of life for a revenue approach," adding that Twitter 101 was the "first step."

On the Twitter blog, Stone wrote:

Many are seeing a wide variety of businesses using Twitter in interesting ways to create value for customers and consumers. As a result, we're often invited by businesses and organizations to talk about Twitter and how it can be used to better engage with customers. Twitter is still a small team, so it made more sense to do some research and make it widely available rather than personally visit businesses big and small.

We coordinated with business students and writers to surface some interesting findings, best practices, steps for getting started and case studies. The results demonstrate how customers are getting value out of Twitter and suggest techniques businesses can employ to enhance that value. While this work was envisioned for businesses, it's also useful for anyone using Twitter, so have a look if you like.

Twitter 101, as the name indicates, starts off with the basics, with sections on the home page entitled "So what does Twitter do for businesses?," "So how does it work?" and "So how do businesses use Twitter?." The home page also includes basic introductory sections like "A brief history of Twitter," "What's up with the name?" and "Why 140 characters?"

The secondary pages on Twitter 101 are: "Getting started," "Learn the lingo," "Best practices," "Case studies" and "Other resources."

Fantastic!

garykoelling- sr. manager social technology

Fantastic presentation at the Conclave today.

Please read.

"You can lose listeners, but you can't lose friends!!"

Gary Koelling from Best Buy @ the Conclave 2009

Interesting Experiment

CBS is trying out Jelli at KITS in San Francisco. A system that turns over the controls of the radio station to listeners via social networked web voting. It should be an interesting listen.

Lot's of unknowns thus far...song universe, how many votes cause change, how much impact can one person have on what makes it on the air. And, in reality, is this experiment too much work for the average radio listener?

I'm not dissing this experiment by any means. Give it a whirl and see how it goes.

I do question how this plays out for a radio station, like all radio stations, that depend on ratings to drive revenue. Is this uber customization process an attraction or a repelant on a mass medium platform? It all depends on the end product. Just like in the past with contesting, we knew that most people would not participate so the goal was to create something entertaining enough to cause vicarious participation among our passive listeners. Time will tell if Jelli can accomplish this goal.

I also wonder if Jelli on the air would benefit from a "social director" hosting the live radio show for those who are not able or choose not to participate. One has to assume that many listeners have come to the station to be entertained, so adding someone who helps put on the show--not make the decisions on what gets played but keeps things cohesive-- might end up being a good idea.

Regardless of the end result, kudos to KITS and CBS Radio for trying something new.

A MUST Read!

Trent Reznor from the band Nine Inch Nails talks about the bands new iPhone app and their web strategy...that's working.

Here's a small portion of the story from WIRED:

"I've said it before and I'll say it again: I don't think music should be free," Reznor says. "But the climate is such that it's impossible for me to change that, because the record labels have established a sense of mistrust. So everything we've tried to do has been from the point of view of, 'What would I want if I were a fan? How would I want to be treated?' Now let's work back from that. Let's find a way for that to make sense and monetize it."

Over the past year, NIN.com has quietly evolved into a series of interlocking services designed to deliver maximum benefit to the fans at minimal expense to the artist. To build it out, Reznor decided to use off-the-shelf resources — Blogger, Twitter, FeedBurner, Flickr, YouTube — rather than trying to duplicate what other people had already created. "They're going to do a better job than we are," he explains, "and they're going to have a lot more resources to put into it."

I couldn't have said it better myself...and I have.

Read the entire story, watch the video, and see the screen shot here.

Traditional Media Stabilizing?

This morning eMarketer published a survey illustrating media usage among U.S. internet users. Traditional media appears to have stabilized and even grown some while on-line continues to show impressive growth. You can read the entire article here.

Note the growth of social networking. Think your adult targeted radio station can't benefit from mass appeal social networking sites like Facebook? I believe that thinking is grossly underestimating how these FREE tools can aid in connecting with listeners.

Likewise, blogs are growing at an equally impressive rate.

And lastly, let me point out one other tool that most people have yet to discover but I believe holds great promise--RSS. Almost any content you make available on line can be made available via "really simple syndication" or RSS. RSS can be added to and seen in home pages such as Yahoo! and also in RSS readers like the one I use, Attensa. Yet another easy way to distribute things like station videos or morning show podcasts.

Puppy Love

Social Networking for everyone...or so it seems these days. How about for dogs? You betcha!! Check out DoggySpace.

Now mans best friend can connect and network with other like minded pooches. I not making this up. The sites own description says, "to give their dogs their own cyber place." OK, so maybe it's really social networking for dog owners and their beloved pets.

Then again, I watched this very entertaining video on the site of a very talented canine skateboarding. Check it out.

Having Fun!

I really enjoy launching new radio stations--and that's exactly what I got to do this week in Alexandria, LA. RED 104.3 was born yesterday at around 3PM central time. Having launched a lot of radio stations I can tell you this one was a little different.

We not only needed to worry about the normal "old skool" stuff like music, jocks, clocks, production, and spots but it was imperative that our on-line launch would coincide with on-air. While the homepage is a temporary one, it includes links to our stream, our myspace, facebook, and twitter pages. Listeners can also email us. Wow, that is starting to sound archaic--emailing.

I also thought it was important to launch with jocks. After all, we are a radio station and not a jukebox, right? Yes, the research will always tell you to shut up and play the music. I've never seen a study that didn't. [I bet you could ask a talk audience that question and they too would want to hear music! Just kidding.] I say, so what! Go against the research. Fight the temptation to put on a non-stop music machine. Use the music format you choose to play as a catalyst to entertain people. Who owns the storyteller position in your market?

There's still fun, a lot of fun, to be had in this business if we would just allow ourselves the freedom to have that fun. I hope you had some fun this week too.

Thanks to Sean Ross at Edison Media Research, who writes the Infinite Dial blog, for the nice write up today:

First Listen: Red 104.3

Written Aug. 1, 2008

Got a chance to listen to an early stretch of Harve Alan's new project, Opus Media's KEZP Alexandria, La., which just flipped from Classic Rock to a very hit-driven Alternative as Red 104.3 -- a good name for a radio station even outside the state of Louisiana. Besides doing a good job of cherry-picking the poppiest of today's modern rock, Red also gets liner of the week awards for this end-of-the-stopset sweeper: "Going back to the music beats going back to jail!"

Here's Red 104.3 at 10:45 this morning:

Muse, "Starlight"
Ludo, "Love Me Dead"
Shinedown, "Save Me"
Beck, "Where It's At"
Beastie Boys, "Sabotage"
Carolina Liar, "I'm Not Over"
Nirvana, "Dumb"
Trapt, "Who's Going Home With You Tonight"
Three Days Grace, "Never Too Late"
311, "Come Original"
Foo Fighters, "Let It Die"
Linkin Park, "What I've Become"
Staind, "Right Here"

More On How the Game Has Changed

I know you get it. We all get it. Media has changed, It's not going back to the way it was. Things will never be the same. Blah, blah, blah. Now what? Glad you asked.

Keep exploring the possibilities, open your mind to what could be, and read through another excellent presentation on the social networking change wave we are all living and working through.
The pictures above are from this excellent slide show that follows. One of the slides in the presentation asks, "what can you do for that community." The answer: be useful. Through the radio lens I believe that to mean give your listeners things they can only get from you. Unique attributes that define your purpose--entertain, inform, interact.

As always, your feedback is welcome.

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The Social Network War

A little fun in the form of a short cartoon.

From CURRENT TV

Are you in the Loopt?

Social networking's next obvious step-mobile!

It's starting to happen in a very big way. Loopt already has deals with with Sprint and Boost Mobile, a company that offers Pay-As-You-Go wireless phones and voice data services to the youth market.

Here's what Loopt does:

• Connect with friends and get alerted when they are nearby
• Share your location, status and photos with a few or all friends
• Explore places and events recommended by friends
• Control your experience anytime, anywhere

Over the last few days, if you have been sampling the radio trade press, you have been reading about how social networks are "beginning" to find there way onto radio station websites and are now becoming a larger part of a stations marketing plan. No argument there.

One small issue...

Social networking, while still growing rapidly, is taking it outside. Mobile social networking is going to be the next big thing. Stop for a moment and think about how perfectly this fits a radio station's profile as an out of home entertainment source. Things are moving so fast that every positive step forward we as an industry take still leaves us two steps behind.

Solution?

Radio groups must find an expedient way to tap into the youth culture every day because that's how fast it's moving. Someone in your IT department? A college age intern? Listener panels? On-line surveys? Someone scouring the web for trends (I'll have some good tips on how to do that in a future post). If you are running a station that cares about 12-34 (or any subset of that broad demo) it behooves you to make this a priority.

No, we can't deploy everything that comes down the pike (wow! there's a little New England flavor) but I will say this as gently as I can--there are still stations that are not streaming. As a pop culture medium we can't afford to lag far behind.