Don’t have a radio show producer … get a smart phone

To all the web administrators, please pass this along to your on-air hosts.

So you are not the morning show … yet?  Don’t have a producer?  Working two-jobs?  No time to prepare?

Time for a smart phone with FaceBook and Twitter apps will help produce your radio show.  What’s better than one show producer?  Hundreds of producers.  You can build a community with a smart phone, Facebook, and Twitter.  When you get connected your show and your career will both move ahead.

• Smart phones will get smarter and smarter … will you?
• A community want to share enjoys good leadership.  Are you that person?
• Your online community will keep you connected with what’s important.  What’s real.  What’s worth talking about.

Why is CELLit Media posting this?  We know video is just a part of your community.  An important part but not the whole thing.  If you want to build a community, increase your ratings, move your career ahead then you need help.  We can be part of the solution.

Interactive Media is a Team Sport

Worth a read … local media using social web tools to grow their audience.  Article link here. Good reporting by the Boston Globe with specific examples of audience building programs.

For radio stations … here’s our take. Interactive media is a team sport. Web administrators and Program Directors need to realize they cannot do it all.  Like the stations mentioned in the article, tear down the walls between the on-air talent and the audience.   Designate a station “Twitter Master”.   Tweet ahead the morning topic.  Ask your audience what they would like.  Engage the audience with video and pictures.  Have you seen their Facebook pages?  Now look at your employer’s website?  Get the picture … err … see the missing pictures?

Networking at Media Stations

Web administrators … invite responsible station employees to tweet, video, text, and send pictures.  This dynamic content will amp your web traffic.  You will find the “team” support is powerful.  Wait until you engage your broadcast audience.  You’ll be a star, your audience will grow, and good things ahead.

Program Directors … build a team or die.  Either you find a way to expand your reach, build meaningful local content, engage the local audience, OR YOU WILL BE CONSOLIDATED.  Your job can be outsourced.  Imagine one-day a single PD for your format.   Likely you are already doing multiple stations.

PD careers get more important, more engaging, and grow.  Or, PD careers get consolidate.  What would you like?

We can get you started.  CELLit media works.   No startup expenses and no operating expenses.  Now what’s your excuse?  We’ll even help you with your other social connections.

A few changes before Digital Revenue growth

New headlines from Radio Advertising Bureau about first quarter’09.

Total radio revenue down -24% to $3.4 billion while small but growing digital online revenue at radio stations is up 13% to $101 million.  Let’s be real.  That’s about 3% of the total.  Nice percentage growth but $12-million increase did not help when the total is off $1-billion (give or take a few million).

RAB leaders make a big deal out of radio digital platform growth, radio’s appeal to on-demand behaviors, and “primed for it”.  Maybe they are just a little … full of it.

Digital revenue can become an important business but a few changes are necessary:

1. PD Support is Vital. If you program director doesn’t care about digital then it will never work for you. If you PD thinks time-spent-online is time-spent-off air then your digital effort will fail. The audience has it figured out. Broadcasting is important at the right time. Online is important at the right time. Let the consumer choose their right time. Attempt to force them either way and you lose.
2. On Air + Online or O2 exponentially multiplies your reach. Use Twitter for instant feedback. Call out special video and picture support on the web. Follow up each broadcast with a short web cast, video diary, or what-you-didn’t-hear video or podcast. Your audience wants anytime-anyplace access. Let them have it.
   
3. Website administration is a team sport. Add widgets to show off your Twitter stream. Add video widgets with your latest and greatest events. Add Flash picture support. Connect to your FaceBook and MySpace pages. Let your promotion team add to the flow because they know what’s going on.
   
4. Trust your team and you will soar. It’s difficult but they get it. They know how to make online work better. After 10-years your website now contributes 3% to the total revenue flow. Maybe it’s time to let the team have a try.
   
5. Don’t hire a digital consultant. This is not about a website redesign. This is not changing your web hosting. This is about letting your team be creative. Let them show you how to make online work. You might be surprised that some team members have more personal Facebook traffic than your entire radio station website.

When you are ready to fly … point the team to CELLit Media. They will get it right away. Then stand back and listen, watch and learn how to really grow your digital business.