Evaluating communications and media

News and Views from the desk of John Goslino      This section contains mainly short articles and responses to relevant news and developments that we hope will be of benefit.                                       You can also subscribe to our free periodic email newsletters on Knowing Your Audience and Participative Marketing for Local Radio, just contact us to receive these.

Facebook and Community Radio

Many organisations know or believe that social media like Facebook is one of the best ways to connect with their customers and members. Often many people in the radio target audience use Facebook much more than they listen to radio.  Facebook is a free business tool.

However, in our experience many organisations forget the "marketing" in social media marketing and think Facebook success is about publishing content and getting as many people as possible to "Like" their Facebook fan page. 

My advice is that you need to consider how Facebook can help you achieve specific station goals, that is, success with Facebook is not just getting more fans and followers to a page.  Just building a list is of little value unless you do something with it.  This means you need to build a community, engage your audience and create word-of-mouth by persuading your audience to share your message with their friends.

This all relates very well to what community radio needs to do, but how can your station take practical advantage of Facebook, to link activity to a meaningful outcome?  A couple of ideas to get you thinking.

1. Create separate Facebook pages each about a specific topic.

As we've noted before it is more important for community radio to sell programs rather than the station itself.   The community is not interested in a station per se, but is keen to listen to programs that interest them.

Facebook allows a station to build a community of interest around topics/subjects and find prospective listeners who can be invited to tune in to programs/presenters that address that topic, such as reducing teenage pregnancy or finding local jobs.

Linking the Facebook page to a specific page on the station website allows people to follow through to access more information about the programs, listen to sample programs and subscribe, such as to receive an email newsletter or meet the presenter.

2. Running campaigns for specific (social) purposes. 

This requires that you use a third-party application to install a tab on your Facebook page.  Once you install a tab you can publish an offer or a piece of engaging content (say an article about the impact of one of your programs on community behaviour, helping lives etc) that is designed to get page (program) fans to take a specific action (for example, buy a podcast of a program, make a donation, renew a membership, print a sponsor's coupon). 

You can also "Like-gate" your offer, requiring users to "Like" your Facebook page in exchange for a free gift, say a podcast of a program.  But getting more "Likes" is only one benefit of running a campaign, as it is important to get people to participate and share your offer or content with their friends. 

As mentioned above, getting someone to "Like" your page (or program) is really just list-building.  What really matters is what you do with your fans.  For example, if you lead a fan to print a membership coupon or program voucher, chances are the fan will become a paid member or program buyer.

And if you can also get that same fan (person) to share your offer you will likely attract new fans and prospects—and, therefore, potential new listeners and members.  People trust recommendations from friends, and a social campaign is a great way to inspire your station's fans to create word-of-mouth referrals for you.

What do you need to keep in mind?  At least two things.

Facebook is not the same as having your own website (or an alternative to a website for an organisation).  Facebook is controlled by Facebook, and Facebook determines what you can and cannot do.

Ideally Facebook can help drive people to your website, where you can do a lot more, or get people to take a specific action as noted above.

And secondly, whilst Facebook is mainly free to use (at least for the time being), being effective with Facebook requires constant work to publish, respond and connect.  If you are unable to put in a consistent effort then we suggest you don't bother.  Your fans will soon get bored and forget about you.

What information about audiences/stakeholders should a community services organisation collect, and how should it do so?

We had a recent request along these lines to inform a strategic planning exercise.  The not-for-profit organisation wanted to learn more about its audiences/stakeholders to provide direction on key issues (ie exploratory) and also shed light on specific new strategy ideas to generate more income.  The organisation had previously relied substantively on ad-hoc verbal discussions with stalkeholders including members.

A key strategy we suggested was the use of consensus groups to determine what its key stakeholders, in particular funding agencies, sponsors and program developers, agreed on.  What general issues, opportunities and strategies influential parties felt were important to that organisation in question. Learning about the consensus that exists in any group is important and can be done by non-research specialists, unlike focus groups.

We've also created a new page to briefly cover the activities a community services organisation could implement to better understand its audience, aptly called audience research for community organisations.

 

Social networking is extremely important in modern society. Millions of people use social networks to share text, photos, videos, and other forms of media. Social networks allow users to instantly share and connect with anyone and everyone. Social networks might be seen as something that only teenagers or students use, but this is certainly not the case. Business professionals can benefit greatly from social networking via their laptops or smart phones. In fact, social networking is one of the most modern and convenient tools for business professionals to take advantage of.

Facebook is one great example of a social network that has professional benefits. Business professionals can use their smart phones to instantly connect to the BlackBerry Facebook app, or iPhone's version. This allows them to easily message clients and customers and keep them updated via status updates and wall posts. Professionals can use social networking applications for personal profiles, but they can also use them if their business has a profile. Many major businesses use social networks to advertise their services, and this means professionals can update a business page directly from their smart phone. Staying connected cannot get much more convenient or simple! 

Another great benefit of social networking applications is that they are usually free. Even social networking apps that cost money are typically offered at very low prices. Business persons tend to spend a lot of money in order to be successful, but using free resources to social network is a great way to save money. 

Social networking via a smart phone provides many benefits when compared to social networking via a computer. When a business person is out and about, they may not have access to their computers or important date on the computers. Smart phone social applications send updates and important news directly to a business person's phone. This allows them to instantly stay updated, and no computer is required to do so.

True business professionals know that they must take advantage of every resource available to them. Using social networking from a smart phone is one of the greatest tools a business person can use to stay successful.

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