“How many people should I get to ‘like’ my Facebook page?”  That’s a question I get on a regular basis.

The polite answer is, “You should always be working to give your heavy listeners reasons to ‘like’ your Facebook page.”  The more pointed answer is, “Quit looking at that number! It’s telling you nothing!”

To keep your Facebook analytics as simple as possible, let me tell you about the one number you should be paying attention to.  It’s basically a measure of all the activity on or around your page.  So, when people do any one of a number of things … liking, sharing, or commenting on a post; tagging one of your photos; mentioned your page to their friends; and so on … it adds to your total of People Talking About your brand.  Here’s how to find it.

STEP 1

Make sure you see this strip at the top of your station’s page.  If you don’t, you’re not an administrator.  Whoever does have admin rights can fix that easily for you.  You’ll need to take care of that so you can move on.

STEP 2

If the button all the way on the right says “Show” instead of “Hide,” click it so it says “Show” and your Admin Panel opens up.

Note the box in the middle of the page marked “Insights.”  This graph is a headline summary of your stats you’re about to look at.  Click that link that says “See All.”

STEP 3

Here’s what you’ll see next —

This is a summary view of your Facebook stats.  Some other time, you might want to poke through Likes and Reach (start with Reach first, it’s more meaningful).  Click “Talking About This,” and we’ll take a look at that.

STEP 4

Once you’re on your “Talking About This” page, the first information you’ll see is who is talking about you.  You’ll see it breaks it down, graphically, by age and gender cells.  Below that graph is information about where your page fans are.  I find that these numbers are incomplete; Facebook can access this info for many people, but not all.  Then, scroll down the page for the next, more important information ….

STEP 5

As you see, these are Facebook’s graphs about how people are talking about your page.  Yes, there’s a graph on the right about viral reach, but that’s driven by the graph on the left, the “Talking About This” graph.  You can use the drop-down menu to see how different sorts of content you posted performed, but I’d recommend focusing on the “All Stories” number for now.

There’s a dot on that line graph for each day in the time period being measured.  It’s not a summary for that day, however.  Each dot is a 7-day running total of your “People Talking About” numbers.  In other words, the dot for October 12th is a summary of October 6th through October 12th.  The next day, the 13th, dropped the oldest day and added the newest day, so that dot covers October 7th through October 12th.  If you hover your mouse over any of those dots on your page, you’ll see the 7-day total for that dot.

A way for radio folks to think about this is that Facebook Likes are like cume; People Talking About is like AQH persons.  People Talking About is valuable because it’s a good reading of not just how many fans you have, but how much they’re engaging with you.

One final warning … don’t limit yourself to Facebook analytics.  See how it fits into your brand (and all your platforms) as a whole.  What’s still most important is if you are moving people to your various platforms where you can measure them and take advantage of them.  That might be tune-ins for a special feature; an increase in your streaming stats; more website visitors, going to pages you link to from Facebook; and on and on.  However, nothing happens until your fans see your posts in their news feed.  The chances of that happening are much greater if you bring up your People Talking About stats.

Content marketing is something that many radio stations struggle with in their social media.  It’s such a valuable tool, however, so let me pass on a couple of tips.  Basically, content marketing is the idea that the right content presented in the right way creates more interactions and builds brand loyalty.

THE CONTENT PART

Here’s one big problem with what brands do on Facebook and Twitter.  They post content that may be wonderful, emotional, interesting, and so on, but has nothing to do with the brand.  And no, random DJ observations on Facebook have nothing to do with why people are listening to your station.

If I don’t see the link between that cute kitten graphic you just posted and what your station is all about, I am darned sure the average listener doesn’t know why it’s there, either.  Yes, you will have a small number of people who might respond to anything.  They are like the people who show up at every remote appearance you do.  They’re way different from the normal people listening to you.

You’ve probably heard me say that people who follow you in social media tend to be your biggest fans.  Not every-remote-type fans, but regular folks with real lives who just flat-out enjoy what you do.  They probably enjoy seeing you show up on their Facebook page, and they may smile when you post a cartoon about how tough Mondays are, but it doesn’t get them to enjoy YOU more.  That’s just a crummy call to action (and more about that in The Marketing Part).

They followed you or “Liked” you because they want more of what you already give them.  If you just make at least half your social media posts about your radio brand, you will be miles ahead of your broadcast competitors.  I’d like to see you do more, but start with half.  That means you’re telling them more online about what you said on the air.  You’re giving them special insider information about things you do.  You’re cluing them in to deals they can take advantage of.  NOW you’re creating some value for your digital efforts, and you’re starting to get this wacky content marketing done right.

THE MARKETING PART

You may have also heard me preach that your social media can be your frequent flier list.  Because these are people who already love you and want more, but don’t have all day to listen and listen and listen, you don’t need to promote to them.

As a matter of fact, when you talk in promotion-ese to them, it creates distance instead of connection.  “I already love you!  Why are you talking so phony to me?”

You’re not promoting to them, you’re pulling them behind the curtain and giving them special information.  The marketing part of content marketing is not about getting them excited about something.  It’s more about having content and a message that together form a great call to action.  That call to action is to get them back to your broadcast; back to your stream; back to your website; or back to sign up for your emails and texts.  Again … without promoting.

The content is the promotion.  That means your content needs to be about you or something you do to get your big fans to use you even more.

They’re up for it.  They just need to know how.  If you treat them as specially as they would like to be treated, they will reward you with bigger brand loyalty across all your platforms.

Yesterday, I wrote a piece for RadioInfo.com called Tips to Rejuvenate Your Listener Emails.  It contained some general, all-purpose hints to get your database emails opened, saved, and acted upon.

So today, I’m gonna help you with your fans who view your emails on mobile devices.  At some poAs int, I imagine more people will be reading email on a phone or tablet than on a desktop computer or laptop, and that’s going to bring with it a new list of best practices.  So why not start now?

BE CLEAR

As the “Wizard of Ads,” Roy Williams has said, “Clarity is the new creativity.”

Your phone is the last place that you want to see a lengthy, rambling email.  So when you write your email, my advice is that you keep it short, and script out bullet points instead of text.  Also, be clear and obvious about why you’re sending the email.  Your headlines and introductory sentences for each topic are very important to getting a particular action from your fans..  Your subject line can work for you, too, but remember … on a phone, they won’t see a long subject line.  They’re probably see the first couple of words.  Hope those are good enough to get them to open it!

LINK WELL

Along with writing the briefest copy about each topic, you can link to your website or other sites from your email.  Remember the differences in using a computer from using a phone.  On a phone, most people use a thick finger to maneuver around their tiny screen.  That means you want to make your links clear, make them stand out, and don’t force your fans to daintily touch their screen in just the right place.

EDIT RUTHLESSLY

I can’t stress this enough.  The less you write, the better the chances your email will get acted on.  Period.  Work to get your emails as short and focused as possible.

CHECK FIRST

Don’t just send your email out and hope for the best.  Check it first.  Send a draft to other people you work with, so you can get feedback about how it looks on a range of devices.  What looks great on a large desktop monitor may look jumbled and confusing on a phone.  For the benefit of your station, your co-workers, your fans and your clients, fix stuff before the dang thing goes out.

FORMAT CHANGE

For a few months, I’ve been experimenting with a newsletter-type format, with three pieces that go out in one email (and also get posted here on this site).  The response has not been what I had hoped, and I’m all about making it easy for you to get this info.  So, I’ll now be writing single-topic pieces that will go out on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Look in the upper right corner if you’d like to subscribe to this info by email.

You can still join the Chris Miller Digital page on Facebook for daily updates of digital news I think will help you do a better job.  In addition, I’ve just created the Chris on RadioInfo page here at this site, which I’ll keep updated with the articles I write for RadioInfo.com and occasionally Talkers.com as well.

Well, I’ve managed to crank out yet another Chris Miller Digital weekly newsletter, and here ya go.  This week: an expensive social media mistake to avoid; why doing is better than seeing online; and two digital ideas with the holidays coming up.

$$$OCIAL MEDIA

Even if you aren’t spending an extra dime on your radio station’s Facebook and Twitter efforts, they can distract you and cause you to be unproductive.  The time you and others at your stations spend on social media may lead to lost man-(and-woman)-hours.

Tell the promotion people that social media isn’t just about raising awareness.  Tell the air talent that it’s not just about more and more content.  Tell the sales people that this is not the place to cut and paste and post commercial copy.

It’s about getting your fans to do what they will enjoy doing, which means using your brand more.  For your benefit, you want to move them to one of the several platforms that you get measured on, such as your broadcast, your website, your stream, your email list, and so on.

Now, as part of moving people from social media to your other stuff, you want to play the game so you win.  That means, for example, on Facebook that likes, shares and comments help raise the chances that you get seen on that site!  However, your overall goal is not to get more likes, shares and comments.  That’s just a means to an end.  Your goal is to get more listening occasions, more site visits, more streaming use, and more email or text signups.

By the way, one of the most powerful ways to increase the amount of your social media followers is to commit to promoting it on your air.  The digital world changes very quickly, and it’s already passe’ to simply say, “Follow us on Facebook” or “Find us on Twitter.”  What’s the benefit in doing so?  What’s in it for them?  Social media is already no longer the hot, new thing.  It’s part of the fabric of people’s lives, and those lives are busy these days.

SEEING VS. DOING AT YOUR WEBSITE

Like a lot of businesses, radio station websites go through three basic stages in their evolution.  They are:

1. What do we want to put on our site?
2. What do our listeners want to see on our site?
3. What do our listeners want to DO on our site?

I’m sure that you understand why the jump from #1 to #2 is so important.  Hey, we’re all media people here, right?  We understand that  no radio or TV station or print publication can exist if it’s not about something.  Even TV network affiliates, which may run a wide variety of programming, usually focus most of their energies on one thing, like their local news shows.

The same holds true with your website.  When you begin to consider what belongs there and what doesn’t belong there, from your listener’s point of view, you’ve made a big step.

The next step, from #2 to #3, has been made by a lot fewer radio stations.  When you think of your site only in terms of content … or what people will see there … it’s easy to think about your site as a hungry mouth that constantly needs to be fed.  You can lose track of the look and feel and organization of your site, but dang it, you’re getting more content up there for people to see!

Here’s where you want to start thinking like Facebook or YouTube or Google.  What do people do when they get to your site?  How do they use you?

Facebook has a ton of content, but that’s because you can use it to find friends and communicate with them.  YouTube has lots of content too, but it’s because that site is used for posting, viewing and sharing videos.  Google has almost no content of its own; I just counted 41 words on their home page this morning.  Yet, it’s one of the most used sites in the world, and it’s all about search.  That’s pretty useful.

So, what are YOU good for?  Your fans can use you to find a song that you played, listen to you online, find something fun to do in town, learn more about something your morning show or a talk show said.  Maybe you have one of those points programs for frequent listeners.  Perhaps you have a page where people can learn about new music.  If you’re a talk station, people use you to keep up on the latest news.

Aside from whatever content you have posted, activities like the above … the things people can DO at your site … are often our big traffic drivers.  Seems to me you could work smarter instead of harder if you started focusing some more on usability … what people can do at your website.

HOLIDAYS: SOME OBJECTS ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR

From today (10/2/12), there are only 51 days ’til Thanksgiving.

With that in mind, I just wanted to hit you with two thoughts about what you do online this season.

1. More and more people are looking at your site or emails using a phone.  They’re doing so at times where they’re time-limited (often passing a minute or two or three between other activities).
2. Almost everyone is busier at the holidays that at other times of year.

Just me thinking out loud … what you post online during the holidays probably ought to be as short and concise as possible with those points in mind.  Remember, bullet points are easier to read than paragraphs.

A HOME FOR HOT BABES

The RadioInfo.com folks used another piece of mine this week.  A Good New Home for Hot Babes is specifically about those male-skewing stations that have big hot babe galleries.  It’s pertinent for anyone who’s getting lots of website visits for content that has nothing really to do with your radio station.  I propose a solution that should be better than what you’re doing now!

TOP SECRET DIGITAL HELP

There’s a secret, secret site where I post ideas and tips I find online that I think will help you grow your brand.  Well, OK, I lied; it’s not so secret, but that kind of stuff is there, freshly updated all the time, at the Chris Miller Digital page on Facebook.

In this edition of the CMD weekly newsletter, potential upcoming changes in online royalties, a radio website that has nothing to do with radio, all the different kinds of radio speakers you have, and more.

RADIO FAIRNESS ACT

It’s far from being law yet, but two congressmen and a senator introduced a bill called the Radio Fairness Act.  This bill would bring royalty payments for online music into line with what broadcasters pay now.  What broadcasters pay for over-the-air music, that is. There are plenty of radio broadcasters who are dealing with the cruel injustice of being successful with online radio.  The more people listen, the more you have to pay.

I predict this will lead to some pretty major changes in our industry.  Once … knock on wood … this bill becomes law, digital revenue should become even more important to radio station.  After all, this frees up the need to budget large amounts to pay for online royalties.  With the online audience growing like a weed, and fewer costs to play in the digital world, this should help our streams really be the growth property that they can be.

Meanwhile, all those pure-web music choices like Pandora and Spotify and Apple’s coming digital radio … this decision alone could help drive them from having marginal business plans to being profitable.  There’s a potential speed bump there for radio.  I would not be surprised if Pandora wanted to get a hold of local broadcast signals to put some of their curated content on.  It might not even be music; there’s probably a way that they could program a locally focused news or news/talk station based on their fans’ votes about what’s important to them.  I don’t have any evidence of that; it’s just been a gut feeling of mine.  They could create stations that are both terrestrial and digital and do so without the baggage and outdated practices that many established radio stations have.

Meanwhile, what would really be great about this for radio is if a renewed focus on maximizing digital revenue led to a widespread attitude that our streams are as worthy of good programming as our broadcasts.

CTBOOM.COM

Go to the head of the class, Cox Media Group Connecticut!  Creating the new CTBoom.com shows a knowledge and flexibility about the digital world that many radio folks don’t have yet.  CTBoom.com is about pop culture, topical happenings and local things to do.  I get the impression that this new site is one that the Cox stations in Connecticut can all refer to and send listeners to.

It’s a lot easier to start a website than a radio station.  Getting a frequency to transmit on and then getting the site and equipment to do so is a really big deal.  Starting a website is more like producing a radio spot than starting a radio station.  I suspect that CTBoom.com is a solid idea, if they get their listening fans to go to this site to use it and enjoy the content … and see the ads that Cox sells.

Rather than put tons of varied content and apps at your station’s website … much of which may not be related to your prime focus on the radio … you can create satellite sites that make sense to send your listeners to.  Some ideas:

• A special site for your Facebook fans and email recipients that tells people in detail all the stuff you have coming up that you haven’t talked about on the air yet.  They’d need a password to enter the site that they could get from Facebook, Twitter, or your database emails or texts.
• For a category that your sales manager wants to focus on … create a special website on that topic.  You can steer your listeners there, which will make it attractive to sell advertising to all the merchants in that category in your market.
• I’ve criticized those “hot babe” galleries at both rock and talk station websites. But if you want to get those web hits, why not create a separate site for them? You could fill a need of having attractive women in a safe-for-work environment. Betcha you could use it to steer lots of guys back to your website or station, and sell advertising to every business in town that targets men.

What can you think of that would work for you?

DIFFERENT KINDS OF RADIO SPEAKERS

Here’s a way to think about all the digital stuff you’re doing.  That would include your website, your stream(s), your social media, your texts, and your database emails.

Think of them all as different types of radio speakers.

When you listen to your radio station on the air, I’ll bet you’re always judging if what’s on fits what listeners are expecting, and if it’s being done well.  You may not even be conscious of those thoughts all the time, but you’re constantly evaluating your own brand.

Well, the same thing applies to all the other things you do:

• When you think about how to cover commercial breaks on your stream …
• When you write another email to your listeners …
• When you create posts for Facebook or Twitter …
• When you add content or new features to your website …
• When you send out texts to those who sign up for them …

You execute them differently from a radio broadcast, but you can apply the same mental test to them that you do when you’re listening to your broadcast.  That’ll help you jump start your ability to move your fans from platform to platform to platform.

THREE STEPS TO DIGITAL REVENUE POWER

That’s the topic of my latest piece for RadioInfo.com, which you can read here.  The steps?  Build for it, commit to it, train for it.

WHY WOULD YOU FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK?

The digital media world moves very fast, and I keep you up on the news I find that might make you even smarter at your job than you already are.  So Like me now!

This week, the CMD newsletter addresses some always-hot topics … streaming and revenue … and also why being helpful helps YOU.

• What to start thinking about your stream to make it better …
• Sellers, did you know you can do all this stuff with streaming spots? …
• Why “utility marketing” has nothing to do with your natural gas provider …
• And a link to my first full article on RadioInfo.com.

Remember, too, you can keep up with lots of digital news to make media folks smarter at the Chris Miller Digital page on Facebook.

YOUR BROADCAST VS. YOUR STREAM

What if there’s not really any “versus” there?

We see them as two different things. What if your fans think of them as just different locations of the same store where they can buy the same thing? If that’s the case … why is one of your stores glossy and easy to shop at, while the other one is such a dump?

Yeah, your dumpy store doesn’t have nearly as many people shopping there as your big, shiny one does. But the dumpy one is in a hot neighborhood where more and more people are moving all the time. Plus, your competitors in that neighborhood are hard to get a good read on.  They’re different, and they’re always changing.

Yet that dumpy store is your growth property. You might be thinking about waiting a while to do anything with it, which allows people in that neighborhood to figure out where else they would rather shop, and establish habit patterns and expectations around your competitors. You might not want to take that approach.

Here’s one dirty little secret behind why we let one store get so junked up: often, the person who could start fixing it, doesn’t know how. You might know how to get content on a sister station in your cluster but not know how to get content on your own stream.  Here’s where everyone who has a good-sounding stream got started: they asked questions.

Sometimes, it takes asking several people before you find out who knows what. That’s one thing about digital: it’s new enough and changes fast enough that no one can know everything. The knowledgeable people know who to ask. How do you fix clunky transitions on your stream? Start asking around. Who loads spots and can load some station promos for you, too? Ask around. What special features can sellers offer their clients on the stream? Ask.

No matter your radio station job … jock, seller, promoter, programmer, manager, whatever … when you know, you can take your job to the digital side, too. That’s often easier than wondering how to do what you need to do.  If you’re PD of the broadcast, you can also be PD of the stream. You know how to do that … and it’s all one brand. It might even turn out to be fun and challenging.

Here’s more on streaming: Clean Up Your Stream!

EXTRA TOOLS FOR SELLERS

Is your station using all the streaming tools it has to get maximum digital revenue? There’s a lot more to streaming ads than just playing audio.

• You can target by geographic area (think, “what zip codes are best for my client?”)
• You can target by age
• You can target by device (computer, tablet, mobile device)
• You have direct response capabilities (it’s more than just audio; put a link to click in the streaming box for a special offer or more information)
• You get real-life numbers in real time (it’s not time-delayed estimates; it’s real people, listening and clicking, and it’s your data to own and use immediately)
• You can coordinate ads across all platforms (on your stream alone, you can run a gateway visual ad with audio streaming commercials)

If you’re in sales and no one in the building seems to know about these, ask your streaming provider. I find they can be very helpful about using your digital tools to get the most revenue you can.

Here’s additional info about streaming revenue: More About Making Money From Your Stream

WHEN CONTENT IS MARKETING

There’s a word in the digital world for it now … utility marketing.  And I ain’t talking about running ads for the power company!

This is not marketing that’s designed only to sell. This is marketing that boosts your brand by offering usable content on the web. Compelling content is fine and dandy; usable content is the holy grail. This is the stuff that helps your fans use you that much more, building relationships and trust. Hereare some things to keep in mind:

• Your content: What makes your radio station both unique and mass appeal? That’s the stuff that your fans will go online to find. It might be deeper, more focused information about what you talked about on the radio. It might be helpful lifestyle content. It might be highlighting what people come to your website for, like the stream and your event guide, and making them unbelievably easy to find.
• Your design: People like websites that make visual sense. It shouldn’t look like the coupons that came in the mail got scattered all over the floor. That means you:
  • set some limits on what colors and fonts you’ll use;
  • organize your site with enough white space to make it easy to find stuff; and
  • have a mobile site that is fun and easy to use on a smartphone (folks like bang bang mobile can help).
• Your mobile apps: With so much web activity moving to mobile devices, here’s the first question: what info do you offer that is so valuable that you want mobile fans to find instantly? Hint: start by thinking about what web pages get the most consistent hits. Here’s the other question: are there things you can build into an app that will increase the perceived value of it? Thinking about your target, you might realize there are extra things you could build into an app. These might not have anything to do with your station, but that your target would enjoy, especially if it’s uncharted app territory. Think about what your target likes to do … or has to do … with its time, and that might create some ideas for you.

Here’s more about compelling vs. usable content: What’s Compelling Content?

SOCIAL MEDIA? IT’S YOUR FREQUENT FLIER PROGRAM

Thanks to Michael Harrison and the folks at RadioInfo.com for using a piece I wrote for them on this subject. You can read it here.

Ready for some ideas on how to build your brand? Here’s this week’s Chris Miller Digital newsletter, featuring:

• Why having good quality, relevant Facebook posts is more important than how often you post …
• Why you’re a brand, which is more than just being a radio station …
• Some clarity on Apple’s plans to get into digital radio …
• And how Facebook can help YOU get even smarter about digital stuff.

QUALITY OVER QUANTITY, JUST LIKE ON THE AIR

When it comes to your social media, the quality of what you post is more important than the quantity of what you post.

I didn’t always believe that, but I’m seeing evidence that what gets us hidden or un-followed is often that we end up not meeting the expectations of our followers. What people want mostly from brands they follow on social media is insider information; special deals and offers; and chance to be heard. Radio stations can also post deep, focused content about what happens on the air; for instance, if you mention in one sentence on the air that Nicki Minaj is supporting Mitt Romney, you can link to a full article on the subject from your website or social media.

It’s like the songs you play or the topics your talk shows bring up. You make sure you don’t play bad songs or talk about boring stuff. Similarly, you wouldn’t play Flo Rida on a country station. When you start thinking this way about the content on your website or what you post in social media, you start to make a change towards doing more brand-building with your digital tools.

Here’s your practical take-away: Look for opportunities to use your Facebook page to:

• give more info or background on what you sketchily mentioned on the air;
• give your biggest fans advance notice of special things you do; and
• communicate one-on-one with your listeners who choose not to pick up the phone.

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU’RE A BRAND!

I know that some radio folks find it irritating when I use the phrase “radio brand” instead of “radio station.” Here’s what’s up with that.

WHAT’S A BRAND?

A brand is a set of memories and expectations in your user’s mind. There are things you have done that give them a set of memories and how they feel about what you did. Those memories lead to expectations that it’ll happen again, which is why people keep coming back. What will “happen again” is generally one of two things (or both):

• That you will do what they know you for. This might be playing refreshing lite rock or having an edgy morning show that always makes them laugh.
• That they will feel something they want to feel. Entertained, informed, relaxed, energized, and so forth … if people don’t feel something, we’re doing it wrong.

MORE THAN A STATION

I like “brand” instead of “station” when it comes to radio, because we have all these different platforms now that we can use to affect usage of all the other platforms! It’s important to not think of your website or social media or database emails as an extra irritant that’s part of your job.

I’ve run into radio folks who resist the digital changes over the last decade or so. Our industry has also been lobbying for a mandate that there be an FM chip in every phone. Regardless of the merits of working to keep people listening to our broadcasts, the audience is moving online. They now expect to be able to hear what you do on their phone or computer. Any good economist will tell you that you don’t want to stand in the way of market forces moving one direction or another. Instead, you want to be the ultimate martial arts expert: use the flow to digital to your benefit, rather than fighting against it.

What you do at an on-site appearance can certainly help or hinder your reputation. All the stuff you’re doing online can, as well. If you put great effort into having a great station on the air, why not also spend some time making sure your fans are getting a complimentary experience online?

APPLE vs PANDORA … OR NOT?

The news hit last week that Apple is starting their own digital radio service, which will operate based on listeners’ taste in music, and also be supported by advertising. Almost everyone I know assumed this meant a head-to-head battle is coming between Pandora and Apple. I’m not so sure.

The phenomenon of people listening to music online is not new anymore. It’s an established practice. No matter whether you love or hate Pandora, they have a lot of people listening … even though they haven’t made a dime in profit yet. But does Apple’s entry into the field mean a fight of epic proportions between these two? Think about what Apple might want from the deal. Apple is so enormous compared to Pandora, they’re probably not interested in just having a streaming music service to try and take down Pandora. Apple is interested in more people using their platforms with a product that is completely integrated with their other products. Selling more iPhones and iPads means more to Apple than taking down Pandora.

I have no idea what Apple’s online radio will ultimately be like. Whatever it is, it will be an Apple product, meaning it’s an idea that’s a little bigger than life from the get-go. They will also make sure it’s the right thing for their consumers when it comes online. This is not about competing with broadcast radio or other online music services. It’s about enhancing the universe for Apple product users. It may be that it won’t be available on non-Apple platforms, like PCs or Android phones. Apple is ultimately a hardware company; they earn the bulk of their money from selling their things.

CHRIS MILLER DIGITAL ON FACEBOOK

When you follow me on Facebook, I help make you even smarter and more self-reliant, by keeping you updated on digital developments that could affect your job. Also, when I write something, I brag about it there.

Zooming past Labor Day weekend, here’s this week’s Chris Miller Digital newsletter, featuring:

• Why and how you can improve your stream instead of blaming streaming technology …
• Ways in which streaming is BETTER than broadcasting …
• Why you want to get a jump on your holiday plans …
• And how Facebook can help you get even smarter about digital stuff.

START FIXING YOUR STREAM

Is streaming technology that primitive that we can’t possibly get online radio to sound right?

This article, “Ad Insertion Technology Disappoints Broadcasters,” says that a large number of broadcasters are so frustrated with clunky transitions and differences in audio levels that they’re ready to just play their broadcast commercials on their stream.  That would be possible only after working it out with AFTRA to figure out how to deal with union talent fees on streams, now that streaming is so common.

I’m calling BS.  I used to be a program director, and I know it’s possible to get your stream sounding good.

Here’s why it’s important that top management be committed to great-sounding streams: I knew that our CEO would listen to every one of his stations’ streams, and when he found one that sounded bad, that program director got called on the carpet.  Yeah, fear was the first motivator for me.  But after you start finding the people who know how to fix the bad transitions and mismatched levels and everything else that can and does go wrong, I got in the habit of caring about the stream.  I’d listen regularly, usually every day, to make sure it sounded good.

The only way I know to get from bad-sounding stream to good-sounding stream is to get the PD to listen to his or her stream, and critique it.  With a list of things to fix, it’s time to figure out who in the station knows how to fix it.  Sometimes, I’d go from the production studio to the engineering shop before finding out that I needed to talk with the webmaster.  Welcome to digital.  No one knows everything, so you have to work with others to get things done.  By the way, I’ve found that if you call the people who provide your streaming, they’re generally happy to help with getting the stream right, as well as digital sales issues you’re dealing with.

Having a stopset of dismal PSAs or a bad song that cuts out halfway through is not a reason to chuck streaming technology.  The streaming audience is much smaller than the broadcast audience … today.  With the explosion of listening on mobile devices, our fans will soon feel deprived if they don’t have the option of listening online or to the broadcast signal.

HOW STREAMING IS BETTER THAN BROADCASTING

No, not in every way.  But I’ll bet you haven’t thought about the things you can do with streaming that you can’t do with your over-the-air signal.

To start with, don’t go thinking that engagement only happens in social media.  Let’s say you make it possible for listeners to give you feedback on what you do … say, the option to click thumbs-up or thumbs-down on any given song or talk topic.  When they chime in with their opinion, that’s engagement!

Most streaming players now have lots of links built in back to the station’s website or social media, but still, one of the big advantages they offer is they show the title and artist of the song being played at the moment!  Listeners appreciate having that information so handy.  Sure, if you listen to a radio receiver with RDS, you can get that information, too.  Unfortunately, RDS is nowhere near ubiquitous.

There are also the sales applications.  On your stream, you can do some surgical hyper-targeting.  You can make sure a spot only gets heard by people in the zip codes around a certain business.  You can target by the sort of device on which people are listening.  Basically, you have options to make a schedule more efficient than the same schedule would be on broadcast radio.  Plus, you can offer opportunities for response with your stream.  You can make a coupon available when someone clicks on the streaming box.  You can pop up a form for someone to complete if they want more information.  A lot of merchants would find the targeting and response capabilities of streaming valuable, in addition to knowing exactly how many people heard their spot … not just an estimate from a ratings company.

You can see more of my recommendations on improving your stream here:

• Clean Up Your Stream!
• More About Making Money From Your Stream
• Is Your Stream an Option or a Destination?

HOLIDAY PLANS

Christmas is still over 100 days away, and summer will still hang around for another couple of weeks.  However, I’ve found that right after Labor Day is a great time to get your holiday plans in order, for two reasons.  It gives you a chance to:

Plan out how you want to use your on-air, website, onsite appearances and social media to do whatever you do for the holidays; and

Get information to your sales department so they can begin selling sponsorships NOW instead of after Halloween.

How you choose to do the holidays on your station is your call.  Some radio stations go all-Christmas music right after Thanksgiving; some barely play any holiday tunes at all.  Many have special events and giveaways and so forth that tie to the season, and for some stations, it’s a super-important time to get the best ratings they can.

This year, work to get all your platforms in the same holiday mood.  Remember the power in being able to move your biggest fans from your social media to your website or broadcast, or from on-air to on-site events, and so forth.  That takes consistency and some planning to make sure you’re not pulling it together at the last moment on the fly.

YOU’RE NOT WASTING TIME, YOU’RE GETTING SMARTER

That’s what you can tell your co-workers when they find you on Facebook.  Let me filter through the crap for you!  Every day, I post a few digital news developments that might actually affect how you do your media job.  Click here to follow Chris Miller Digital on Facebook.