Yes I still believe content is King, but knowing which content and tools are best for our listeners is even more important.  In a time of not enough money or resources to do all this cool Web and social media stuff, how do we figure out where to start and focus most of our limited resources?

1. Discover where your listeners spend their time on the Web AND off

• Conduct research
• Listen in on social media site conversations relevant to your station
• Ask your listeners to participate in surveys via Website, phone, email and at events
• Pay attention to all of your listener feedback channels

2. Add appropriate social media buttons for sharing your Websites, content, apps and eNewsletters

• We know social media is popular and already exists in many places on line, but stations should leverage what’s out there and add social media icons to station sites, tools and communications to help spread the word virally and help you appear more progressive
• Add forward to a friend buttons too

3. Start an eNewsletter if you don’t have one and if you do

• Add an online survey—I’ve learned that listeners LOVE to give you their feedback.  99X in Atlanta once had a response rate of 60% to their email survey and that’s without attaching an incentive!
• Add links and value to give the listener something in exchange for their time and valuable sharing of their information
• Look for trends in deliverability, open, click-through and other rates of activity
• Always respond to communications from listeners, let them know you are listening to them!  AT minimum, program an auto-responder so listeners know their information is going where it is supposed to go.
• Make listener email registration consistent and use primary real estate on your home page to encourage data sharing

4. Add online surveys and instant polls to your Websites

A survey or poll can add engagement by asking questions and allowing listeners to answer, see results, etc. Be careful not to interpret this listener feedback as official research.  These tools are more for engagement and limited feedback.

5. Conduct Website usability sessions, on the cheap

We tend to program what we as a station think we should put up on a site or in our communications.  One of the best ways to gain listener perspective is to conduct informal usability sessions.  Call up some friends or acquaintances and ask them to visit your office and review your site and comment (with you looking over a shoulder).  Ask them to talk through everything they are thinking as they navigate your site.  Take notes and you may learn something new about how your site is perceived by someone outside your station. 

6. Add an “Ask the DJ / personality” feature

When you add an “Ask the DJ” button and collect questions from listeners, you can then get a feeling for what listeners are wanting to know and depending on DJ answers…can share or use as additional content on the site. You will need to sift through this kind of information, but it may create some interesting listener generated content if you repurpose and feature questions of the week (along with the answers).  You may also mine this information and find nuggets for future content.

7. Add RSS feeds

Add RSS feeds to your most valuable and most often updated content. This will maximize your content and automates your continued reaching out to listeners.  Don’t forget to track which content is most popular via RSS feed.

8. Start a blog on your website

Blogs are a great way to see who is engaged in a topic or blogger and allows for listener generated content.  Even if a blog receives few or no comments, that doesn’t mean you haven’t added value to your site by adding a blog.  Just by allowing and asking for listener feedback, even if listeners don’t take you up on it, still makes a listener feel more empowered and creates a positive reflection of your station.

9. Include privacy policy

Always place a privacy policy link next to any form where you collect listener data.  Explain briefly how you will not share the listeners’ personal information with anyone without consent.

10. Maximize analytical tools

Don’t forget to set goals for success and determine how you will track and use this listener information to build listener engagement and loyalty.  Make sure you track

• Where listeners are clicking on your site,
• Where listeners come from,
• How long are they on your site or time spent on pages or apps (are they having difficulties finding what they are looking for?  Or interested and engaged in an article or activity?)
• Are listeners reading or using your content and tools?

Some of the tactics above in and of themselves promote listener engagement and loyalty.  Just by asking a listener what they think and responding to them, help create a better relationship, even if you are not using the information as formal research.

If you don’t listen to your listeners, someone else will!

Lori Dillé
Managing Partner of Weather Shore, LLC
Member of The Radio Workout Team