In this week’s Programming To Win column, Ruth Presslaff offers her top ten ways to effectively create appointment listening with your audience. Presslaff offers a number of helpful hints for contesting, social media and more.
By Ruth Presslaff
Ruth Presslaff
When last we met on these pages of FMQB, I was suggesting drilling deep and aiming squarely for specific listening appointments. Certainly the ability to do just that is compressed in a chatter-free PPM world. But when one microphone closes, another window (or mac or droid) opens.
The ability to communicate with your audience in order to set appointment listening is greatly expanded with the explosion of social media platforms, along with the continuing prevalence and success of listener databases and email. The following is your Top 10 list: A reminder of how to most effectively drive listening and lift ratings using the tools most stations have at their fingertips.
#10 – Appointment times in email: Check the last four emails your station sent. Do any of them clearly outline a reason to listen to the station and the specific times to listen? Your database members like you, they really like you; it’s one of the reasons they signed up to be part of your loyalty club. Now, use your emails to remind them of club benefits including specific times to listen over the next week for features, contests, etc. Your listeners are as busy as you, so telling them when their favorite features are airing is an actual benefit. To both of you.
#9 – Appointment times on club web pages: You know how corporate keeps hounding you to drive up page views? And how you’re always looking to drive loyalty club membership benefits? Your contests give you a great opportunity to drive page views, register or re-engage your members and set listening appointments. For any ‘listen to win” contest, post the mechanics of a contest, the songs to listen for and the times to listen for them on your loyalty club page. Drive page views and member engagement by presenting this exclusive winning and listening information just for those who have log-in credentials.
#8 – Appointment times on Social Media: Hang out with the cool kids, but don’t be a dweeb while you’re there. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, et.al. are all great places to remind fans, friends, and followers to listen. But don’t just post it like an on-air promo. Be conversational, post relevant pictures, be inventive, creative, and compelling while you’re setting listening appointments. The simplest, cleanest example I recently saw was a WDHA/Morristown, NJ Facebook posting, “Lindsay Klein and her first crush on the 7PM fourplay! :)DAVID BOWIE.” It drew some interesting comments and was much more likely to be welcomed in a fan’s Facebook stream than “Listen to the 7p.m. Fourplay for David Bowie”.
#7 – Times to Listen & Bonus Chances to Win: There are those (me) who think a database of engaged listeners will soon become your station’s most valuable asset. Anything you can do to grow and engage that group of listeners only drives the value of that asset. Are you treating them like VIPs? If you are doing an on-air ticket giveaway, put a couple of extra tickets aside for club members only, and let them know the times to listen to win them, online and via email.
#6 – Programming Updates: It’s not all about contest winning. Morning show features, The daily jokes, Sports playoff broadcast times, News events. Be sure to mention them in your emails and posts. Include highlights (or a link to the whole schedule) in your emails. Some stations even include Outlook Calendar links in their emails, so a listener can click and just put the reminder directly on their calendar.
#5 – Concert Pre-sale with Listen to Win: Concert Pre-sale information is one of the typical benefits of being a club member. The shows your listeners are dying to see are probably the very same concerts you’re building promotions around. Don’t just send the pre-sale info, be sure to include the times to listen to win tickets along with the pre-sale information. Set that listening appointment while sending this important information to your club members.
#4 – Appointment Setting Contests: Music Madness, Words of the Day, Song of the Hour and anything else like that are all opportunities to set listening appointments. Your contests are designed to get people to listen, and they should also be an opportunity to drive membership and highlight club benefits. Provide the specific listening times and/or bonus words/songs/contest times to database members only.
#3 – Favorite Artist Targeting: Certainly you know your favorite listeners’ favorite artists by now. And if not, do a simple survey to find out. It’s the platform for so many listener and station benefits. You know that David Bowie post referenced earlier? Imagine supporting it with an email just to the listeners who told you they love Bowie. Targeted emails telling listeners “you told us you love David Bowie, so be sure you’re listening tonight at 7 for the Bowie Fourplay” are good for your listeners and good for your listening.
#2 – Follow-up to Contest entry – Exclusive opportunities to listen & win: Do you do Music Madness every March? Are you gearing up to give away another round of iPads? When you run those repeat promotions, remind the registrants from last year that it’s time to play again. Kick off the contest with a warm-up round that you only tell past participants about. Drive listening by giving them an exclusive chance to win and get immediate engagement in your contest. Then when the full promotion begins, continue feeding them the times to play and keep them listening.
#1 – Secret ‘listen to win’ contests just for club members: Different than that extra chance to win during a station wide promotion, this is an off-air contest exclusive to database members. Drive the appointment through emails and your club pages. Tease it on social media and drive registration by posting a link for “more information on this secret contest” that goes to the club pages. Set appointments to score those tickets, gadgets, meet-and-greets and other priceless opportunities available to club members only. Drive listening appointments while giving your club members an additional benefit.
Note the circle of benefits described here:
- Your database members benefit from exclusive information on specific times to listen to win something they want or hear something they like.
- Your database grows because you’re continually giving people reasons to register and be engaged.
- You benefit from stronger relationships with your listeners.
- And most importantly, you benefit from your engaged database members listening to you more and driving up your ratings!
Ruth Presslaff is Founder and President of Presslaff Interactive Revenue, developers of the integrated email, contest, survey and social Dat-e-Base platform and consultants on the building, utilization and monetization of audience databases.
