BETTER MOVE FORWARD: IDEAS FROM INTERNET WEEK IN NEW YORK
Internet week in New York. Streets are crawling with 20 and 30 somethings decked out in the latest gadgets, speaking in the tone of teenagers on podiums. I think one of the keynoters that I saw yesterday was about 12 years old. There have been two major takeaways from this year's Internet week in relation to audience development, and it has immediate implications for the radio industry, especially in 12+, 18-34, and 25-34 demos:
1. One speaker at the Mashable Summit yesterday said that today's generation is more into documenting the experience rather than experiencing the experience. They're taking cell phone footage (still pictures and video) and posting to Facebook, Tweeting, Flickr, YouTube, blogs, and more. Want to have some great PR for your station? Make sure you're giving your audience a story to "document."
2. I watched the live feed of an executive from Starbucks detailing how they increased traffic to their stores by 1 million guests on one day in 2009. Starbucks leveraged social channels to offer free coffee. Guess what? 1 million coffee cheapskates showed up and lingered in the stores. (They probably also purchased some other products, too). One million additional people congregating in Starbucks stores, having conversations, using it as a hub of in-person social activity. Wouldn't your station kill for a few thousand additional ears dropping by your station for the day? In a way, a good morning show is like a Starbucks--it's where the community meets every morning prior to work.
How can you leverage social media to increase traffic to your "community?" Are your players able to build a community? Do you have events and promotions that your younger demos would come to and "document?" If the answer is "no," then the world is moving faster than you are.
Bob Knight is Executive Vice President, Advertising/Digital Media at Harrison Edwards PR & Marketing in New York. Bob can be reached via e-mail or via Twitter.
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