Press the P1

by Jessica Northey
I was working in radio for a few weeks the first time I heard the term “P1” I didn’t want to ask stupid questions so I pretended like I knew…”fake it til ya make it” I always said. Fast forward many years later and I forget that we have our own language in the Broadcasting world (half of it made up just so we look cool) A friend of mine was fascinated by this concept and the comparison to Social Media participation...got me thinking that this well worth explaining.

As you all know at any radio station current listeners are broken into 2 segments: preference 1 (PI) listeners and preference 2 (P2) listeners. P1 are the core listeners, those who respond with the name of your station when asked “what radio station did you listen to most over the past week”. “P2’s” are those who name your station as another station they also tuned into over the past week. Some of the Automotive industry even checks the presets on your radio dial to determine what stations to but commercial air-time on.

Understanding P1s… their habits, their wants, needs and expectations is critical, not just for radio stations but anyone who wants to really excel at their Social Media efforts; that is if you are using Social Media strategically to accomplish productivity goals.  It’s important to know that P1s aren’t possessions, they are people who have made a decision to "tune" into you.  If you can take some time to try to understand why people are following you, use a particular medium or platform and attempt to predict what the pay-off is for them in terms of how they are relating to you i.e. entertainment, news, friendship, education; and then make certain that’s their experience each and every time they tune in, you will see a significant increase in participation.

So interestingly enough my success with Social Media has been a direct result of knowing who my P1’s are and relating to them, on their terms and providing content that was true to me and my music/content.

Here are some things to think about;

-Try to provide great content all day long
-Hold a mirror up to your target demo/audience and think like them
-Turn them on to new and interesting thoughts, happenings
-Open their eyes to what is going on in the world
-Be interesting, and sometimes even unpredictable
-Give information they can’t get anywhere else
-Provide friendship and speak with people, not at them
-When bad things are happening in the world let them know
-Don’t bore them with mindless chatter
-Create emotion that make sense to your audience

Who are your P1’s? How are you relating them?