Yes the ratings are based on the 'age' of the person listening to your radio station but I always believed you'd get more mileage (ie. expand the demo's) if you understood the lifestyle of the listeners.
I, for example, don't really fit the profile of my 'age' - or as my good friend Terry David Mulligan so glibly said "Marty - you're not the poster boy for retirement."
My lifestyle is 'very' active - and I enjoy a great deal of the same music that both of my daughters (age 24 and 27) enjoy - on both ends of the spectrum from rap to rock. (God Bless Pitbull - I wanna hang with that guy) - and God Bless Dave Grohl - I'd kill for his hair (or any hair for that matter.)
As such my 'digital tastes' tie in to my work with Radiowise Inc. - and it's again evident to me that Radio is coming too late to the party with radio apps.
I also believe we should throw out the Gen X and Gen Y terminology and start to use the "M Generation" (mobile) because they're the ones that are really shaping where the entire media scope is going - in reading, viewing, and listening to media.
The "M" Generation is a psychographic - and it's age span is wide and growing wider each day.
As such one thing that really surprizes me are the current APPS that radio has thrown out there in the past year or so.
Ths M generation is all about a) choice and more importantly b) SPEED.
In the 'good old days' you'd stand in line at the bank for ages - while today if there's ONE person at the ATM you simply walk away because you're steps away from another one.
Same with radio.
Space is 'precious' on mobile units - iPhones, iPads, smart phones, etc. so the M Generation are terribly happy with that one stop thing - in other words using an app like TuneIn Radio.
This app can find virtually 'any' radio station in the world - and has a search button for a certain city (where you can find 'all' the stations in that market) - by music choice - by talk station - by sports - has a 'pre set' for favorites button - and you can also 'record' on the app.
In Canada when I'm looking at the big corporate Apps I'm surprized at many things.
First off 'few have search buttons' - 'most' don't have record buttons - most make you scroll through city after city after city to get to the one you want and if you have multi brands under your umbrella you'd have to literally go across the country to find the 'correct' one.
Another fascinating part is that most station apps have little to keep me 'sticky' on the site. I really don't want to read a blog that a station posts from a person who is really not that interesting to listen to on the station in the first place.
Blogs can be a great extension of the person - but it takes work and creativity....not what you did on the weekend or Grandma's recipe for cupcakes.
Give me something 'different' please.
"Stuff the CRTC doesn't let me say on the radio station."
"Tips - advice - links to other really interesting stuff."
Next, "loyalty is everything."
Many stations have now opened up Facebook "Fan" sites - but leave them almost blank.
As I scan through many of them it's amazing to see they only have 'about a hundred fans' - Information is long out of date - there's nothing interesting at all - no prize opportunities - little station information or really no reason to actuallly LIKE the page.
If you go to the big highly successful companies Facebook fan sites - ie. McDonalds and Starbucks - you can see the real power of these pages. With 'one click' of the mouse these giants can reach from ten to twenty five MILLION people.
Their sites are complete brand extensions - great looking pictures - offerings - discounts - 'contact' with the customer.
Radio's missed that!
The mobile crowd is quickly redefining media, as I've mentioned, and they consume Mobile capacity like crazy. They are NOT going to junk up their mobile units with every radio stations/corporate app when there are way more efficient app's to get the content they want.
If your radio station General Manager - Sales Manager - and Program Director are not 'active' on Facebook - Twitter - Sound Cloud - Pandora - Flipboard - Pinterest and other digital platforms it means that nobody at the top of the heap is pushing the Digital guy or girl in the office to move the platform forward too.
Sit in a room with the M crowd - listen to their opinions of your local or corporate app - and you just may be surprized to find out how far behind you're tracking in their expectactions.
I love digital. It's exciting. It's creative. It's interactive. It's fun. It's engaging - but I really do feel that most radio companies have missed the opportunity and this M Generation is quickly redefining what they will and will not listen to on their mobile units.
How does your station/company stack up?
I'm right huh!
No comments:
Post a Comment