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Swiss Army Gadgets

A recent New York Times article underscores something that we saw loud and clear in “Goin’ Mobile” – smartphones are replacing other gadgets and changing our lives in the process.

At the Worldwide Radio Summit in Los Angeles next month, I’ll show a different radio-ized version of “Goin’ Mobile” and one of the new segments we've put together will address the ways in which other gadgets are being relegated to the background because of smartphone use.

This includes GPS units, alarm clocks, camcorders, and even iPods.  And then there are all those functional apps that have replaced many books, tools, gaddgets, and other resources, usually for a much lower cost.  The Times actually calculated how much money one might save by foregoing the purchase of these “ancillary devices” as a result of owning a great smartphone:

Here’s how they figured it:

• A mobile e-mail reader ($430: the Peek 9, an e-mail reader, is $70; two years of service costs $360).
• A music player (an iPod Nano is $149).
• A point-and-shoot camera (around $200).
• A camcorder (around $200).
• A GPS unit (they start at $80).
• A portable DVD player (they start at $60).
• A voice recorder (around $40).
• A watch (around $30).
• A calculator (around $10).
• Total cost: $1,999

Considering a smartphone and a solid data plan costs quite a bit less, you can see how much more efficient our lives have become as a result of the iPhone and similar devices.

To put it in perspective, we have long talked at Jacobs Media about if the iPhone was instead originally marketed as a Mini-Mac – a handheld computer that provided email, texting, a GPS, alarm clock, calculator, camera, camcorder, mp3 players, and yes, also a phone.

The fact that these devices started as phones, and then became all these other things perhaps explains their success. At the outset, we all needed a cell phone.  Marketing them as Swiss Army knives was the next step in their evolution.

And then I remembered that back in 2007 for “The Bedroom Project,” Tim Davis built this graphic that I’ve included here for the section we put together about cell phones.

It says a lot about how far we’ve come, and how the smartphone’s influence has magnified in our lives.  It is estimated that by the end of this year, half the population of the United States will have a smartphone.

And as consumers become more comfortable with all the things they do and the efficiencies they provide, it becomes critical that if you’re Garmin, Bulova, JVC, and other manufacturers whose devices are essentially incorporated in smartphones, perhaps you partner with smartphone manufacturers to possibly include your brands in their software packages.

Of course, I could have mentioned any number of radio companies here, too, because that’s essentially what Pandora is doing in as many gadgets as they can.  Clear Channel's purchase of Thumbplay is a sign that broadcasters now have Pandora on their radar sreen.

As we said in the “Goin’ Mobile” presentation, the smartphone provides an opportunity for radio to be a part of the greatest gadgets of our lifetime.  But there is no entitlement.  We will have to earn our places on these devices.

Who Needs Sex (or Age)?

Throw out traditional demographic buying?

It seems like there’s a movement like this every few years, but when it comes from a guy like David Poltrack, you'd better pay attention.

Poltrack is the head research guy at CBS (like a dentist named Dr. Molar), and at a recent Advertising Foundation’s Think 2011 conference, he indicated that the days of age and sex demographics for the advertising buying process should be numbered.

Working with Nielsen and Nielsen Catalina, Poltrack says his goal is to prove the point that the way media has traditionally been bought is specious.  Their research points to behavior as the key determinant of advertising success.

For years, we’ve heard about the value of “psychographic research”  - looking at behavior and activity patterns as more important than simply being a 29 year-old male or a 40something female.  Sadly, these factors rarely come into play during the buying process.

We recently conducted a study among 40 male-oriented radio stations to demonstrate the value of guys who listen to the radio.  Called “Marketing To Men,” this initiative was designed to show that men are in fact valuable shoppers and that all men are not the same – despite the advertising industry’s penchant for simply dividing them up by age demo.

This slide, for example, illustrates a large number of single men and men who live on their own – just the types of radio listeners whose shopping patterns are greatly amplified as a result of their lifestyle situations.  You’re not going to grasp a sense of lifestyle differences when you’re simply looking at broad age/sex demographics.  Who you are and what you do say much more about what you and how you buy.

Poltrack has seen many of the same things in CBS research over the years.  Working with Cambridge Group, they’ve identified six types of TV viewers, which Poltrack claims are better than simply going after 18-49 year-old adults:

TV companions: For this group, TV is almost always on and is like a member of the family.

Media trendsetters: Early adopters of technology and new content, and also 39% multicultural.

Sports enthusiasts: Made up mostly of men, but most guys aren’t classified here.  This group also likes action-adventure programming.

Program passionates: Highly involved with favorite shows, and the biggest DVR time-shifters.

Surfers and streamers: Most open to watching alternative content on TV and most often using laptops or tablets to multitask while watching TV.  They skew young, but include a large component of 50-plus people.

TV moderators: Those who enjoy being experts and leading others’ choices.

So what would radio segments be like?  Obviously, you’d need an industry-wide research study, perhaps something that NAB could collaborate on, with assistance from say the rocket scientists at Katz and Arbitron.

So in lieu of any data, here’s a stab at how radio types might develop if we took a different approach to research and buying parameters:

True Blue P1s – For this group, the radio is always on – it complements their lifestyles, whether at home, in the car, at work, and even on the nightstand when they go to bed.  This group often defines itself by the station(s) they listen to.  If stations still gave out bumper stickers, these people would proudly display them.

Button punchers & commercial avoiders – These are the listeners who make it an art form to never listen to ads – or even DJs.  They avoid formats where there’s talk and engagement.  Instead, they use the radio like a jock-less Internet station.

Activists – They show up at station events, click “like” on social networking pages, and are engaged with what they hear on the radio.  They recommend stations and products, have large networks of friends and followers, and may be the MVLs (Most Valuable Listeners) of radio.

Talk junkies – Most of their listening is confined to spoken word, radio talk, and personalities.  They listen in long chunks, participate in shows, and often share news and stories with friends, families, and co-workers.

Explorers – For these listeners, the radio is still a primary source of entertainment and music discovery, and they use the full array of tools – streaming, podcasts, video, and perhaps even satellite and HD radio.  They are less loyal but still very engaged.

Backgrounders – These folks view radio as part of the scenery, accompanying their lives, but rarely is it forefront (with the exception of time spent in the car).  These may be heavy radio listeners, but their attention span is often elsewhere.

Newsies – Perhaps divided into two segments – those who enjoy being informed via commercial news-type stations, and those who desire the deeper dive that public radio provides.  (WTOP's Jim Farley recently blogged about these differences in this space.)

Hey, I’m just playing, but you can see that if you developed different questions to learn about the audience – not what they listened to and when, or whether they're female or over 25 – you could create a new model for radio sales that might do a more efficient and effective job of delivering the right audience and better results for advertisers.

After all these years of age and sex being the "cutting edge" method of media buys, the sophisticated metrics of today demand better, more laser-focused decision-making.  I'm sure that the RAB would be all about that.  

Isn’t it time for something beyond demographic rankers that proves the true value of radio?

A Commercial Radio View Of NPR

A couple of weeks back, Paul wrote a guest blog about NPR in response to an Eric Rhoads commentary.  That blog post set a record for us, and drew comments from a wide range of industry pros.  Jim Farley, VP of News & Programming at Bonneville's WTOP – one of the best stations in the nation – wrote a blog comment.  We asked him to expand on those thoughts and his post appears below:

Radio ratings are a zero sum game.  Normal people listen to only one radio station at a time, so if they are listening to another station, they can’t be listening to yours.  In that sense every radio station competes with every OTHER radio station in town, no matter what format.

In looking at the competitive environment in Washington, I looked at the news/talk listeners on WAMU, the main NPR news station in Washington and figured, “A juicy target for getting new WTOP listeners!”  I used to think that.  I have now modified my view to this:  you can get their listeners to share time with your radio station no matter what format.  But an NPR station P1 is not going to change.

Early on in my tenure in Washington, I volunteered at WAMU during Pledge Week.  I wanted to see what kind of person gave up time to do this.

For the most part, they were serious people who saw themselves as helping a cause, not a particular radio station.  And they spoke about “NPR” and not the local station, WAMU.

Later we did focus groups with radio listeners in general, and then a group of just WAMU listeners.  What a difference!  The WAMU listeners were serious to the point of being somber.  When asked why they did not listen to WTOP, some of them seemed downright offended that there were commercials on the radio.

Others complained our anchors speak too fast.  There was not one person in that group you’d want to knock down a beer with at a local bar.  They also spoke in terms of “NPR” and not WAMU, unless they wanted to distinguish between WAMU and WETA, the classical music public radio station in DC (with whom WTOP partners).

For years, we ran snarky liners during Pledge Week welcoming “our public radio listeners who have come over until the begging stops.”  Naturally that drew protests from those listeners and when they called to complain, I took the opportunity to engage them and find out about their listening habits.  Even when we made the liners less snarky and more “welcoming” I got the complaint calls, and kept up the dialogue.

So, yes, we can get their listeners to come over during a blizzard or a major traffic problem or a breaking news story.  That’s their weakness: they don’t do fast-moving breaking news well at the network or local level.  And while they do token traffic reports, they aren’t willing or able to do them with the frequency we do: every 10 minutes 24/7.  (Yes, you can find traffic jams in this region at all hours of the day or night).

But a WAMU/NPR P1 is very loyal, seems addicted to people speaking very slooooowly on the radio, with little tolerance for commercials.  And while breaking news is not public radio’s strength, they more than make up for that in the minds of their P1’s with great depth, context and often sound-rich content. 

NPR is a giant brand that seems to transcend the local WAMU image.  Keep in mind that WTOP is on a network of three FM radio stations.  We’d have no shot at getting even casual sharing of listeners if we were on the AM Band, because I get the distinct impression that these folks have no reason to ever go to the AM dial.

NPR is a very strong brand.  They get government money from their affiliate stations and foundations seem to come out of the woodwork with millions to hire more public radio reporters at the local and network level.  And in many markets, commercial radio has abdicated.  The local NPR station is the only news source on the radio.  Shame on us.  There’s more than enough audience available to support news on both public and commercial radio.  Respect NPR as a competitor, but don’t abandon the field.

Thanks, Jim, for taking the time.  What do YOU think? 

I Hate Commercials

Actually, I enjoy commercials, especially when they move you, tell you something you didn’t know, entertain, or surprise you.

But to look at a recent study from AdAge/Ipsos Observer, the medium is most definitely the message.  And some of the new digital platforms are not being embraced by consumers for positively delivering ad messages.

It would appear that traditional media have an edge for delivering advertising messages, while email, mobile, and social networking sites are met with disdain when it comes to commercial content. (Are you listening, Tim Westergren?)

This “expected” aspect of advertising messages ought to be construed as a positive by sales managers working in “old media” because it suggests that consumers have been trained to accept commercial messages (for better or for worse).  And it opens doors to delivering messages via branded content in other platforms.

That’s exactly what Terry Gallaher, director-integrated media at NBC5 in Chicago, is thinking.  The plan is to roll out more content via iPhone and Android apps, built on the equity and advertising expertise that only comes from traditional media brands.  As Gallaher puts it, “We still have such a large core audience, and our audience and advertisers can reach NBC content in many ways.”

There you go – new media platforms viewed as opportunities, rather than as obstacles and obligations.  As ways to enhance an advertising program, not as unnecessary capital expenses that are tough to monetize.

Broadcast radio has those same inherent strengths – strong local market brands, expertise on the city streets, relationships with advertisers and businesses, and content that can be showcased in any number of ways.

This could be and should be a great time for the radio business – if we can just get past that urge to confine ourselves to :60 spots, remotes, live reads, the dreaded "value added," and a lack of attention to producing advertising that is professional and compelling.

It’s not that tall an order.  But it is one that most certainly requires attention and investment.

But talk about ROI.

The Big Grabowski

Today, a guest blog from Bill Weston, the incomparable programmer of Greater Media's mighty WMMR.  During a recent conversation, Bill told me this story about how great brands evoke kismet – and good luck, too.

So here’s a quick story of radio’s relevance – a parable from the Karmic Wheel.  It’s a reinforcing tale for those of you who continue to invest in and build upon your brand.  Without brand and awareness thereof, this story doesn’t happen.

A local woman, Patty Grabowski, suffers tragedy.  Her home goes up in flames.  Gas explosion.  She survives, as do her parents.  Her cat, “Talley,” nicknamed after Steven Tyler’s real name, Tallerico, rescued from the rubble days later.  Her collection of prized Aerosmith memorabilia, along with all her other possessions – gone.

In getting back on her feet she writes a letter to Steve Tyler’s “people,” thinking not much would come of it, maybe an autographed picture.  At work, a month later, the phone rings.  The voice on the line vaguely familiar.  She comes apart realizing her rock idol is on her cell phone, talking TO HER.   Steven Tyler is calling just to offer encouragement and gratitude.  They speak for an hour – about real things – her sorrows, his demons.  She mentions, off hand, having that she just voted for Aerosmith in a radio station’s favorite band bracket contest - MMaRch Madness.

Tyler recognizes the brand – the WMMR call letters – and dials up Pierre Robert, a brand in his own right, on the station request line.  He has no book to plug (not yet anyway), no new solo project, and he’s not shilling for American Idol ratings.  Just a call to say hello.  “Pierre!  Still got all that hair and the beard?”  Tyler gives a great interview and casually mentions, how he came to call as a result of a conversation with a fan in need from our listening area.

The station was buzzing about a rock star calling out of the blue and how personal and entertaining a conversation it was.  Dozens of listeners text and call Pierre echoing what a cool gesture for Tyler to call - how it elevated their opinion of him as a result.  (BTW, Aerosmith goes on to win the bracket contest due to the power of the story.)

The next day Pierre finds Patty’s number and, on the air, calls to thank her for the MMR name check that prompted Steven’s call and for initiating a wonderful, spontaneous radio moment.

During this call, Patty recounts the horror of the explosion, the sense of grief and loss and her life-long love of the band.  She begins to cry.  Due not to her sadness but the joy Tyler’s call brought her.  An honest moment of pure, human connection.  I blinked away the tears, listening in my office.  

Pierre asked his audience to think about the circle that one woman created – beginning with a letter to a rock star, his return call from LA, and the radio station’s call to her.  Everyone listening became part of that circle, drawn into a personal, relatable and utterly human experience.  This was reinforced by a text message of thanks sent in from a listener, overcome with emotion, and forced to pull to the side of the road. 

Keep building the brand.  And keep somebody in the studio to answer the phone.

Postscript from Fred: While editing this blog, another great example of the power of branding for radio occurred with Entercom's KISW a couple of nights ago on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Enjoy the first 1:10 of this video with Jimmy and Rainn Wilson which could only happen for an incredible brand.

 
 >EMAIL RECIPIENTS: CLICK HERE TO VIEW JIMMY KIMMEL & RAINN WILSON VIDEO<

Social Networkiness

Every time you turn around, it’s another one of those polls or city rankings that are designed to get you talking and generating lots of tweets.

Well, earlier this week, it was the pecking order of America’s cities based on their "social networkiness."  (I made that one up, not Stephen Colbert).  Yes, Mashable reported on the 100 most socially networked cities in the U.S., thanks to an elaborate study from Men’s Health.

They aggregated Facebook users along traffic from MySpace (that couldn’t have amounted to much), Friendster, Reddit, and Digg.  They even glommed in households using chat rooms and blogs.

And what do you know – Washington, D.C. is the standout city for social mediology, while Detroit finished at the bottom for big metros, and at #94 out of 100.  At the real bottom was El Paso.  And Fresno, Bakersfield, Lubbock, Stockton, and Laredo somehow finished below the Motor City, too.

My Detroit clients were wondering about what this all means, and they raised good questions about whether Motor City residents are living in some dark age.  But there’s evidence to the contrary, and I’m here to tell you about it.

A similar ranking – this time on the social network prowess of NFL teams – came out last fall.  And while America’s Team, the Dallas Cowboys, was on the top of the heap, the surprising runner-up was none other than the lowly Detroit Lions.

Now you’re probably wondering how on earth this could happen, but the Lions finish in this social media horse race says a great deal about the space.  You see, the Men’s Health poll is more about raw numbers of social media friends, followers, and clickers.  But the Lions success in this area speaks to perhaps more important measures.

Despite the team’s abysmal record over the past few decades, Lions fans are perhaps the most passionate in America. It’s not always good passion, but of course, that’s what makes relationships.  If you think about the people you’re closest to, not all your interaction is light and positive.  Sometimes emotions flare, and love and anger can co-exist.

And that’s what the Lions have been up to since QB Bobby Layne put the curse on them back in 1958 when they traded him to the Steelers.  The Lions have pretty much sucked ever since, but that hasn’t stopped their fans from generating mass quantities of emotional furor, second only to Jerry Jones and the Cowboys.

If you don’t buy into this notion that real social networking is about relationships and not metrics, then check "The Bible."  Arbitron released radio ratings for every NFL team in a PPM market.

No surprise – the Steelers are right on top.  But then as you work down the list, you can see those Lions sitting at a cool #6 with better than a 40-share of 25-54 men.  Not too shabby for a team that hasn’t won a playoff game since the first Bush administration.  And that’s George Herbert Walker.

That speaks to passion, and passion is what makes relationships, and relationships are what social media is all about.  When Detroit fans see Honolulu blue and silver, they see red – and they wear their emotions on their sleeves.  (Can you imagine what will happen when this current group of Lions finally makes the playoffs again?)

So whether your city is in the top ten in this new Men's Health survey or hanging around near Detroit, your social media standing as a radio brand is in a different league.  What does your station do to stir up passion?  How are you moving your fans?  What kinds of relationships are you building with listeners in your town?  How is your staff connecting on an emotional level with the folks who tune in the radio and those who choose to advertise on it?

The answers to all those questions say a lot about your success in the areas called Facebook and Twitter.  Are you creating metrics or are you nurturing relationships?

That’s what "social networkiness" is all about.

Enchanting Guy

Jacobs Media’s digital guy, Tim Davis, is back from SXSW Interactive.  Last week, he summarized the vibe from the conference.  Today, a look at author & thought leader Guy Kawasaki’s presentation…

A non-thematic highlight at SXSW was seeing Guy Kawasaki speak about his new book Enchantment.  It's not tied into some of the overarching themes that I talked about last week, but it covers a lot of ground that has a broad appeal - and he's a big fan of radio (public radio especially).

I took copious notes, and will share some highlights below.  But this infographic from the Ogilvy Notes series does great justice to his presentation, and is a very cool depiction of the presentation.

The essence of Guy's book and talk are that in 2011, you've got to "enchant" people in order to achieve optimal communication.  Whether it's your clients, your boss or your employees (he didn't mention this, but one assumes it applies to spouses and children as well...).

It's a 21st century spin on Dale Carnegie, but more broad-based and imaginative.  Plus, Guy provides some great action steps for presenting your idea and your brand, some of which I’ll relate below:

Get Ready. Guy urges that you be prepared for whatever it is you’re creating – a product pitch, a new show, a mobile app, etc.  He’s a proponent of D.I.C.E.E. or:

• Deep
• Intelligent
• Complete
• Empowering
• Elegant

Launch. This is where the rubber hits the road, and Guy says that you need to tell a story and focus on what motivates people to listen and engage.  It’s not about the great miles per gallon performance that sells cars (or “30 minutes of nonstop rock”).  It’s the narrative.

Overcome resistance.  If you’ve ever launched something innovative, you know the first reaction you get – pushback.  Guy cites the example of those white cords that accompanied iPods.  At first, they looked odd but they ended up becoming the industry standard.

Endure. Veteran radio programmers know what this is about.  And Guy cited the Grateful Dead as an example of enduring success.  The sharing and swapping, the community it created, and the connection to fans are all reasons why the band is relevant today.  In radio, it’s one thing to give away cash, but an enduring experience might mean making a listener the music director for a day, or seeing a hockey game with the airstaff, etc.  Those are the prizes that Guy would call “enchanting” – the experiences that money can’t buy.

Present.  This is an area that we all need to work on.  Whether it’s a PowerPoint, a sales pitch,or an on-air promo, how can you sell your dream?  Reasons aren’t good enough.  Enchanting your audience is at the heart of creating interest in them wanting to be a part of your dream.

(For PowerPoints, by the way, Guy is a believer in the “10-20-30 Rule” – no more than 10 slides, less than 20 minutes long, and 30 point fonts or bigger).

Enchant “up.” Drop everything else when the boss asks (Fred is a big believer in this).  Prototype fast and deliver bad news fast, too.

Enchant “down.” Provide MAP: That is, mastery, autonomy, purpose.

Empower action and suck it up when you have to.  Don't ask your employees to do things you’d never do.  Think Mike Rowe on “Dirty Jobs.”

All in all, great ideas for motivating yourself and your team.  Thanks to one of the sharpest minds in the business.

In Search Of

It is truly hard to believe that in just another week, we launch our 7th annual media and technology survey.  Here in 2011, Techsurvey 7 continues a tradition that was started in 2005.  Last year, 78 stations took part, generating more than 28,000 responses from Classic Rock, Mainstream-Active, Alternative, and Triple A stations.

Looking back on it now, I believe our company has been at the forefront of web-based research in radio, going all the way back to our first survey that was launched just after 9/11.  That study helped inform our clients about the mood of their audience following the worst domestic attack on the U.S. since Pearl Harbor.  That project told us that radio station databases were about much more than email blasts heralding this week’s client promotion.

When we started this journey, there was no Facebook, iPhone, or tablets.  YouTube didn’t exist, nor did Twitter.  It was a simpler world where satellite radio and the iPod were the big headlines.

Today, our challenge is how to incorporate all the new media and gadgets into a questionnaire that’s gotten longer while attention spans have grown shorter.  But the need for this research in radio has never been more important.

As someone who sits around the conference table at more than a dozen “perceptual studies” funded by radio over the course of a year, the question paths are almost always focused on the station’s product, nearby competitors, music, and DJs.  Rarely, if ever, is there time to go beyond radio, and into media, gadgets, and behavior.

Thus, Techsurvey 7.  If you’re reading this blog and you’re connected with a Rock-formatted station, contact us.  There’s still time to include your audience in our sample this year, and a chance for you to gain a better understanding of your opportunities, challenges, and threats.

Local radio now competes against the biggest and best companies in the world, with resources that dwarf those of most broadcasters.  But there are advantages to being on the ground, with market knowledge, a local presence, great distribution, and strong brands.

In order to compete in this environment, you need to ask the right questions.  Not “What’s the best testing song for our audience?” or “What prize would they like to win?”

Instead, we need to challenge ourselves to seek out new opportunities, deliver on our strengths, and help reinvent a business that sorely needs to refocus its efforts on meeting consumer needs, rather than those of Wall Street’s.

Game on.

To participate in Techsurvey 7, get details at Jacobs Media or email Lisa Riker.

Rules Of Engagement

Even though social media has been with us for a relatively short period of time, its confluence with the mobile movement has created a dual accelerant type of situation.  Social is huge, mobile is huge, and together they’re huger (if you'll permit to use a word that isn't really a word). 

And in the process, we’re still all learning how it works and what types of rules we ought to be following.

Problem is, no one knows.  There is no shortage of “experts” in the social media space, as Tim Davis saw once again at South By Southwest Interactive last week.  And my TweetDeck dashboard is loaded with a lot of them, many trying to out-clever the other. 

That's no knock on them because there's s a lot to be learned by philosophizing but even more to learn by doing.  Fact is, there are truly many smart, considerate people out there giving advice about social media best practices.  Many encourage companies and brands to experiment, be yourself, and be transparent.  Sadly, sometimes that behavior can get you in trouble.

Interestingly, in the week we announced the hiring of Lori Lewis, our new Director of Digital & Social Media Strategies, a couple of high-profile firings took place, thanks to some errant tweets on Twitter.

Even Howard Stern couldn’t save Gilbert Gottfried from getting the ziggy from the AFLAC folks after he tweeted Japanese jokes – after more than a decade of successfully giving that duck a voice.

And then Chrysler agency employee Scott Bartosiewicz lost his “dream job” in a nanosecond when he included an f-bomb in a tweet about traffic here in the Motor City. He thought he was sent out on his personal Twitter account, but of course it went out to all of Chrylser's followers.  

And both guys are probably wondering how their careers somehow got off-track due to merely hitting send, probably on their iPhones or Android devices – just because it felt right at that moment in time.

Truth be told, everyone’s struggling to define the rules of engagement.  What can you say, what should you say, are you representing the company, or are you really building your own personal brand?

Is Facebook for generating revenue or building and growing relationships?  How can Twitter provide a seat at the table for a brand new audience?

Do location-based sites like Foursquare hold promise for discount couponing, and where do concepts like Groupon fit in?  Can radio establish its own mobile/social discount initiatives?

And from a management point of view, what are the implications of personal pages for DJs, fan pages, and Twitter accounts with a jock’s name versus the station brand?  Who’s empowered to respond on the station’s behalf?  And what happens if a DJ and a station separate – who ends up with the fans and followers?

Those rules – far from in cement – are being written and rewritten every day in radio and in other businesses, too.  In fact at many companies, there are no rules and a Wild West scene is taking place, often causing havoc and angst.

If there’s some good news here it’s that radio is not alone.  In fact, Alterian’s eighth annual survey of marketers confirms that most companies are struggling mightily with social media and customer engagement.

Before we can have intelligent, strategic, and meaningful conversations with our listeners, we need to have a better sense of how these tools work, their strengths, weaknesses, and impact.

As a company, I believe we have made great strides over the past several years as we’ve worked hard to learn and understand this space. Our Tech Surveys have been designed to help radio better understand the world around us. And I’m hopeful that our new moves get us a bit closer to figuring it out. 

We’re excited about sharing the journey with you.

SXSW = UI/UX

If the name of today’s blog post looks a little strange to you, that’s a sign that what happened in Austin last week is something you should know about.  Our digital dude, Tim Davis, is back – a bit tired but inspired – from South By Southwest Interactive.  And here’s a summary of his time at this mega-conference, trying to fit in every great session.  A detailed version of this post will be available soon at www.jacobsmedia.com.

I'm fresh back behind the keyboard from a fast-paced weekend in Austin for the 25th anniversary of SXSW.  Having been to the first 10 of these as a college radio/Alternative programmer, it's novel to reappear 15 years later - and only attend the interactive portion and not the music part.  (Although it's a safe bet that iPhone cases outnumbered guitar cases for the first year ever.)

Nearly 35,000 of my closest friends registered for this year's event (up significantly from previous years) and an already overcrowded city was pushed over the edge at some points.  But the local restaurants and bars were clearly up to the task, and happy to welcome the record-setting crowd. 

Here are some of my takeaways and highlights:

Social Media is the common thread of everything.  Whether it's mobile, at home, or in car, the real-time web of social media is at the forefront of communication and marketing right now.  Even the most Luddite of companies is looking at social media and asking questions.

It's for this reason - and others - that we recently added Lori Lewis to our team as a Digital and Social Media Strategist for Jacobs Media and jacAPPS.  She's got first-hand, real-world experience with developing campaigns, tracking them, monetizing them and duplicating them in new markets.  Look for more from Lori in this space in the coming weeks.

If it's got an "i" in it, people are into it.  All things Apple from hardware to iOS drove the many conversations, debates, and topics in the majority of panels.  (It didn't hurt that the iPad 2 came out the day SXSW kicked off!)  Apple didn't even have a booth and I didn't see a single Apple employee (they had to be there, right?) during my three days.  But the ears in Cupertino would certainly have been burning 24/7 at SXSW Interactive.  They were dominant without being there.

UI/UX is Ubiquitous.  These previously tech-centric acronyms are being bandied about in research panels, in marketing conversations and among people who don't know RAM from ROM.  “User Interface” & “User Experience” are pivotal in how people are communicating and how companies are interfacing with them.  If you don't know those terms (UI/UX) and some of the founding principals, you may want to do some Googling of “User Experience” and think about it in terms of radio programming, marketing and sales.  It’s a topic that is often missing in radio conversations, but at SXSW Interactive it was everywhere.

Usability isn't just for the pros anymore.  Just as authors such as Stephen Krug have brought web usability to the masses, the topic of usability studies for apps (or just to see how consumers are using your product) came up repeatedly.  All the more impressive is the array of available tools that allow for remote usability studies.  No longer do you have to bring the participants to you - you can do eye tracking, heat maps and behavior studies from consumers’ homes or wherever is most appropriate to the study. Bottom line, however, is that research is moving towards a path of learning from behavior as much as statistics and metrics.

Research is morphing from the traditional to the dynamic. As noted above, there's a movement in the tech world to find more - and better - ways to track success.  I hit panels with topics from using the Net Promoter Score in Social Media to Right Brain/Left Brain (quantitative vs. qualitative research) challenges.

Check out this nice infographic sketch by Len Kendall that summarized one of the more vibrant and interesting panels I attended which was very research centric called "Stop Listening To Your Customers":

This session was presented by Mark Trammell, the lead design researcher for Twitter (he paid audience members who asked NON-Twitter questions with donuts!), and Nate Bolt from Bolt/Peters also an author and expert on User Experience.  The gist of their entertaining session is well captured in Kendall's image above, but the underlying theme of these sessions is that observation is fundamental.  Simple surveys still have a place, and they are ubiquitous - with services like Survey Monkey, SurveyGizmo, Checkbox and others.  But we're entering an age where quantitative alone won't get you to the finish line.

And...Apps!  Tying it all together - from research to user experience and social media, the darling of the tech world is mobile apps.  The world is divided into two camps: one that says apps are the end-all-be-all, and the other that considers them nothing but a fad with only another couple of years left.  No matter where you fall on that spectrum, you would have to have been in a cave to miss the dozens of panels on mobile apps- ranging from UI/UX, to iPad-specific design for Boomers, to content questions and data feed development protocols, etc.

A snapshot in time?  Keep in mind I chose my panels, and so my “take” is relative to what I do for a living and where my interests lie.  You could have just as easily found scores of sessions on education, "doing good in the world," and more technically focused panels for developers/programmers.  I tried my best to get a solid cross-section of the offering at SXSW Interactive.  Objectively, the Social Media track blew the doors off of everything else in terms of quality and quantity, with all-things Apps (if you include the 20 panels on how cool it is to own an iPad 2) being a close second.

There's a myriad of other topics that stood out, and some of the points above warrant more digestion and distillation.  In the meantime, it's safe to say if you’re in communication, entertainment, marketing, software/web development, social media, or anything technical or creative, SXSW is where you should have been, and hopefully will be next year.

I'll follow up next week with a blog report on Guy Kawasaki's session at SXSW Interactive, and an incredible graphic that summarizes the session beautifully.  Have a great weekend.

It’s A Mad World

Author, speaker, and thought-leader Tom Asacker always has stimulating things to say.  He’s spoken at a couple of our Summits and knows how to work a room.

In a recent blog – “Are You All Mad?” – Tom does it again, questioning why organizations are so slow to recognize change and make the necessary adjustments.

Brand managers and company leaders often stop asking questions once they’re established.  The same curiosity that helped launch the entity in the first place goes missing when brands mature.

Here’s how Tom ended his blog, and how we’ll start ours:

“But instead of developing models to explore the mysteries, most established brands are moving into the madness phase as they place more and more emphasis and pressure on their worn-out methods.

Successful brands will continue to come and go.  But the great ones will discover answers to the new marketplace mysteries of our time.  Will you?”

Part of the challenge is that companies and brands could go a long time in past years without having to rethink a whole lot about their operations.  That was most certainly the case for radio.  Aside from the advent of MTV or the development of the CD and more sophisticated music scheduling systems, most stations simply were repetitive motion machines – often for decades.

And it worked.

But today, the pressure to explore those new mysteries are at the forefront of where companies need to go.  The problem is that they have ongoing, day-to-day operating pressures, while being cast with the assignment of reinvention and discovery.

No one said it would be easy.

But for every mystery and challenge, there’s opportunity.  If you choose to view it that way.  Let’s explore:

Creating Facebook fan pages and re-teaching and re-training a staff can be daunting and difficult.

But the upside is that your fans have their own followings, providing stations with the ability to tap into their own audience’s communities.  This cume growth was never possible in the analog world.

Diving into the world of Twitter can be a confusing morass of different opinions, celebrity worship, non-sequitors, and drivel.

But Twitter also provides access to a real-time feedback loop that can connect stations, shows, and personalities with fans – a la “The Backchannel” here in Detroit.  Audience access and instantaneous feedback offer new content and material, as well as new listeners.

Mobile is an expensive proposition with new platforms, new devices, and a sea of apps that can make it confusing to know where to start and how to proceed.

Yet, mobile is the most important breakthrough via the smartphone that perhaps we’ve ever witnessed.  Local radio brands can co-exist right next to Facebook, Google, Pandora, and yes, even iFart – if their apps are worthy.  And mobile makes radio portable again, allowing station brands to offer a new experience to mature audiences.

You get the idea.  Tom Asacker is right that brands often are victims of their own arrogance, and often fail to grasp the opportunity that exists as you move from mystery to method.

It starts with asking those questions and moving to strategies that can help address them.

Is it easier to start fresh with a new brand – like Pandora or Groupon?

Or is it better to start with an established, solid, long-term existing brand like many radio stations have – and build on that reputation, history, track record, nostalgia, audience, and reach to seek out new worlds and new opportunities?

I’ll take the latter any day.

Thanks to Dave Martin for tweeting about Tom’s blog.

Boom Boom (Up Go The Demos)

With apologies to Pat Travers, there may be something very interesting happening to the TV ad sales paradigm that could have a positive impact on radio.

The demographic targets may finally be reacting to the Baby Boom generation.  If that sounds totally counter-intuitive, the fact is that agencies essentially stopped thinking once they cemented the 25-54 target in place more than two decades ago.

The Boomer train continues to move, and those over 55 are abundant and a whole lot different than fiftysomethings of just a generation or two ago.

As David Poltrack, head research maven for CBS, points out in a recent Hollywood Reporter article, “The fact is an affluent 58-year-old is certainly more valuable than a 22-year-old who is just getting by.”

As TV demos age – the primetime average is now 51 – there’s a certain logic to advertising targets aging with them.  As the Hollywood Reporter notes, Tom Selleck and Kathy Bates are winning in prime, while Classic Rocker Steven Tyler is reinventing American Idol.

It’s enough to make you want to watch reruns of Murder, She Wrote.  But the fact is that radio’s demographic arc is similar – and the opportunities are just as abundant.  Rather than running away from the trends, radio companies and clusters ought to be making the case for why their employed, affluent, and enlightened aging Boomers are just what advertisers need to generate sales and store traffic.

Sometimes numbers don’t lie.  You can take this to the bank.

O Canada

I’m back from Canadian Music Week for another convention in cold, rainy Toronto.  I have been to many of these conventions in the Great White North, and I’m always impressed by the enthusiasm and the great attendance they generate.

This year, I was proud to present “Goin’ Mobile” to an overfilled meeting room (yes, it was hot and sweaty).  And I was able to attend a number of sessions along the way, too.  One was “Radio Stimulus Package.”  For the second year in a row, CMW brought together industry luminaries to discuss and debate what radio should do to revitalize itself.

I was on the same panel in 2010, a knock-off of our “President of Radio” panel back in 2008 in Austin.

The format is simple - this august group of well-meaning, grizzled, industry vets (mostly older white guys) do their best to fill six minutes with meaningful advice about what radio ought to do to solve its myriad problems.

And while this year’s group did their level best, I’m beginning to think that the way to reinvent this session - and maybe the broadcasting industry, too - is to flip the funnel and let some of radio’s less famous folks do the heavy lifting.  After all, you’ve heard from all of us – in our blogs, at conventions like CMW, and in the trades.

But just like the rest of our world, everyday folks – in this case, radio station employees – might have more answers than we think.

If you remember when we did our session, the 10th “President” was no one really famous.  We opened up that last slot to anybody in the industry with good ideas.  And our choice – Julian Nieh – was the unheralded night guy at B96 in Chicago. (He has since graduated to mornings, by the way.) And Julian did a great job, earning the respect of the more than 200 attendees at our Jacobs Summit.

But what if there was an entire panel of “nobodies” whose only qualifications were dedication to radio and time spent at various stations? My gut is that they’d have some good ideas that have formed on the front lines – in production and air studios, at remotes, and in kitchenettes.  Maybe even in sales cubicles.

Well, the fact is, you don’t have to wait for the next Summit or CMW to test drive this.  You could host a brainstorm/meet-up at your station or in your cluster any time you like.  For the cost of some pizza and a little time, you could find out what's percolating in the minds of the staffers in your cluster.

In speaking with colleagues in the business, I am getting a feeling that more and more off-sites with this theme are quietly taking place, where everyday rank-and-file workers at stations are being included.

The top-down nature of consolidation has all but cut out the little guy (or gal) from the process.  As corporations and CEOs dominate the trades, there’s not much room for the production guy, the traffic director, the part-time jock, or the sales assistant to have much standing or a voice.

But in fact, they are the backbone of these stations, and in many cases, they quietly see radio’s reach – the true impact it has on people and communities. 

Here’s my bet with you.  Host a station or cluster “town meeting.”  Make it inclusive.  Invite the staff, or hold smaller versions with more manageable numbers of employees.

Air it out, talk about it, watch, listen, and observe.

If you don’t come up with some great ideas, I’ll get off this “Poke the Box” bandwagon. I promise.

But I’m confident that good will come of this, the staff will feel a greater sense of belonging, inclusion and worth, and you’ll come up with initiatives that can help your operation grow.

Now that would truly be stimulating.

Charlie Sheen & Relationships

A couple of weeks ago when it was becoming obvious where this was heading, I promised myself I would not blog about Charlie Sheen.

And here I am breaking my promise.  But trust me – it’s for a good cause.  Because the ways in which Sheen approaches relationships is a parable to a lot of what’s going on right now in the world of Facebook, Twitter, and social media in general.  Maybe that’s why he’s seemingly so popular.

Charlie Sheen has had dalliances with lots of women (paid and unpaid, if you believe everything you read).  But if you think back to your own history with relationships, you know the real score.  It’s not about the number of conquests you’ve had; it is in fact about the quality of the relationships you've built.

That uber popular guy in high school who made his way through the cheerleading squad or somehow managed to sleep with every hot girl certainly was much talked about.  But as the years went by, the ramification and meaning of those actions fell into place.  As you got older, you gained perspective about what mattered in life.

And today, you know that a quality connection with someone who loves and cares about you – real relationships with other people – your spouse, your friends, your kids, your family, your workmates – are all more meaningful than the fly by night hit-and-run scores that may have looked so good in the past.

So why then do we celebrate Charlie Sheen amassing a million Twitter followers in a matter of days - and now over 2.5 million?  And why do we find it impressive when any social media star hits the next threshold of friends, fans, and followers?

If you haven’t experienced Klout yet, it’s a sign of the times.  It’s like high school all over again, but this time, it’s measuring social media instead of sexual prowess – one’s ability to gather the 3Fs, along with retweets and all the other supposed measures of social media success.

Klout literally provides you with a score of your social media skill (you can check it every day).  And you can look up anyone you like.

Apparently, there are some hotels and restaurants that are now tracking these scores when high-powered guests show up.  After all, you can offend those who have wimpy Klout scores, but look out if you provide poor service to the Twitter star with 100,000 followers.  There could be Internet hell to pay.

We shouldn’t be surprised that analytics and metrics are being applied to relationships.  It was just a matter of time.  But with all this so-called social media, something truly seems to have gotten lost in translation.

Maybe the Beatles had it right:  “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.”

Or in this case, size doesn’t matter.

Or better put, relationships do matter.  Not the bulk number of them, but the ones that are real and meaningful.

After all, who’s counting?

Why NPR Matters To Radio

Paul Jacobs chimes in with a timely post about NPR’s travails and what they mean to all of radio.

When Howard Stern announced his departure to Sirius, Fred noted in a blog that his move was akin to Michael Jordan leaving the NBA, and he was right.  It didn't matter whether you liked Stern's brand of humor - the bottom line was that radio was losing one of its biggest stars and as a result, there was one less reason for millions of listeners to turn on the device that Marconi gave us.  And Howard hasn't been replaced - nor have many of his listeners who followed him to satellite radio.

I had the same thought yesterday morning as I was reading two radio trades.  Radio Ink's Eric Rhoads premised that NPR's potential demise is a huge opportunity for radio.  His thoughts were summarized with this quote:

“But the NPR uproar is a huge opportunity for radio, a giant insurance policy for struggling Talk and music stations at a time when non-political spoken word is set to prevail.”

Apparently there's a belief out there that should NPR crumble, commercial broadcasters are ready to swoop in to fill the void left by a broadcaster that attracts over 35 million listeners weekly.  You could see the logic.  But it's faulty.

Because I then opened up Radio-Info and saw this headline:

Clear Channel is Cutting Production/Creative Staff

Sadly, this has become a fairly common event in commercial radio over the past few years, as operating efficiency has been the watchword; in this case, consolidating production directors to save money.

Ah money.  

When we first started consulting and conducting research in public radio over a decade ago, one of the first things we noticed was the quality of cars that public radio general managers drove (usually a 1990 Honda Accord).  It was definitely a different culture than we were used to.

We got to know public radio stations and the audiences who love them, and then later went on to work for NPR.  After countless focus groups and other market research endeavors, we came to realize that public radio's success was no accident.  It was the result of doggedly hard work and dedication by radio professionals committed to craft, a sense of fairness, and a never-ending quest for learning and discovery.  And among the hundreds of people we got to know in public radio, I've yet to meet one who's in it for the money.  They don't exist.

During the decade we worked for NPR (sadly, we don't anymore, victims of budget cuts two years ago), we came to appreciate and understand the investment – not just in dollars – that is required to produce quality content.   Yes, to do radio on that level, you have to invest in research, people, and analysis.

We once worked for a commercial broadcaster with a Triple A morning show problem.  Our research showed that the audience desired a better news product.  The company’s group guy suggested we simply steal one of the public radio station’s news people – one of the hosts who did the local news “cut-ins” for NPR’s Morning Edition.

Maybe you can steal a morning show, but you cannot simply go out and buy a credible news image – for $35K.  Public radio’s success is no accident.  And rather than look at public radio's impact as siphoning audience away from the local commercial Talk station or All News operation (if there even is one in your town), why wouldn’t Eric see public radio as “additive” to terrestrial radio?

Because it is.  When listeners switch between 91.7 and 99.5 and then go to 950, they’re exercising their choice on the AM/FM radio spectrum.  When it reaches the point when the Howard Sterns on one hand and the NPRs on the other leave the building, the fans aren’t going to continue to patronize the medium like they traditionally did.

One of Eric’s go-to-guys at his wonderful Convergence conferences, Guy Kawasaki (pictured), summed it up rather well in a recent interview with Mark Ramsey.  While Guy enjoys listening to Greg Kihn on Entercom’s KFOX, he is a big fan of public radio, too.  Despite the fact that Guy is someone with a total grasp of all the media options available to him, broadcast radio is a prime source of entertainment and information for him:

“I think NPR pretty much understands enchantment.  I love shows like Fresh Air, TechNation, Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me.  I think Moira Gunn and Terry Gross and Peter Sagal all understand enchantment.  They are what they are.  They’re very competent, they’re very knowledgeable, they let it rip on the air; and so I love them.”

Public radio and commercial radio are RADIO.  While “share” is a zero sum game, “share of mind” and perceived value are different propositions altogether.

We’re not suggesting that when public radio suffers, all of radio feels the pain.  But the fact is, commercial radio cannot and will not fill any gap that is left by collateral damage done to public radio and NPR.  The efficiencies and ROI aren’t there.  Ask the venture capital guys and the bankers.  Public radio's problems aren't going to help anybody’s EBITDA.  It takes people to do great radio. If public radio were to suddently “go away” tomorrow, their audience wouldn’t gravitate to Rush Radio.  They’d subscribe to Sirius and be gone.

There’s room on the radio dial for Sean Hannity, traffic and weather at the 8’s, and All Things Considered.  In fact, that’s part of the eroding charm of terrestrial radio.  As we have ratcheted our focus to a more 25-54 centric target, axing formats like Smooth Jazz and Classical (yes, there are still plenty of these public radio formats left) because “we can’t make any money on them,” the AM/FM choices become narrower and narrower.

NPR’s angst is not “good for radio.”  If they go, their core listeners will go, too.

Eric, you are one of radio’s biggest fans, and we have a great deal of respect for you and Radio Ink.  But we think you got this one wrong.

The Cover Of The Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is running a promotion that is very similar to what consumers have heard on radio stations for years.  And in the process, they remind us of the value of unsigned bands, and by definition, local music.  But their "Rock & Roll Star" contest goes well beyond the norm.

Working with Atlantic Records, AOLMusic.com, and Bonnaroo, they are staging a contest to find the best “undiscovered acts,” utilizing online voting as the audience engagement tool.  Like a “Rock Girl” or “Battle of the Bands” promotion, they’re starting with 16 bands, and through elimination rounds, a winner will be chosen.  The lucky artists will play live on Jimmy Fallon’s show and, of course, be graced on the cover of Rolling Stone.

Garnier Fructis (the hair care brand) is the title sponsor, and one of the positioning concepts here is to connect their products to men.  (If you’ve ever attended a festival like Bonnaroo, you know the value of free shampoo.)

But this Rolling Stone promotion goes beyond the value of uncovering and showcasing local music.  It is evidence that listener-driven contests and promotions can be done on a large scale, and can energize an audience.

They aren't the only ones.  Playboy is in the middle of naming Miss Social from a field of 60.  They all look pretty much like what you'd expect but apparently have "social skills."  And yes, there's even a Facebook app for that. 

I know what many of you may be thinking as you read this post: WE do this same type of promotion, so what’s the big deal?

Well, the “big deal” is that Rolling Stone is making it a big deal.  They have media partners (AOL Music), a music partner (Atlantic Records), a festival/events partner (Bonnaroo), a TV partner (Jimmy Fallon), and a major sponsor (Garnier Fructis).  

This synergy creates multi-dimensional support for the promotion, while also opening up the doors for millions of people to be exposed to the diminishng Rolling Stone brand.  As their readership and subscription numbers erode, Rolling Stone has strategized that the way back is to partner with other (healthier) brands, while enjoying the exposure and the integration with their audience communities.

Now you may also be saying that Rolling Stone is a global brand, so it’s not at all surprising they’ve been able to attract great partnerships for this promotion.  But locally, your radio station has brand equity, and potential partnerships, too – if you go after them.

Sadly, too often, radio stations go it alone.  The sales people run around for a couple of months, trying to sell sponsorships (too often “value added”), but the station rarely benefits from a consumer growth standpoint because these clients usually don’t even co-promote the event via their database and/or social media tools.

And too often, these events don’t have a media partner – a local TV station, a local team, the local free events paper, the cable company, etc.  Nor do they utilize local celebrities and their communities and networks.

Thinking BIG isn’t just about coming up with a cool promotion.  It’s going those extra miles to foster audience involvement, create partnerships, utilize local media outlets, and go beyond the confines of the cume to make these signature events iconic and much more successful.  For too long, radio stations have been beaten down by corporate indifference, budgtary limitations, and a sense that it just doesn't matter.  As a result, too many promotions come off as smaller and less successful than they should be.

Rolling Stone is showing us that if you want to be big, you have to act big.

Or "Go big or go home."

You Don’t Know Apps

In the U.S. where mobile apps rule, if you aren’t carrying an iPhone or Android product, you may be missing out on something very important.

Don’t take my word as someone who runs an application development company.  Go to one of the world’s leading authorities on digital and new media business models, Kleiner Perkins’ Mary Meeker.

Mary’s on-point analyses of all things digital have become famous in the past few years, from her days at Morgan Stanley to a presentation she gave recently under KPCB banner.

It is 56 slides of persuasive, hard data that is impossible to ignore.  Many of her charts are so powerful that I cannot discuss them all in a single post.  But one that stood out relates directly to smartphone owner engagement based solely on the platform.

BlackBerry owners just don’t get it because the app platform on their devices is simply not ready for prime time.  And they won’t until Research In Motion does a 180 and commits itself to mobile apps.  In studies among radio listeners, we continue to see their share slip, while the Android platform is hot.  Apple’s recent move to finally release a Verizon iPhone has already helped reinvigorate their iconic device.

But in the meantime, BlackBerry continues to be a popular phone in business circles, leaving its owners in the parking lot while an exciting game is happening in the app arena.

It is important to realize that the mobile space is dynamic, rapidly changing, and not smooth and even.  Your experience may vary depending on what type of device you’re carrying in your pocket, backpack, or purse.

And what of your station, your brands, your events, your advertisers, your personalities, your information, your proprietary content, and your ability to utilize mobile in your community?

What role can mobile play in connecting with consumers in a unique, compelling way?  In carving out new sources of revenue?  In having presence with listeners eager to consume mobile content in different ways?

I’ll give you one more slide from Mary’s presentation because it goes to the heart of a concept that radio people understand very well – TSL.  Or in this case, time spent using a smartphone - TSS

Consumers do a lot of things on their smartphones, but traditional phone use only makes up about one-third of that time.  Email consumes about 10%, while apps run a bit higher (and probably higher for Android and iPhone folks).

But then there’s what’s labeled as “New Activity.”  These are things that consumers never were able to do before on their phones.  This is fertile ground in the universe of time spent being entertained that radio always wants to earn.

It makes up nearly half of daily smartphone time, and as the graphic shows, it is comprised of lots of different activities – from games to maps to social media.  It signifies opportunity for any media outlet – if it has the information and resources in order to compete for that time.

Too many broadcasters know the songs that test best with their listeners.  Or the prizes they wish to win.  Or how familiar their morning guy is.

But they don’t know which brands of smartphones listeners use, nor do they do know the level of engagement their audience desires.  Without this data, how can radio companies hope to craft viable strategies that can connect with both listeners and advertisers?

That’s why our 7th annual Tech Survey is in the process of being designed and rolled out.  While most stations are busy testing their music for the PPM and diary wars, there are bigger fish to fry around the corner.  And radio’s real competitors have the answers, are doing their homework, and planning carefully for one of the great “mind grabs” in history – how to earn more of the consumer’s time spent on smartphones.

It may not be too long before a question asked in industry trades, at conventions like CES, and in strategy sessions just might be:

“And what’s your TSS – and what are you doing to move it higher?”

P.S. If you run, program, manage or own a Rock/Alternative/Active/Triple A station, and you'd like to sign-up for our Techsurvey 7, read all about it here.  You may also contact Lisa Riker to sign-up.

Poke The Box

As many readers of this blog know, I am a big fan of Seth Godin’s writings.  Seth doesn’t give you a road map.  He doesn’t tell you what to do in 10 steps.  He “talks” to you on the pages of his books, now using Kindle and his own publishing company to share his musings and philosophies.

His newest effort, Poke The Box, is all about taking a risk, not being afraid to fail, and doing it.  It focuses on initiative (not too many steps away from CEA’s Gary Shapiro’s appeal for innovation) as the secret sauce that can remake our country.

Or our industry.  Because there are so many forces pushing against taking the big step to think of it, do it, ship it.

While Arbitron didn’t design it this way, PPM has become an excuse not to initiate, not to innovate, to sound safe and the same every day in order to keep those meters humming.  But as Seth points out in Poke…

“The problem: you can’t get blander than bland.  You can’t grow by becoming even more predictable and ordinary.  You might have a dependable and predictable and cheap product, but if the market wants something better, you’ll be stuck playing catch up.”

That should resonate with Bob Pittman’s comments after Clear Channel purchased Thumbplay last week:

“We need to get ahead of the curve, not behind it.”

There’s a need to be remarkable, to make a difference, to overcome our fear of failure and to try new things.  No one’s keeping score, a lesson that innovators from Oprah Winfrey to Mark Cuban to Steve Jobs know very well.  We focus on their successes, despite the fact that each has had significant failures along the way.

Daniel Radcliffe, star of the incredibly successful Harry Potter movie series is about to experience the end of this era – 10 years of highly lucrative films that have earned him millions of dollars.  He doesn’t need to work, but has already starred on Broadway (Equus), and is about to try again as the star of How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.

Between all those child stars who flamed out as adults (why does McCauley Culkin come to mind?), and actors who became so totally associated with a role (think “Kramer,” “Archie Bunker,” etc.), Radcliffe is doing anything and everything to avoid that outcome.  Part of the solution is to take on new projects and intiatives, even when critics and observors expect the worst.  

Radcliffe told the New York Times last Sunday about some of his anxiety about taking on a big-league Broadway challenge in a post-Harry Potter career:

“Fear of failure.  Fear of mediocrity.  Fear of not meeting the goals that I have set myself.  Fear of failing in my mission.”

If that sounds familiar, it should.  Because those are the same demons we all face as we go down that career path where we weigh our fears and trepidations versus what Lee Abrams intones – AFDI.

We put this philosophy to the test every day at Jacobs Media and jacAPPS.  We have gotten it right, we have gotten it wrong, but we have never stopped trying new things, stepping out, and initiating.  Our new “Marketing To Men” study is the first of its kind for radio, and it’s coming out at a time when we have just finished “PRTS3” (our third annual public radio tech survey with PRPD), and are about to field Tech Survey 7.  And we have other exciting announcements coming as well.

I hope that you’re interested enough in Seth’s new mission to check out his book, either on Kindle (where you can then “loan” it to a friend) or by purchasing a hard copy.

At the end of Poke, Seth offers a quote from Siddhartha Guatama, the founder of Buddhism:

“There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth.  Not going all the way, and not starting.”

Poke the Box has come around at the right time.

Here’s Seth’s video talking about Poke and the connected Domino Project.

>EMAIL RECIPIENTS: CLICK HERE TO VIEW SETH GODIN VIDEO< 

A Day In The Life

We have talked a great deal about the challenges that many radio stations are facing as they attempt to develop a viable social media strategy, especially given staffing limitations.  Oftentimes, the task of developing a strategy deteriorates into a bunch of tactics (“I’ll be giving away Ozzy tickets today at 4:20”), tweeted and posted by several people at the station.

The result is a checkerboard execution that often fails to deliver meaningful results.  It’s like a station having four different PDs.  You know the end result will be a mess.

Yet, on the social side, that’s oftentimes the way it works out.  The future of managing social media brands and sites may be to designate one go-to person, working in concert with programming, sales, and marketing.  A social media brand manager is where we’re all heading, but what would that person do all day?

Thanks to Socialcast, we have a glimpse into the “typical day” of the social media manager:

That’s one busy day.  And it speaks to the challenge that traditional media outlets will have moving forward without investment in this area from both a personnel and a strategic standpoint.

In the upcoming Tech Survey 7 study that we will field later this month, there will be no shortage of social media-related questions, designed to help stations better get their arms around changing audience needs and expectations.

But no matter the result, the trend will be to invest in personnel – at the very least on the cluster level – to address both the challenge and the opportunity of this communication pathway with consumers.  As more than half of the online world now interacts on Facebook, that’s a cume audience that deserves respect and attention.

 

Thanks to Tom Webster for RTing this chart.

They Shoot, They Score

This morning’s post comes from consultant Bill Jacobs who loves hockey and Facebook.

When you think of rabid fan bases, you think of sports teams, and yet many of them are only doing the basics of social media – which is not unlike what many radio stations are doing.

Not long ago, pioneers like Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Washington Capitals & Wizards owner Ted Leonsis were at the forefront of social media for the simple act of answering emails from fans.  While stations have mastered that art form as well, many have light years to go before truly hitting that level of full integration and communication in order to make social platforms a destination.

The New Jersey Devils of the NHL have taken a major step toward integrating social media and fans.  I don’t know about you, but when I think of the Devils, I think of Puddy from the old Seinfeld show.

Maybe he could have been one of the “Generals” that was recently announced by the Devils as part of their new “Mission Control” initiative.  It’s the first of its kind in team sports history.

What’s different about it?  They’ve actually dedicated space to fully monitoring every aspect of their social media initiatives from blogs to Twitter to Facebook.  But what makes it truly unique is that much of the staff is made up of real fans, dubbed Devils Army Generals.

Watch the video here:

 

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The Devils have identified and hired 25 diehard social media savvy fans to man “Mission Control.”  These Generals monitor and engage fans through social media using nine monitors, 10 iPads and two HDTVs to ensure that the organization keeps it pulse firmly on the conversation at all times.

In essence, the Devils have crowdsourced its social media efforts in a clever way at a time when most other businesses have yet to hire even a single person dedicated entirely to social media.  Certainly, that’s the case at the vast majority of radio stations.

It starts with a plan and a will to execute it.  Social media author Greg Verdino told us last summer, “Everyone in the audience has an audience.”  Connecting some of your best customers and most savvy social mediologists to their networks is just a starting point for communicating with fans. Allowing fans to connect with the team when and where they want is at the heart of this strategy.

The Devils have the right idea.

Ahead of the Curve

Clear Channel’s purchase of Thumbplay sends out a variety of messages to the radio industry.  The cloud-based music subscription company may have cost Clear Channel somewhere in the range of $40 million dollars, and the apparent play is to integrate it with iheartradio and the company’s other assets.

So what’s the big deal?  First, a deal of this magnitude speaks volumes about the price of admission for radio into the digital music/subscription space.  Second, the deal is recognition that streaming music services are indeed a big deal.  And third, an aggressive move like this sends a message to the radio industry that someone in a big position is finally taking Pandora seriously.  

Bob Pittman’s (Clear Channel’s chairman of media & entertainment) comments as reported in RAIN are worth a closer look:

• “We need to get ahead of the curve and not behind it.” That statement may be the first of its kind by a radio executive, most of whom have had to play catch-up with digital.  The purchase of Thumbplay and Pittman’s goal to lead rather than to follow is a significant statement.
• “This is step one.”  You can interpret that one for yourself, but the statement is bold and holds a great deal of promise about Clear Channel’s intention to be an even bigger player in the digital area.
• “The acquisition of Thumbplay’s music business…(will) ensure that our listeners have the radio and music experience they want, on whatever device or platform they prefer.” Pittman sounds like a media exec, not a radio broadcaster.  As we reported from CES in January, players as diverse as Jeff Bewkes (Time Warner) to Ivan Seidenberg (Verizon) were speaking from that same hymnal.  In fact, Bewkes stated, “Watch what you want.  Anywhere. Anytime.”  Pittman’s on the bus.

Clear Channel is finally redefining what it means to be “big.”  In the past, it was big based on sheer bulk – numbers of stations owned in many markets. 

Today, “big” is being recast as leadership, vision, and bold moves.

This is a big deal.

Nonessential Workers

The possibility of a federal government shutdown due to an impasse between Congress and the President is upon us once again – shades of the early ‘90s.  And as the media attempt to explain what all this means, we are once again hearing that essential services will continue (the post office, Social Security checks, etc.), while “nonessential workers” will not be at their jobs.

Nonessential workers.

I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to be working for a company where I was labeled with that designation.  What does that tell you about your value to the organization?  And if a lack of funds means that you’re at home watching Jersey Shore until a budget is passed, that can’t feel very good.

But it led me to think about how employees in the real world often have a choice about whether they allow the company to classify them as “nonessential.”  Because everyone has the potential to offer something very special, from the receptionist to the part-time weekend guy to the sales assistant.

In today’s tighter and leaner radio station, you may argue that there are no “nonessential workers.”  But I would respond that cuts are still occurring, signaling the ongoing need for everyone in the operation to make a unique contribution, going above and beyond their job descriptions.

Seth Godin’s Linchpin typifies the spirit that is so necessary in today’s environment.  The concept of becoming indispensable to an organization is within the power of all employees, if they are willing to commit themselves to finding unique ways to serve and contribute.

When companies get out the machete (or scalpel), they don’t typically go for a category – they go line by line, employee by employee.

We are all judged.  And our ability to make a meaningful contribution to our organizations is at the root of becoming “essential.”

I sometimes hear from people at stations who say they don’t understand the mission or that they aren’t sure what their bosses expect from them.

On the other hand, I also run across motivated employees who see voids and set out to fill them.  In one cluster, I met someone who did a little homework and took it upon himself to become the PPM expert.  He has become the go-to guy for all things Arbitron-related.  Talk about essential.

At another, I met a woman who has singlehandedly become the social media maven.  Her cluster now generates substantial revenue, almost all of it due to her willingness to learn a new area and become a different kind of asset to the operation.

As staffs thin out and companies try to do more with less, there are even more opportunities to offer something unique.

If there was a budget crisis in your company and only “essential” employees were being retained, where would you be classified?

It’s time to become “essential.”

Meet The Internet – It’s Called Facebook

eMarketer reports that a majority of U.S. internet users go to Facebook at least monthly.  And they estimate that by the end of 2011, nine of ten social media users will be touched by the Facebook phenomenon.

Of course, Facebook is slowing down, but at these monster levels, there’s no way it could continue its meteoric growth.

Twitter, in the meantime, only reaches one in ten of U.S. adults who are online.  And while eMarketer predicts that Twitter will have a 26% surge in 2011, these estimates have actually been downsized, signally slower tweeting action than originally thought.

So what does this mean to media brands that are trying to reach their audiences via online connections?  Here are a half-dozen thoughts to get those interactive juices flowing:

First, more and more people are going to Facebook first, bypassing the usual channels (like email or perhaps voicemail).  In this kind of world, how does that change how media connects with audiences?  What gets their attention, an email blast or a Facebook post?

Second, the need for strong, compelling, engaging content on Facebook has never been more important.  Who is responsible for your fan page, and how can you move some of your best stuff to that destination?

Third, Facebook people interact – they don’t just passively watch or listen.  What are the ways you can better engage this audience?  Spend some time looking at Stephen Clark’s video on our website for inspiration.

Fourth, get your priorities straight.  How does your audience want to connect with you?  How many many are on Twitter…versus Facebook?   These answers are easy to find.  (See my shameless plug for Tech Survey 7 at the end of this post.)

Fifth, all this Facebook action represents opportunity.  As Greg Verdino reminded us at a client conference last year, “Everyone in the audience has an audience.”  At a time when promotional dollars are at a premium, tapping into Facebook communities provides an incredible opportunity to attract and engage.

And sixth, what are the common threads between Facebook heavy users, PPM meter types, and what your radio station has to offer?  The answers are out there if you think through the data and research that are already at your fingertips. 

Tech Survey 7 is coming later this month.  And we will be asking many of these same questions, while helping our survey stations put together the builidng blocks for a social media strategy.

Face it - there’s never been a better time to learn more about your changing audience.