By Daniel Anstandig
Social Media means Qualified Prospects. There are over five billion tweets sent per day, and the people who tweet have been shown in a number of studies to spend more money on the Internet than those who don’t tweet. Media companies and personalities who understand Twitter will see this as a necessity for engaging the right audience for their advertisers.
Restructuring. The business of radio will face restructuring on a macro-and-micro-level. Companies will face reorganization—but more importantly, every position in the business requires reformation. In our new reality, the roles of General Manager, Program Director, Sales Manager, Promotions Director, On-Air Personalities, even engineering staff are changing. Job descriptions need to be updated as we renovate our approach. Earlier this year, I had an opportunity to collaborate with Valerie Geller on rewriting the job descriptions of each position in a radio station. Read more here: http://www.mcvaynewmedia.com/feature/features-archive/your-reinvention-plan/
Virtualism. Now, you can go to virtual university, virtual meetings (Webex / GoToMeeting), and you can even hire virtual employees through services like Guru.com. In radio, we will continue to see innovation surrounding virtual training, virtual personalities, and likely… virtual sales.
Crowdcasting. Across many industries and organizations, crowdsourcing has become a breakthrough practice in pooling the intelligence of the crowd. This year, our company Listener Driven Radio, has introduced a new platform to radio, empowering radio stations to open their programming in real time to their audience. There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come, and we anticipate that there will be many more developments in the field of “Crowdcasting” in 2010.
Sign-In Resistance. There is a rising level of resistance among users who are expected to sign up for your database or log in to your website. They can’t remember one more User ID or password. Smart solutions like OpenID, Google FriendConnect, and Facebook Connect will help media companies to keep “opt-in” levels high, without sacrificing the collection of user data. It’s a trend that radio can’t afford to miss, as the value of your database far outweighs the cost of compatibility with the so-called “New Open Stack.”
Personal communication moves to Text and Facebook. “Text Me” and “Facebook Me” is the new”E-mail Me.” Facebook and SMS Text will be the primary ways for people to connect personally for three reasons: 1) There’s so much business e-mail that personal communication is easily missed or out of place on everyday e-mail. It’s also much easier to track your contacts. 2) Your employer doesn’t monitor your communication on Facebook and SMS (yet). 3) There’s little spam on text and Facebook (yet).
Radio Goes Mobile. The most portable medium is still finding its way onto mobile platforms, but 2010 will be a breakthrough year. Mobile is the new walkman, and particularly with iPhones and Blackberry, there is a growing demand for audio via cell. Pandora—recently heralded the #1 Internet-Radio streaming service in the USA—is the most successful digital music company to move into the mobile space, claiming that 24% of their 38 million users signed up via mobile devices.
Rethinking Measurement. While this is a trend affecting every industry, radio is particularly affected. There is a global movement towards accountability and transparency. It’s not just a business trend—it’s a consumer trend. Arbitron, Neilsen, and Ando Media have all earned headlines this year for their maneuvers in measurement.
Dayparts Go Digital. Radio has developed strategies to reach and engage with people differently depending on the time of day. Our morning drive approach is different from afternoons. As BIA’s Rick Ducey points out, digital media has yet to embrace this time-tested practice. Watch for it this year as digital content evolves—serving specific content based on the time of day. Websites will learn your habits based on the time of day and serve you content based on your past behavior.
Minimalism. Simplicity will win when it comes to web design, user interfaces, and business concepts. Simple wins.
Daniel Anstandig is President of McVay New Media Consultants (www.mcvaynewmedia.com), advising broadcasters on growth strategies in digital media, and Listener Driven Radio, a new program that turns “broadcasters into crowdcasters.” (www.listenerdrivenradio.com)