~First Thing we have to look at is who we are targeting and what they are looking for!
- A nalysis - Most listeners and potential listeners are college kids since the station is so close to Michigan State's campus. These students will be our big goal as we push the station forward
- U nderstanding - When most college kids think of talk radio they think of Rush Limbaugh. Through interviews a majority of people believe this, from their experiences and the experiences of their parents or grandparents. We have to break this train of thought!
- D emographics - Their age, sex, and educational background are all different but because we have been informed that it is a Michigan State University radio station, our target audience will be college students.
- I nterest - Of course these listeners will be tuning in for laughs, but we can also give them something they can look forward to each week to let them know about a theme or a topic that you will be covering. That way they can get excited about each program and look forward to it!
- E nvironment - Set the scene. Let your listeners know you want them to call in, get on the blog, and post their thoughts. They need know their thoughts and comments are always welcome whether it be on air, facebook, or the blog.
- N eeds - Your main need it to get your radio show more publicity. When somone mentions Happy Hour anywhere they should know what people are talking about. We need the public to have Happy Hour as a household term they talk about.
- C ustomized - Our audience, we all ready know, wants humor with information. 85% of college students use Facebook. The rest of the students do have online presence somewhere, just not facebook. In the interviews they all said that they use the computer for entertainment or to seek entertaining things week to week. Facebook is exactly where we will find them. Even those who don't have a Facebook definitely know somebody who has one. People can find out through friends that way.
- E xpectations - Your audience would want to come off a little bit more interesting to their friends having stories or information they got from your show. (This is also Free Advertising)
- To get consistent comments on the blog
- Participants on the radio
- Get more advertising on the blog
- To make Happy Hour a well known term
- Being able to have more options in the long run
- Have the audience tell their friends about the show
Engagement Strategies:
- Entertainment - the strategy to amuse the audience to get them to play with their emotions, laugh, and have a good time!
- Educate - the strategy to teach your audience something so they walk away with something that benefits them.
Engagement Style:
*These are the styles that you use and/or should use!
- The Game Show Host - competition on the show to help your blog and the show. For example, who can find the best picture or question of the week would get people involved. (People love free stuff!!!) Make it so they can go to the blog and send in their best video or idea to win. Make games that people can either call in for or would need to go online to participate.
- The Community Builder - Make it a friendly place. When people call in they do it not only because they want to but they feel like they are a part of the show! Make it known while the show goes on that you not only want them to call but insist them to call the show, comment on the blog and like the Facebook page.
- The Friend - This way you not ony put yourself on air but put yourself out there in the community. Put up a tent at the football game or some event. Tell them whats going on up there in East Lansing and that you want to see them there, come say hello. You end up not only telling about these events but you also were their with your listeners (getting your name out there!).
- Structure The Hour-Every 15 minutes of the show have a particular theme. Sports scores, events/parties for the upcoming week, or Hollywood trash - but only spend a a few minutes on these. Also have an opener and closer to start and finish the show. It will give you structure and something people can depend on. They will know how far they are into the show! Use the rest of the time like you always do because that's your style. Your program is really about selling you, your toughts, comments, and concerns!
A Red Button-On the top of the blog there should be an obvious (preferably red) button on the top on the page. This button would say something like "Click to submit". This button is for blog users. Yes, they are following the blog because its fun, but they are also looking at other websites and may find other funny clips and readings they may want to share. We can use our viewers to help us put out more on the blog and make them feel more a part of the show if you end up talking about what they submitted.
- Facebook-Not only have a facebook that you can "like" the page, but have something on the page they can use that will keep bringing them back. Your Facebook can have:
1. posted points you will hit while you're talking this week.
2. what they missed last week
3. a question of the day or joke they can find easily on the page
- Having all this information on Facebook allows your audience not only review but also to make comments This will be huge in planning for future shows and discussion as well as that week's show. You can use this to your advantage. This is how you find out exactly what your audience wants to hear and get deeper into. This will later give you which direction to take upcoming shows.
- Educating-Entertainment is huge and that is our main goal. That is what the listeners that tune in expect. Through this education is a big way to retain listeners and gain more as well. What we tell them about the world, jokes, stories and gossip, our listeners will tell their friends. This alone is our biggest advertisement. That's why gossip is so huge. After hearing something juicy and interesting, you have to tell someone else. We want to have people not only telling someone what they heard but where it came from. This is a powerful advertising tool if you can get it going. Any gossip is good as long as it gets your name out there!
Platform Analysis:Each interview used to support these platforms represent at least 10 interviews that came out with the same results.This is what i based my work off.
- Facebook-
- Facebook is a social networking website. A gathering spot, to connect with your friends and with your friend's friends. Facebook allows you to make new connections who share a common interest, expanding your personal network.
- We are using this method because Facebook is a place where you can find just about everyone and inform them of your radio show. 85% percent of students are on Facebook. This makes Facebook the biggest provider for a social networking system. That is why we are going to take it and make it into something we can use.
- Taking It To The Streets-
- Going out there seeing and meeting our audience face to face, whether it be knocking on doors, putting up signs, handing out flier,s or even going into the class rooms.
- We are using this method because it lets the people not only know you're there but you're there for them. This will show our community that we not only care about what we are doing but about our audience. Additionally it may connect to some of the people that may not have a Facebook.
- Audience Pass-It-On-
- This platform is to encourage the audience not only to receive what we broadcast to them but to tell their friends as well. If they can't remember and want to show them, let them know the blog and facebook is there. This will also help with advertising, getting our name out there to the people he haven't reached it yet though their friends that listen.
- The best way to get someone to try something is having one of their friends get them involved. Most times people try new things because they were following a friend there. That's how popular stuff stays popular for so long.
How To Use The Platforms To Getting Their Attention:
- Make A Group-
*This will allow you to have a home base for your Happy Hour radio show.
- Make posts-This will allow you to let your followers know what you will be talking about for the upcoming week and comment on them
- Find out if they like the idea or not
- Additions to your topic
- Help with future themes or ideas
- Profile picture- You want to have a bright and colorful picture to attract people.
- This is the first thing the viewers look at. Looking at these two pages they are exactly the same! the bottom one is the official page for Albion college Class of 2013, but some reason more people in the class joined the first one. 5 times as many members joined the one with a picture than the one without. same results happened when it was a dull picture to a bright and colorful one. The more eye-catching picture gets the numbers.
- Information-It's good to have information on the page. It's something just to get the people coming back. Once they come back, they see what else has happened and see that the page is active and they may comment for themselves.
- This is a perfect example of a page. You have the bright and colorful picture and information to get your viewer hooked.On this Billiards Page, you can see where the best tables to play are and who are the top competitors. If you ever want a good game or maybe to find someone to teach you how to play, this page would be able to tell you almost instantly.
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| To the streets |
- Get Out There With Your Community
- Talk to people-
- People will listen if you just want to talk among the talking. Let them know you have a radio show and they should listen if you come off as their friend.
- If they sound interested, hand out information on a flier and always have a business card on you. Hand them out like candy. Make it so they can remember at the end of the day that they talked to a really nice guy who made them laugh and they may just tune in to the show that week.
- Present to classes-
- If you get invites to classrooms to discuss your business, making it educational for the classroom would make a huge difference
- Students trust there professors. If it was important enough to let you come in and talk they just may tune in
- Go to the dorms-
- Put up reminders on every door to let everyone know that you are still there and if they need relief from their stress, you're there to make them laugh every Thursday at 7 before they go out.
- If they get really bored and tired of Facebook they may just get online and see what that reminder is all about. That's where they will look it up on Facebook or go to the link to the blog and page.
- Audiance Pass On-
- This is the biggest advertisement of them all. If you can just talk about something or do something amazing to get people to talk about it you have everyone that already tunes in advertising for you. People will get to know you exponentially.
- If you can be your wacky selves and insist on your audience telling your jokes and stories to their friends, this will get others to tune in not just because they were told by pieces of paper or the internet but because of their friends. People are more likely to try something for the first time if one of there friends does it first.
All these things are just one step to meet our goals:
- To get consistent comments on the blog
- Participants on the radio
- Get more advertising on the blog
- To make happy hour a well know term
- Being able to have more options in the long run
- Have the Audience tell their friends of the show
I'm happy to get these first platforms up and running and to talk about other future ideas.
There is still so much you can do. Please contact me if you have any questions, comments, or concerns at:
Reg10@albion.edu
Reilly Goodman
Project designer
Project designer
