Social Media: The Way of the Future

Upon attending a workship on Social Media this morning, I was pretty confident to say that I was savvy with the use of social media – I have an account on just about every Site! However, after listening to Ben Teoh discuss how social media can benefit your own station, I must regretfully admit that I have been living under a rock throughout the golden age of social media.

As many who would be reading this may already know, Facebook and Twitter are both within the top five most visited sites on the web, with millions of users every day. Ben explained to his intrigued audience on the influence social media has and what a station can do with it to better their interaction with their listeners on a whole new level. Something Ben mentioned to the audience that attracted much interest was how to structure your posts to have the greatest impact on those who view them.

The focus was on making your posts personal, valuable and social. It’s no longer the case of simply posting about what you’re doing, it’s posting a story, and interacting with your audience as much as you can. The simple use of images, for instance, can greatly add to the quality of a post.

Much to my surprise, Ben mentioned the use of youtube, and the power of videos. Did you know that youtube is the third most visited site on the web? The power of video is limitless in terms of acquiring an audience. You would no doubt had at least heard of a video that has gone “viral”. You watch it one day and it has for instance a hundred views, and a month later you may see it again and it has ten thousand. This is an example of the opportunities that video may have to offer for your station.

In terms of not for profit organizations, there are many opportunities available online in terms of social media. Youtube offers a non-profit program, where those who qualify can recieve free promotional packages, endless page customization and other benefits otherwise offered to those willing to pay. Other sites such as animoto offer a free account upgrade for those who qualify.

For those with a flare for social media who want to take it to the next level, I recommend you try out a site such as hootsuite to organize all your social medias together, sort posts by those you follow and befriend, and organize your own posts and schedule for posts to be made on your behalf in your absence! You can even retrieve data for what you’ve posted, and view all relative information.

Social media is definitely the next big movement in the community radio sector, and no station can deny that it in indeed the way of the future. Any station can do it, and this is definitely an area that every station needs to at least consider and implement if you want to take your listener interaction to the next level and not simply reach the community, but the globe as well.

Check out the CBloggers interview with Ben Teoh here.