Voice for Facebook – A New Engagement Tool for Radio Stations
Radio stations all over the US are rapidly adapting to the changing technology landscape. Internet radio stations, and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter simultaneously pose an opportunity and a threat.
New Internet-only radio stations, operating on a shoestring budget, pose a credible threat as they steadily erode market share from the bigger, more established radio stations by creating new micro-content niches. Established AM/FM broadcast stations are, in-turn, leveraging the Internet as a complementary channel to reach a much wider, Internet-savvy audience.
Facebook, Twitter and other social networks compete with more traditional media such as newspapers, TV and radio stations, for audience attention and advertising dollars. On the other hand, they provide a conduit for traditional media to reach a global audience that was hitherto inaccessible.
This disruptive techno-climate calls for radio stations and other traditional media to innovate, change, and adopt a more radical strategy – one that embraces technology.
A recent innovation in this space is a service from Angel called Voice For Facebook. Radio stations in the U.S. are leveraging Voice for Facebook, to better engage with their listeners using the communication medium of choice, namely, voice.
In this blog post, I will provide answers to some of the common questions I get about this service:
What is Voice for Facebook?
Voice for Facebook is a service that lets radio stations engage their listeners on their Facebook page using voice. The service is as simple to use, as it is to set up.
How can my listener community and I use Voice for Facebook?
You and your listener community can post voice comments to your Facebook page. To do so, simply pick up a telephone and place a call to a Voice for Facebook provided phone number. Once connected, you can speak a voice message into the phone that will get posted on your Facebook page. Yes, it’s really that simple!
How does it work?
When you (a radio station employee) sign up for Voice for Facebook, our service will provide you with a unique phone number. You can advertise this number any way you choose – on your Facebook page, announce it during your programs or publish it on your website. Your listeners can then call into this number and start using it to post voice comments!
So what’s the big deal?
If you air talk shows or play music, you probably have listener call-in lines. Do your lines get inundated with calls during your show? How many of your callers hang up because your lines are busy?
Are your most popular shows engaging your listeners outside the program window? What if your callers could call in at any time and post voice comments that get listened to and ‘liked’ on your Facebook page? Would that bring them back to your shows and page more often? Would your Facebook fans love listening to audio comments?
Do you have callers who would rather leave a well-rehearsed comment on your Facebook page rather than suffer from “phone-fright” when they are live on-air?
In combining a communication channel, easily accessible on the go, with Facebook – a network that is widely accessible, engaging, social – and voice, a medium rich in emotive content, Voice for Facebook provides you with a new social engagement tool that can be harnessed in so many different ways, limited only by your creativity!
How are other radio stations using Voice for Facebook?
Radio stations are using Voice for Facebook in so many different ways. Here are a few examples:
- To post exciting audio announcements, promoting their upcoming programs
- To post audio advertisements for their sponsors and underwriters
- To engage their listener community on Facebook by posting interesting audio questions and comments and soliciting responses
- To be used as a 24/7 call-in line where users can post questions outside the program window
- To enable listeners to call in and make song requests or post comments that they can play back on their show
Great, but how much do you charge?
Our service is currently absolutely free! We won’t charge you for set-up. We won’t charge you for the telephone number. We won’t charge you for your usage minutes.
Okay, What am I missing? This is too good to be true…
Yes, we are giving it away. We hope your participation will help us better understand the market to build great products in the future.
What are my next steps?
To register, simply go to www.voice.com, and click on the button that says “Get Started.” Follow the registration steps and you will be up and running in less than a minute!
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