The move provides for an additional source of income for radio stations in the form of online advertisements
Radio companies like Big FM, RadioCity and Fever FM are not only revamping their websites to make them more interactive, but also taking to social networking in a big way to monetise the online space for additional revenues.
Although these companies maintain that online revenues comprise a very small chunk of their overall income, they feel the medium is growing, rapidly which makes it worth their while to tap it.
The target group for radio stations is always connected to the net and prefers to download music and make its own databank. Online music, games and infotainment, hence, not only create a connection between the respective radio station and consumers beyond the station, but also provide an additional source of income for the radio stations in the form of online advertisements.
Neeraj Chaturvedi, national marketing head of Fever FM, says: “We have dedicated communities on Orkut and Facebook, either created by fans or by radio jockeys (RJs). Going forward, we are looking at a situation where the station can get involved on social networking websites like Orkut, Facebook and Twitter.”
“We are also redoing our own Fever FM website at a cost of around Rs 5-6 lakh. We are going to add more content and ask our RJs to write blogs or add even audio blogs. The idea is to monetise our own website as well as be available through social networking, since that is where our target group is easier to find. The best part about social networking is that it does not feel like a marketing thrust forced down a consumer’s neck. Rather, it works like an advertisement but an innovative one since it interacts with the consumer,” Chaturvedi added.
For Anand Chakravarthy, marketing head of Big FM, the intention was to get out of the radio station, go to individual consumers and convert them into listeners or loyalists beyond the radio station. Big FM has a tie-up with BigAdda, the social networking site from Reliance ADAG, and has created a micro blog. “We are present in Orkut and on BigAdda, and we are about to be present on Twitter as well. It is all about creating a connection. So we ask our RJs to blog on social networking sites and create their own communities. For instance, an RJ from Mumbai has 8,000 members or fans on Orkut.”
“We are also looking at adding a link to social networking sites like Orkut, Twitter, and BigAdda, on our own website, so we can lead people visiting our website on to networking sites where we are present and vice versa. We are investing close to Rs 20 lakh in revamping our website to introduce more members to write blogs on specific RJs. Besides adding social networking space on our website, we will introduce a section where our listeners can write movie and music reviews, and we can take a cue from these opinions while deciding our next set of programmes,” Chakravarthy said.
RadioCity, on its part, is promoting its brand on Facebook. Currently RadioCity RJs have around 500 members on Facebook and the number is increasing. Apurva Purohit, CEO of RadioCity, said, “We are promoting planetradioicty.com on Facebook as well as on other social networking sites. To give music lovers on Facebook as well as our members who are also on Facebook, a true planetradiocity.com experience, we have recently added a playlist a day widget to Facebook. This application delivers a themed playlist a day directly to user’s profiles on Facebook.com. Simply running a search on Facebook for ‘Playlist a Day’ would enable the user to find it.”
“We are planning more widgets to increase the music connect for people. Being present on social networking sites helps us in driving numbers and getting quality traffic to our website in turn. For example, if we are looking to promote our site among music lovers then we can connect with them directly through social networking sites. On our own website, we have a lot of options for music networking and also for RJs to connect directly with their fans. For example, there is ‘Friends of Music’, the music networking section, and RJ blogs,” Purohit added.
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RadioCity is also investing in building an online encyclopedia of music on planetradiocity.com with information on musicians, singers, bands, music directors and composers. There would also be a music history section where one can get news about movements in music and the origins of music.
“We would be spending around Rs 3-4 crore every year on adding new features to our website. Already we see 3.1 million hits per day on our website,” Purohit said.
The objective is to update listeners about all the new programmes and contests across all the stations and to also actively receive feedback through yet another medium.
“Through the networking sites we also engage in promoting our RJs. These mediums are quite engaging and, going by the initial response, it is apparent that the users have liked the idea of being connected with RJs over the social media and gradually build up a loyal fan base on these networking sites and followership on Twitter,” said Chaturvedi.
A brand needs to evaluate where its target audience can be found, and then choose its brand building activities accordingly. As such, there will be a percentage of any FM channel’s target group, which can be found on Facebook, Orkut and even Twitter. The interesting aspect will be how each brand uses these platforms to further its brand messaging in a unique manner so as to establish some level of brand loyalty, which was hitherto lacking in the FM space.