Dear Listener

A MESSAGE TO THE LISTENER

This is a message to all listeners of internet radio stations (not just ours).

Over the past few years, us internet radio broadcasters have been under
pressure from a whole onslaught of other music providing sources.

We like our other broadcasters have been trying our hardest to make out output compete and fill in a gap in this market. Stations come and go more rapidly than before as some folks think it is easy to grab your attention. This is definitely not the case.

COMMUNICATE

We have some die hard listeners who also from time to time communicate with us for which we are grateful. We also have those who also listen regularly but never communicate with us. This we know and accept, we change shows around and seek new program content on a regular basis but have little feedback from you the LISTENER. All stations will appreciate your feedback and it may be the difference between them improving or giving up. You the LISTENER have an ideal opportunity to have an impact, don't waste it.

GET IN TOUCH

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I ask you to consider maybe taking a few minutes to visit your favorite internet radio's website and say hello. Without you we would not be doing this, with your help and feedback we can prevail against all the odds stacked against us by the big boys (Itunes, Spotify, Deezer etc.)

Dave Kelly

Affinity Radio

Listener Feedback

Don't Hold Your Breath

So you have just started your very own internet radio station and the listeners are (maybe) flooding in. You have a chat bar on the station web page, you also give out your contact email address during programs and jingles.

Silence?.....well sometimes it happens. Not all listeners want to get involved in your station, they may love the music you play but that's as far as it goes with most. From my last 7 years experience it can be depressing, but don't take my word for it.

Niche is good

One way to attract feedback is through specialist (niche) programs that have a distinct following. Listeners seam to be more passionate about their particular type of music, a good example is  Northern Soul. 

Social Media 

Facebook 

Got a page? get lots of followers, tell them about your shows, station details and how to get in touch. Keep the content fresh and updated. look for people with interests that align with your station or show content, invite them to your page. Also make a "contact us" button to your page to make it easy for people to get in touch. In reality, it is a must, but can be time consuming for little or no increase in actual listeners. Here is a link to our station  Affinity Radio Facebook Page

Twitter

Using a similar strategy as Facebook, also set up automated twitter feeds of what track you are playing on your station. Get those followers and you will get lot's of likes, again time consuming and generally from an internet radio station viewpoint, a necessity but again 4,000 plus followers does not equate to listeners! Check out our Affinity twitter page

Blogging

So did you find Blog this interesting? Are you going to comment? Has anybody commented? ...............what do you think?

 YouTube

Now this one is something I have dabbled in but must admit to not having much success in generating much interest. It is an area that I will be investigating in more detail soon so will let you know how I get on soon. Here is one video we produced on the missing "radio" button on iTunes

 Website

You need one, this is your shop front and communication hub. It's also a guide to how many interested people are out there by looking at "hits" on your site. Today it's quite easy to set up a website and can be free, check out Wix for a good example. We use a paid for software option from Serif. Check out our website here 

Internet Presence

And finally.... all the above will build your stations presence on the internet. Search for your station name to see how many times it pops up in your favourite search engine. All of the discussed topics will increase your chances of being found on the web. Your website enables people to contact you, but beware, most contacts will be spammers, Russian Brides, etc... so be warned.

References

Well I hope this little rant (blog) has helped some of you. 

Here are a few links to other resources you may find useful.
Top-10-internet-marketing-strategies
how-to-gain-more-listeners-for-your-internet-radio-station
radio.co - blog
5-directories you should list your station with

Cheers for now
Dave
Affinity Radio