YOUR LISTENERS ARE ON FACEBOOK, YOUR BRAND NEEDS TO BE THERE TOO, EXPERTS ADVISE

Think it’s not a big deal? AdAge reports that according to analytics firm Hitwise, Facebook now sends more traffic to some large websites than Google! (Read AdAge here) Even your CEO will be on Facebook this year (according to Razorfish research, here). Jerry Del Colliano (left), in Inside Music Media, calls Facebook “the biggest town meeting that takes place in perpetual motion.” He adds, “Radio can’t be Facebook but it should have long ago formed its own social networks based around news, music, locality and the possibilities are endless… If you don’t have a strong connection to a social network, you will not be a viable media business.” (Read more here.)

Edison Media Research VP Tom Webster told Country radio programmers at the recent Country Radio Seminar that 60% of country listeners are on at least one social networking site (42% are on Facebook). Radio-Info’s Tom Taylor, reporting on Edison’s talk, wrote that Webster advised to, “project their stations’ presence into every possible nook and cranny of the Internet,” and the best bet in choosing a social network site is to be on “all of them.”

A new product may make it easier. Social media developers Gamecentric Media and media company Njs4ever are creating a social media application suite for radio broadcasters they’ll call Pantheon. Pantheon is scheduled to launch in spring 2009. “While it is true that more traditional forms of media such as print and traditional radio have seen a decline in audiences… that’s not necessarily a bad thing as long as the brands that succeeded with traditional media in the past are able to embrace new media more effectively,” commented Andrew Knyte, COO of the joint venture. The Pantheon creators say “clients will have access to metrics including songs played/time played, time spent listening, links visited, ‘call to action’ response rates, songs liked or disliked, images most/least responded to, and main traffic drivers. Read more about the product here.

RBR interviewed Sarah Fay, CEO, Aegis Media North America after her recent panel appearance at the AAAA Media Conference last week. She offered advice on how marketers and broadcasters might use social network sites: “Part of the secret of building that community is to constantly refresh those areas; listen to what people are saying; and to take that information and turn it into the types of things that they’re looking for. People who are part of that community are trained to come back—to the brand and to interact with each other. There is power in what the consumer can do for you.” (Read more in RBR here)

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