public radio exchange (prx) on station online strategy

All That Twitters Is Not GoldFindings, case studies and tools on forming strategies for online services

Station Resource Group (SRG) RetreatAugust 12, 2008Sedona, AZ

Presentation, interviews and research by Quentin Hope, Jake Shapiro, and John Barth.

Contact:

Jake ShapiroExecutive Director, [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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SESSION OVERVIEW

A. Where are we now? Results of an “outside audit”

B. What’s the view ahead? Operating assumptions for ~ 3 years out

C. How are we navigating in the online world?

Station cases of note

D. Where are we in defining our online strategies?

Mapping an integrated view

E. What is our collective agenda for greater online significance?

Station-based perspective

Public Radio Exchange (PRX)

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A. Where are we now?

“Outside audit” of 38 SRG member websites:

5 major categories; 27 subcategories

Anchored scale: 0 (nothing) to 5 (rich/enhanced) with markers provided

Calibrated (roughly) to public radio sites in general and national public media sites

Independent “auditor” from outside public radio

4Public Radio Exchange (PRX)

Note: PRX is developing audit template as station site self-assessment tool

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Summary: Five major categories

1. Providing information about the station

2. Providing additional audio programming access and service

3. Supplementing broadcast programming with additional content

4. Providing content not directly related to broadcast programming

5. Stimulating listener/user engagement and interaction

3.1

3.7

3.5

2.3

2.3

0 1 2 3 4 5

none basic/minimal

solid rich/enhanced


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1. Providing information about the station: subcategories

none basic/minimal

solid rich/enhanced

Overall

a. Programming

b. Plans and activities

c. Reception

d. Support

e. Staffing

f. Work opportunities

g. Station background

h. Governance

3.1

3.6

3.1

3.3

3.4

2.9

2.7

2.6

2.8

0 1 2 3 4 5


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2. Providing additional audio programming access and service: subcategories

3.7

3.9

4.0

3.5

3.8

3.5

0 1 2 3 4 5

none basic/minimal

solid rich/enhanced

Overall

a. Simulcast streaming of broadcast programming

b. On-demand access to broadcast programming

c. Continuous streaming of web-only program service(s)

d. On-demand access to web-only programming

e. Syndication (push delivery) of program content/updates


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3. Supplementing broadcast programming with additional content: subcategories

3.5

3.2

4.0

3.3

0 1 2 3 4 5

none basic/minimal

solid rich/enhanced

Overall

a. Lists, picks, sources and links

b. Current information updates and details

c. Extended and enhanced program content


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4. Providing content not directly related to broadcast programming: subcategories

2.3

2.8

2.7

1.3

0 1 2 3 4 5

none basic/minimal

solid rich/enhanced

Overall

a. Extended community information

b. Select topical information

c. Niche community service


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5. Stimulating listener/user engagement and interaction: subcategories

2.3

2.2

3.8

3.2

2.2

2.2

2.1

1.6

1.0

0 1 2 3 4 5

none basic/minimal

solid rich/enhanced

Overall

a. Providing feedback and making inquiries/requests

b. Supporting the station

c. Signing up

d. Participating in broadcast programming

e. Providing opinions, ideas and leads

f. Providing and sharing content

g. Participating in topical conversations

h. Participating in social networks and communities of interest


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5. Stimulating listener/user engagement and interaction: subcategories

2.3

2.2

3.8

3.2

2.2

2.2

2.1

1.6

1.0

0 1 2 3 4 5

none basic/minimal

solid rich/enhanced

Overall

a. Providing feedback and making inquiries/requests

b. Supporting the station

c. Signing up

d. Participating in broadcast programming

e. Providing opinions, ideas and leads

f. Providing and sharing content

g. Participating in topical conversations

h. Participating in social networks and communities of interest


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Additional site ratings and information

Use of Public Interactive

21%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Web advertising 2.7

0 1 2 3 4 5

No adsVery few, small ads

Some adds on most pages

Many ads, various types, across site

3.7

3.8

0 1 2 3 4 5

Site navigation

Site appearance

Un-useable/Un-viewable Poor Average Great


Observations

Some apps are proving sticky (Flickr, Google maps)– Local– Add missing visual content– Have a social, sharing dimension– Easy to implement

• Build a deep, well curated archive

• Link generously

• Social needs voice and presence

• More can also be less


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Online staffing levels

1 FTE

2 - 4 FTEs

5 - 7 FTEs

8 - 10 FTEs

10 + FTEs

How many full time equivalent (FTE) staff positions do you have dedicated to all aspects of online work?

7%

13%

13%

40%

27%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Source: online survey of SRG members. n = 15

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Online staffing reporting relationships

Separate online/web/digital unit

Development

Promotion

Programming

IT

Where do the positions you have dedicated to online work report within your organization?

13%

7%

7%

7%

20%

7%

40%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Source: online survey of SRG members. n = 15

Operations

Split departments

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Online investment levelsWhat would you estimate as your total spending for online services this year - staff, contractors, bandwidth, etc.?

Source: online survey of SRG members. n = 13, 14

7%

21%

14%

36%

21%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

<=2%

3-4%

5-6%

7-8%

9-10%

%Percent of total budget

“We really missed seeing how the web would grow and anticipating the investments we would make in it over the past 10 years.”

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Usage comparison: monthly web visitors andweekly radio cume – selected SRG members


http://brettduncan.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/applesandoranges.jpg

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Usage comparison: Weekly streaming AQH andweekly total AQH – selected SRG members


http://brettduncan.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/applesandoranges.jpg

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B. What’s the view ahead?

Current station views for ~3 years out on:

1. Users’ media mix and desired experience

2. Role and value of local vs. global

3. Degree and pace of change in the media environment

4. Degree and nature of the organization change required


Based on interviews with 10 station managers and online staff

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ACCESS: “Democratization of platforms”

“The jury’s really out” Radio listeners vs. audio samplers?

“Radio will be catching up with TV’s DVR and web realities”

More “on demand” streaming, downloads and podcasts

“My iPhone experience is convincing me”

Significant mobile access

“More shaving away at traditional media, more reallocation of time”

Continued shifting to online


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DEVICES & APPLICATIONS: incremental adoption

Tools will remain much the same – it’s a matter of improved ease of use driving adoption rates

Continued noise, churn, stumbling and clinging until we get to the “real smart phone”

Innovation will be more on the software application side than new killer hardware

Potential for someone to figure out and dominate interoperability (Google?)


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CONTENT: still the high ground

Far more sites than sites producing content

Content producers and owners remain the engine

STRATEGIES: still throwing darts and hedging

“On a day to day basis I’m not exactly sure what people want from us online”

“There’s just this giant scramble to see what sticks”

“Look at the web as a complement for what we are doing now, not a replacement” (for now)


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UNRAVELING OF LOCAL MEDIA …

“The biggest thing that we are seeing is the continued deterioration of the newspaper industry”

“Other media are stepping away from local coverage … and putting a lot of people into early retirement”

“There's a freefall in the diminution of local media, whether it's newspapers, local TV stations or, now on the slope, commercial radio”

Asset values down precipitously; profits a fraction of the past; content creation a smaller role


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LOCAL IS THE OPPORTUNITY …

“The loss of print journalism puts more reliance on public media institutions to provide content”

“We have an opportunity and a challenge here to fill the gap”

“We have a real role to play as long as we concentrate on local issues”

“Our goal here is local”


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BUT THE VALUE NEEDS TO BE THERE

“Not everyone wants to slog through the blogosphere”

Continued editorial credibility and judgment

“The shift toward sharing content is really healthy” (e.g. API)

A seamless user experience in seeking content

“But it has to be awfully good” Localization of the global

“Way beyond rebroadcast model” Significant local reporting, producing, curating, hosting and posting

“As long as we're all shouting the same thing, they'll never see us”

And forget the Olympics web page


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IT’S A QUESTION OF THE ADOPTION<>ADAPTATION DYNAMIC ...

“We’re not being pressed by our core to be among the online avant garde or ‘go mobile’ …

… but then again, we’re not hearing anything at all from those who aren’t listening to radio.” How much do we need to adapt to be

adopted?

Will younger audiences adopt us (if we adapt our content and delivery)?

How fast/far will our aging core adopt new technologies as they become easier to use?


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AND A QUESTION OF HOW LOYALTY WILL WORK ...

“How do we build loyalty so people seek and find our content wherever it is – in our spaces or others”

Does social networking build loyalty – or fracture it?

How do you measure and track loyalty in a new metrics environment?


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AND A QUESTION OF RADIO’S RESILIENCE …

Optimism for still growing the audience (market specific)

Somewhat better positioned and shielded (e.g. car access); not as many “natural” predators; a somewhat protected space for now

No big reduction in listening -- “that’s 15 years down the road”

“But it is time to start thinking very carefully about how much we invest in terrestrial broadcast versus original production”


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NEW TALENT AND POSITIONS Conceivers -- “I have no idea about the future media landscape… My

strategy is to hire the right people”

Networkers – “Everyone should be creating a job that uses digital media to build community and bring new voices into the organization”

ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE SHIFTS Lower platform and function silos

More lateral, networked, dynamic, “chaortic” organizations

INVESTMENT SHIFTS Costs reductions in traditional functions and infrastructure

Consolidations to spread fixed costs and achieve scale


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MINDSETS CHANGES

“We’re not finding out from them what they want”

Asking users

“We’re still just using the web to do more radio”

Actually producing for the web

Marketing and branding beyond the “station”

“It’s not being on just your website that matters”

“You can create an aura that makes people think you are much bigger than you are”


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C. How are we navigating in the online world?

• WBUR

• LPM – Louisville Public Media

• KUOW

• WOSU Public Media

• OPB – Oregon Public Broadcasting

What’s the strategy

What’s notable

What’s the lesson


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WBUR1 - Paul LaCameraGeneral Manager

- Robin LubbockDirector of New Media

What’s the Strategy?

Incremental build into new media“There's not doubt the Internet is chipping away... But we're still, I believe, in a somewhat protected place for a while. As long as we make logical, thoughtful steps or transitions or additions into digital and the extending of our content there, we're going to be fine.”

“Step one. We have to keep doing the radio on the Web. Obviously that's something people expect from us; we need to do it well.

Step two; we need to add onto that… the extra piece of audio, the pictures, the photo gallery, the map….

Step three is, let's go to the users, find out what they want, and do that.”


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WBUR2


Take advantage of decline in other local media“There's a free‑fall in the diminution of local media, whether it's metropolitan newspapers, local television stations, and I think, now, following on the heels of that, commercial radio.”

“…we still have some time to concentrate on our traditional platform, which is radio, over the air or whatever you want to call it. Because we don't have, as yet, the natural predators that newspapers are facing, the Internet.”

“I continue to believe that public radio has every opportunity, and responsibility, to benefit by default, and to be a respite.”


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WBUR3

What’s notable?

Simple, even retro, worksThe new daily WBUR email newsletter.

“What I've tried to do is make people more aware of us, for a lot of reasons…One, they are opinion leaders and makers. Secondly, they make decisions, whether it's underwriting or personal giving or corporate giving or whatever, which has been helpful to the station. So, I wanted to find a vehicle that would keep us in front of this group on a daily basis.”

Go where audiences are WBUR on Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter

“We don't say, hey we got this great radio, you just come in, you can listen when you are in the radio station. No, we send the radio to where they are. Well, they are in Facebook and they are in MySpace and they are in Flickr and they are in YouTube. That is where we need to be.”


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WBUR4

What’s notable?

In Social Media, be personal“Personality works ‑ personality is good. In a social media space, being honest, or having a face and just saying it as it is…”

One site to rule them all?“National Public Radio needs one website like CBC, like the BBC. If we want to compete with those guys, forget about it in this distributed thing. It's just never going to happen.”


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WBUR5

What’s the Lesson?

Mistake to compete in breaking news“…the problem is, with these other sites, you compete in breaking news. And that's not our strength, that's not our hallmark. And it's a mistake if we try to position ourselves, because now we confuse our brand.”

Integrate Web and News staff, bring editorial focus and voice to web“If we're going to make an editorial presence on the web, we have to get editorial involved in that web content.”

Recognize we may be too focused on broadcast?“…the tendency, the trap, is to worry about the radio station or whatever, and really not pay enough attention to the web. For media executives, that's a failing today.”


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LPM1


Re-branding“By calling ourselves Louisville Public Media we emphasize the fact that we're trying to create quality content and deliver it across whatever media platform makes sense.”

Local focus“Our raison d'etre in the future, even more than in the past, is to be a local institution and serve local needs.”

Aspiration of “significance”“We can become the authoritative source in our city ‑ not only for news, but for arts and culture and be a convener on community issues.”

- Jon HobanDeputy Director

- Tom MundtDirector of New Media Strategies

- Donovan ReynoldsExecutive Director


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LPM2


Heavy content investment with online included from the start

“We are investing heavily in expanding our news department and in new reporting projects, like the environment and the arts – and as we do that we build in the online component.”

Expectations for continued broadcast growth“We have been making changes that have had really good results … and could continue to increase our audience on all three stations over the next few years.”

Same target audience, more time spend using“At this point we are not ready to branch out much beyond the demographic of our stations. So objective number one is make sure that people coming to the stations are also getting good service online, are aware of it, and are actually spending more time on the site.”


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LPM3

What’s notable?

Advisory council changes“We’ve added a number of very young people to our advisory board ‑ people in their 20s who use media completely differently ‑ and we are paying a great deal of attention to the kinds of advice we're getting from them”

Philanthropy for funding“Philanthropy is absolutely essential to accomplishing any of our goals. Louisville is a city without a lot of foundations, but it has many, many rich families and individual donors. So, that has been our target.”

“New media” sells“New media is sexy. When you are pitching to potential donors you talk until you see some glimmer of interest in their eyes. Usually, it's when I start talking about the new media stuff.”

Staffing is working outStaff have taken to the new roles and expectations. “Surprisingly so. It’s helped by the fact that we have a staff that is kind of in to this stuff”.


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LPM4

What’s the Lesson?

Put marketing muscle behind the experiments“We been focusing on promoting certain “marquee” feature stories with added web content and have seen some really great results ‑ like 2x or 3x times increase -- because we simply, really, banged them over the head with it on air.”

Don’t assume it’s just for news“It's more obvious for the news station to be involved with something like adding video. But our classical station manager bought a little digital video camera and has started doing videos of interviews with performers … and people tell me, ‘Oh yes. I went and I looked into that interview.’“

It’s a long road ahead“The number of hits per month is pretty pathetic, actually. We're just taking baby steps at this point, trying to figure out what can actually draw people to our website.


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KUOW1


Focus on local editorial content, quality and judgment Put your resources into creating content that covers the Puget Sound area on behalf of listeners/users who want a trusted source. “Not everyone wants to be their own online editor or program director.”

Make the web content integral“Web content is tied to broadcast productions but that content is part of storyboarding a piece from the very start.”

Create a deep archive of unique contentIt adds real, enduring value to the website and it’s key to being found through search. “We’re watching as we crawl to the top of certain searches”.

- Jenna MontgomeryDirector of online Service

- Wayne RothGeneral Manager


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KUOW2


Keep the same economic modelMake online just another part of the operating budget. Keep the look and feel of a public service institution. “You can’t mix the commercial and noncommercial – people will differentiate. We don’t want to become a ‘buy now’ site.”

Maintain KUOW as the brand“It’s known and valuable.”


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KUOW3

What’s notable?

Keep shifting local production to local content“We used to do four to five national author interviews a week. They were usually the same as could be heard on any interview from the author’s tour. Now we only do about one per week.”

Curate all content for local sensibilities (on-air and online)Curating for local sensibilities means giving less time to “inside the beltway intrigue about Scooter Libby” and more to topics and perspectives of interest to Puget Sound listeners. It requires seeking content from any source that appeals to these local interests and sensibilities and flexibility in how it’s used on-air and online.

Pick your medium for your purposeKUOW sees an important roles for itself, in conjunction with local partners, as a convener that stimulates public discussion. On-air and online can support this through content development but the main medium for convening is face-to-face. That’s where and how real community is built.


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KUOW4

What’s the lesson?

There’s no need to be a groundbreaker.

Being a fast-follower works fine in this world.

Be cautious of gadgets.

Let others master the applications.

Establish distinct accountability for online but integrate it across the operationCreating a collaborative and coordinated dynamic for online within the station is key. At KUOW the Director of online Service reports to the assistant GM but she and her staff work closely across departments, particularly programming. “You can get off the rails by having online become too much of it’s own ‘company’.”


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KUOW5


Pay attention to navigation and ease of useExpert, focused and dedicated attention to the design has helped greatly. “We cleaned up the navigation ‘designed by committee’. Now we regularly look for and reference sites that work well in terms of bringing forward what is most important and making it very easy to find things.”

Engage your online users in the design and usefulness of the site itselfPolling users about their recently re-launched site has yielded significant and very constructive feedback, including some simple but critical items. “We found out that older users where having problems with the light type.”


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- Tim EbyRadio Station Manager

- Susan MeyerDirector of Communications


Collaboration model WOSU and other local institutions are "pooling collective knowledge because some of these folks are further in their thinking than we are"

Balance journalism and community“We have got to be open. We must maintain our journalistic credibility

on the one side, but also find ways to build community on the other to bring in those voices who are experiencing events and have ideas”

Early steps... but definitely social "The question is: 'How do we make Columbus a better place to live by applying social media?'"


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What’snotable?

Blogger outreach = relevance"The Columbus Social Media Cafe is community building... that gives us some opportunity to capitalize on creating more partnerships in the community.”

Community Engagement Pro? "It is really critical that we have somebody focusing on engaging in a way that is deeper and more meaningful and stretching into different communities than what we are doing haphazardly now."


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Need staff buy-in"They haven't embraced social media. Some web producers haven't embraced where we need to go."

New leadership, fewer silos "If you look at TV managers, radio managers, web managers - the nature of those positions are changing and they are not siloed anymore. "

Developers need to leverage new network tools (e.g. NPR API) "We don't have anybody in house who has the expertise to really take that and create some different things that could really be unique and tie in with what we are doing locally."


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- Steve BassPresident & CEO

- Lynne PollardVP, Interactive Services


Online supports TV and radio "The economics don't yet favor things completely divorced from the broadcast world."

Local branding is supreme "We want OPB to be more prominent than PBS and NPR. National attracts the listener, but the local connection is what keeps them.”

Balance the investment in original programming between terrestrial and online

“When we start to think about the multimedia environment, we are thinking about how the traditional geographic territories that broadcasters have served are eroding.”


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What’s notable?

Archives (and video) rule (Oregon Field Guide)“We've had an advantage in that we've had things that have readily lent themselves to online and on demand sort of manifestations; they’re extensions of broadcast properties.”

A 'win' doesn't always mean online traffic (OPBMusic concert sponsorship)

"There was a big concert here in Portland here a few months ago. And people in the audience were wearing their OPB Music t-shirts, which is pretty funny because we were only a few months in to the site. The next day you saw no big bump in traffic to the site. And what we think is happening is that it t deepened the engagement without driving traffic to the site."

Audience engagement works. Here. "BBC World 'Have Your Say,' not too long after OPB had joined, said that they got more texts and online comments and calls from Oregon from anywhere else."


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Play to strengths. Sometimes.OPBMusic.org"One would say we were playing to something that we were weak in."

Scale is allWithout sufficient content, funding, talent and local branding, station online efforts struggles to work.

• Be willing to give up control“The difference between broadcast and online is control and who has it. The audience now will choose both in terms of what it is going to watch, where it is going to watch, when it is going to watch. Here at OPB, we can extend that to really having some confidence in our audience and how they are going to engage with us.”


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D. How clear are our online strategies?

Importance of strategic clarity in this context …

• Still evolving territory -- all the more need to take and set bearings

– Risk of chasing trends and picking up tools

– Risk of taking an online direction misaligned with overall strategy for “institutional significance”

– Risks of reacting, drifting and dissipating resources

• Limited resources to invest and as yet unclear ROI -- opportunity costs of mis-investing in the web

• Dilemma of choice -- nothing has choices like the web and too many choices can lead to poor choices

• Limitations of scale and talent at the station level -- risks of overreaching and poor execution for all to see


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Strategic intentA larger role for stations:

• Strategic position: trusted and sophisticated producers, selectors, and context setters for content of high quality and depth

• Build out capacities as authenticators and recommenders in an interactive community

• Leverage trust and reach to convene on the civic and cultural issues and interests of our time

--Station Resource Group


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Work in process

Strategic Intent

(institutional purpose, core values,vision)

Public Media Strategy*

(options, choices, approaches, tactics)

Online Strategy

(options, choices, approaches, tactics)

Online Value Proposition

(from user and competitor perspectives)

Organization Model

Investment Approach

Performance Assessment

Model

Scope of a fully integrated online strategy …

“’Integrated strategy’ would be too fancy a phrase for what we're doing. I think we're all inching along, trying things. I like ‘experimental’ better than ‘integrated strategy.’ An integrated strategy suggests that we really know what we're doing.”

* The overall strategy for becoming a “significant institution” in SRG terms

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Public Media strategy: mapping the factors

ContentGeographic orientation

Subject matter orientation

AudienceTarget

Impact

Access

Interaction & engagement

Economic model

Sources/mix

Interrelation-ship of sources

Platform positioning

Public MediaStrategic Options

KEY FACTORS


56 Integrated approach/appeals

Public Media strategy: mapping the factors and options

Content

Geographic orientation

Local from the local perspective Local from a global perspective Global for the locals


Broad survey[cover the landscape; keep users’ in the know]

Deep dive[own certain subjects; be the “go to” source]

Audience

Target

Impact Greater share of target segment(s) More time spent using Increased value from time spent using

Extension of existing segments(s) New segment(s)

Existing segment(s)

Access Where expected[e.g. analog FM broadcast and web stream - for now]

Early to everywhere[e.g. mobile, other websites, satellite - others as emerge]


Encouraging contributions Building station community & loyalty Building civic community

Economic model

Sources/mix

Existing sources and mix Some new sources and remix Significant new sources and remix


Independent streams

Platformpositioning

Broadcast leads[all web content linked to and supplements broadcast programs]

Fully cross-leveraged[complementary but distinct content; heavy cross-promotion]

Web leads[unique, deep web content; resources shift to web; broadcast sends to web]

Agnostic and independent[content determines platform; each grows/serves on own]


KEY FACTORS STRATEGIC OPTIONS


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Branching further down to the details on options …


Encouraging contributions


Content

Audience

Access

Economic model


Money & materials

Time & services

Text

Pictures

Audio

Video

Content

Information

Feedback on content

Opinions on issues

Leads/contacts

Expert knowledge

Building station community & loyalty

Social networks (station focused)

Updates

Transparency

Building civic community

Building social networks (issue/topic focused)

Informing(issue/topic focused)

Convening

I think the emphasis on engagement from our 20’s advisory board members is more on content than on the social networking part. They have other ways that they can do that.

KEY FACTORS STRATEGIC OPTIONS >>>> TACTICAL OPTIONS


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Public Media strategy: making choices

Audience

Target Existing segment: college educated; civically minded

Impact

Greater share of target segment: intensively and continuously cross-market through high affinity organizations and sources


Local from a global perspective: curate content from all sources for local sensibilities; build to critical mass of local content (~20% of broadcast)


Broad survey: be the area’s primary media source for “staying in touch” across a broad range of topics and perspectives

Public MediaStrategicChoices

Access Where expected: analog/HD FM and web streaming and on-demand


Broadcast leads: all other platforms (web, events) focused on promoting and enhancing broadcast programming and increasing broadcast listening

Interaction and engagement

Encouraging contributions: focus on tapping listeners for opinions, perspectives and feature leads in structured and ongoing ways

Building ”station” community: increase listeners’ “self-identity” as listeners; use their networks to encourage others to listen/view

Economic model

Some new sources and mix: continued focus on individual contributions and underwriting; increased focus on #s vs. just $s; add major philanthropic support for local production

Integrated approaches/appeals: tightly linked appeals across platforms aimed at increasing membership count

Increased value from time spent using: focus on quality and editorial judgment (as counter and refuge from the blogosphere)

Sources


KEY FACTORS STRATEGIC CHOICES

Illustrative


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Online strategy: deriving from overall strategy

Audience

Target Existing segment

Impact

Greater share of target segment


Local from a global perspective


Broad survey

Public MediaStrategy Access Where expected

Platform positioning Broadcast leads

Interaction and engagement

Encouraging contributions

Building ”station” community

Economic model

Some new sources and mix

Integrated approaches/appeals

Illustrative

Increased value from time spent using

Sources


•Build deep, well tagged and indexed archive of local productions to attract new users via search

•Make active, targeted use of Facebook, Gather and Twitter to create awareness and promote listening (real-person presence; daily “picks”)

•Build consortia of high-affinity area websites who will include “listen now” and “now playing” modules/links on their homepages

•Incorporate NPR, PRI, etc. program promo feeds to provide “global” presence but only in the context of local content of like kind

•Provide prominent topical navigation (news, arts, etc.) leading to topical homepages offering integrated view of current station offerings/content

•Provide high quality, high reliability, streaming for all audio formats; offer extensive online and on-call help for using

•Provide podcasts and audio on demand access for all local content productions; provide prominent, multiple points of access on site

•Link all web content to on-air program promotion and enhancement; provide some layer of added content for every on-air program

•Focus on solicitation of feedback/ideas/leads via station blog with comments, “comment” feature on all story postings, and 2x week polling

•Provide heavy on air promotion for participation and recognition of input received

•Encourage listener/users to use their social network sites to identify themselves and listeners and “talk up” their favorite programming and provide links (on-air and through station’s own social networking sites)

•Encourage smaller “contribute” donations throughout site (vs. “join now”) to build the file

•Offer underwriting of podcasts (following exiting UW guidelines)•No web advertising (maintain noncommercial feel); enhance on-air underwriting with visual credits placed with program listings/descriptions

Online Strategy and Tactics

•Focus on ease of navigation and search (user testing, expert advice)

KEY FACTORS STRATEGIC CHOICES


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Benefits

Content

Credibility

Superior local coverage and content

Better integration of local and global content

Deep archive on key area issues

Costs

Limited access

Better editorial/curatorial sensibility

Unusual organizational transparency`

Difficulty of navigation

Engaging discussion participation

Personally posted and credited content

Clutter

Sense of belonging

Sense of ownership

Slow load streams; poor audio quality; player incompatibility

Visual incompatibility and clutter of advertising; competing page elements

Casting off to other sites; un-integrated sections/pages

Awareness of the value proposition

Competitive value proposition

Online Value Proposition

Difficulty of search

(-)

(+)

Lack of search capabilities and options; spurious search results

KEY FACTORS PROPOSITION POINTS AND COMPETITIVE POSITIONING

Context

“A reporter from the newspaper told us that our website was now up in their newsroom all the time. They're always monitoring what we're producing a lot more interesting local content.”

Lifelessness Inactive blogs, threadless discussion boards, static or automated social networking pages; no “voice”; no sense of place


61

Awareness of the value proposition

Sources

Broadcast channels

Social network sites

Frequency

Time

Competitive value proposition (sample choice map)

Receptivity

Benefits

Costs

online Value Proposition

(-)

(+)

KEY FACTORS PROMOTION OPTIONS

Place

Context

OwnWebsite(s)

Direct mail

Others’Other organization’s sites (cross-promotion)

Personal referrals (“share this” emails, etc.)

Search

Paid search

Paid placement

Personal social networking sites


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E. What is our collective agenda for greater online significance?

3.7

2.8

3.3

3.7

3.8

4.3Strategy development

Audience understanding and measurement

Production and operating models

Economic models

Organization models

What are your greatest needs for support and assistance over the next two years in developing and managing your online services?

System-wide resources and support

No Need

Greatest Need

Greatest Need

Mentions

8

2

2

2

2

2


Contact:

Jake ShapiroExecutive Director, [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

public radio exchange (prx) on station online strategy

Business

public radio sites

online strategies

prx email

online world

additional content

online survey of srg

online staffing levels

online work report