+

Vocalo.orgSocial Media Strategyby Meredith Trainor and Devon Smith

+Today’s Agenda

4/25/2010

2

2 min. 2 min. 7 min. 5 min.4 min.

+

Vocalo.org:

The

Facts

2007 founded as an experiment by Chicago Public Radio/Surdna/CPB

User generated/

Vocalo curated

Broadcast 89.5 FM in Chicago-metro/sister to WBEZ

Streamed live on Vocalo.org

Real talk. Live music. No commercials.

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+The Slogan

“the YouTube of Radio”

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4

+The Real Deal

Dedicated to playing YOUR stories,

your music, your rants and raves.

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5

+

Vocalo.org:

The

Challenge

Engaging users

Reaching a diverse audience

Establishing a brand

4/25/2010

+Current Social Media Efforts

Doing well

• Blog

• Content management system

Doing poorly

• Web design (UX)

• Facebook

• Twitter

• YouTube

Not doing at all

• Location-based services

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+

Vocalo.org:

The

Strategy

Convert passive users

Increase listenership

Empower the community

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+Step 1: Converting Passive Users

Goal

• Remove barriers to content creation, upload, and findability

• Increase the average quality of user’s submissions

Strategy

• Engage users in the “expert’s” process

• Give users more resources for learning

Tools

• The Playground

• The Factory

• Game mechanics

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+Move users up engagement ladder

Curator

Teacher/Moderator

Creator

Regular listener

Experimental listener

Unaware of Vocalo.org

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+Success Metrics

Core Users

Branded traffic

Bounce Rate

Content creation

Profiles created

Uploads

Content/user

Conversion Rates

Time to first content upload

Ratio of listeners to

creators

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+Step 2: Increasing Listenership

Goal

• Expand the reach of Vocalo listeners

• Increase frequency of engagement

• Increase awareness and perception of Vocalo’s brand

Strategy

• Make slippery content

• Empower virality

• Leverage the personal brands of content creators and curators

Tools

• Facebook Fan Page

• Twitter Lists

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+Expanding the Community

National

Chicago area

Friends

Listeners

Content creators

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+Success Metrics

89.5 FM

Listeners

Call ins

Vocalo.org

Unique visitors

Pageviews

Time on Site

RSS subs

Twitter

Active followers

@vocaloreferences

2nd degree reach

Facebook

Active fans

Interactions

2nd degree reach

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+Step 3: Empowering Community

Goal

• Be a force for good

• Model experimentation and best practices for public media system

Strategy

• Engage users in their off-line communities

• Encourage conversations across diverse communities

• Increase transparency about Vocalo’s success and failures

Tools

• Foursquare

• Community Events

• Published reports

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+Achieving Mission

Public

media

Discourse

Civic engagement

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+Success Metrics

User Demographics

Reflect community

Interaction rates

Sentiment

Social media

Mainstream media

Public media

Foot-traffic

Foursquare check-ins

Community events

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+

Vocalo.org

The

Plan

Implementation Timeline

Social Media Budget

Management Issues

Risks

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+Rollout Strategy

0-6 months < 1 year 1-3 years 3+ years

Vocalo.org Study how to

improve UX

Relaunchvocalo.or

g

Create mobile

application

License mobile app

to stations

Facebook Launch campaign Develop teaching

modules

Maintain

Twitter Buildlists of

content creators &

curators

Launch campaign

to gain followers

Develop teaching

modules to

empower users

Maintain

Foursquare Study current local

uses of Foursquare

Build “tips” (a la

History Channel)

Use venue

popularity as a

reporting tool

Maintain

Social Media

Strategy

Build dashboard of

key metrics

Evaluate

implementation

Adapt to new

platforms & uses

Vocalo Hire a community

manager & an

analyst

Report on

implementation

Establish expertise

in social public

media

Host conference on

social public media

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+How much will it cost (this year)?

• Staffing• 2 new

• Training

• Technical• Web design

• Analysis• Omniture, et al

• Marketing• Traditional &

online ads

$10 K $40 K

$200 K$1 M

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+Managing Organizational Capacity

Vocalo.orgStaff

• Hire enough new staff to manage change

Curators

• Give them autonomy & leverage their personal brand

Creators

• Provide them better resources for content creation

Listeners

• Make it easier for them to discover us

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+But what if…?

Vocalo can’t keep up with all of the changes?

Important to invest in organizational capacity now

Vocalo loses control of its brand?

Use negative feedback as market research to improve content & services

Social media doesn’t solve all of Vocalo’s problems?

It won’t! But it will help if this plan is followed

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+

Questions?

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Thanks!

@MerTrainor

@devonvsmith

+Appendix:

Comparable Social Media Metrics

Website

Visits

Facebook

Fans

Twitter

Followers

YouTube

Views

Vocalo 164 K 1,961 869 7,116

WBEZ 30 K 10,921 14,920 40,926

WGBH 128 K 3,731 2,193 24,041

PRI 57 K 6,020 11,374 668,048

NPR 6.5 M 762,273 22,250 1,154,818

Last.fm 2.9 M 96,299 35,735 124,187

Podcast Ally 94 K 0 271 n/a

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as of March 2010