Radio Station Promotion

Support

Support

Level 1 Support
Staff member
Promoting a radio show is important to gain a good number of listeners. Making a stream public (having it listed on other radio directory sites) will bring in some listeners its best to promote it in other ways as well. Here are a few ways to get the listeners to tune in :

Internet Radio Directories Get your station listed in as many internet radio directories as you can. We have provided a list of internet radio directories for you to list your station .

Forums and Message Boards Forums that are active or busy are a great place to gain listeners from especially if you regularly bump (reply to) the thread to the top of the forum. Adding a new post every time you switch DJ is a good way to make sure your post is getting attention. Always check your posting your stream up in the most relevant area of the forum and don't spam.

Instant Messaging Chat Rooms and IRC Send all your contacts a message advertising your stream and paste the direct listen link in aswell. This should give you an instant boost of listeners.

MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and Social Networking Sites Because of the popularity of sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace its a great idea to create a bulletin when you stream. This bulletin gets sent to all your online friends. Obviously you must have an account to do this but i know for a fact the streams that do use this as a promotion method get new listeners in.

Exchange Links with other related websites Exchange links with other internet radio websites.

eMail / Mailing Lists This method is not as effective as the forums or chat rooms because people tend to check their email periodically. If you do send a mail out to advertise your stream i would recommend you do it around 24 hours before.

Text/SMS Messages "I know this might sound obvious/silly but I always find texting a few mates who you know own computers helps too. They are usually up for listening as long as they are given a little reminder. I know it's not a great way of getting 'new' listeners but they can sometimes help plug the show on boards that you may not go on or help you bump up the posts you put up on other sites." - BioTech, Partyvibe

Flyers If your doing a flyer for an event (even a party event) then recommend "Internet Radio - www.internet-radio.com" on the flyer. I'm sure a good flyering will bump up the listeners. I recommend that while your connected and streaming your show you take turns at sitting in front of the computer keeping on top of all the forums / chat rooms / instant messengers your advertising in. Its a good opportunity to interact with your listeners to show theres real people behind the stream working hard on their show.

StumbleUpon Ads If you want to get an instant audience and are prepared to pay for it then we recommend StumbleUpon Ads. Heres how it works :

StumbleUpon provides a way to browse the web which differs from standard search engines like Google. Rather than searching you "Stumble" through interesting sites. After users setup their basic interests a toolbar brings you to sites that have been given the "Thumbs Up" by other people who share your interests. You join in by also giving the sites you the a "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down". This helps the system suggest better sites to send you.

StumbleUpon also has an ad service where you can promote a web url for as little as 5 US cents per visitor. If you promote your radios start page (example) then every "Stumble" to your page be 1 listener. This is because our start pages come embedded with a HTML5 player set to auto play.
 
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DiscoDave

Guest
I'd be interested to hear how other stations go about promoting themselves. We only launched in December last year so are still a bit new, but wondered if anyone had any tips for publicity etc to get more listeners.

I've been through the suggested radio directories and added us on there but doesn't really seem to make much difference to be honest. We are planning a poster campaign around the local town, but ultimately won't turn away listeners from anywhere. :nerd:
 
Support

Support

Level 1 Support
Staff member
DiscoDave said:
I'd be interested to hear how other stations go about promoting themselves. We only launched in December last year so are still a bit new, but wondered if anyone had any tips for publicity etc to get more listeners.
Click to expand...

We would be interested too. If any other stations have any other methods of promotion then please post and let us know.

DiscoDave said:
I've been through the suggested radio directories and added us on there but doesn't really seem to make much difference to be honest.
Click to expand...

One other important point with directories we think worth mentioning is making sure your genres are setup correctly. We have created another thread on the subject here : http://forum.internet-radio.org.uk/guides/33-choosing-your-radio-genres-wisely.html

Worth a read. :nerd:
 
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analoguetrash

New Member
I've found linking in with upcoming artists in my genres has worked really well. By playing and promoting their music they've sent a lot of fans our way too as they listen in and become regulars.

I've also got a few of the new artists we're playing to do us Station ID's which promote their stuff and make our stream sound more professional. So far it's working well.

Our stream is very much tied in with the night we're setting up so hopefully once that gets going we'll get even more listeners in.

Adrian
 
Support

Support

Level 1 Support
Staff member
This is a great idea. We get emailed a lot by artists and promotions companies looking for a way to promote their music.

analoguetrash said:
I've found linking in with upcoming artists in my genres has worked really well. By playing and promoting their music they've sent a lot of fans our way too as they listen in and become regulars.

I've also got a few of the new artists we're playing to do us Station ID's which promote their stuff and make our stream sound more professional. So far it's working well.

Our stream is very much tied in with the night we're setting up so hopefully once that gets going we'll get even more listeners in.

Adrian
Click to expand...
 
InterDJNetwork

InterDJNetwork

New Member
I was planning to run stark bollock naked through my local town with the logo painted on my front and back. I wonder if that would help! :bandit:
 
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analoguetrash

New Member
Support said:
This is a great idea. We get emailed a lot by artists and promotions companies looking for a way to promote their music.
Click to expand...

It's also a great way to get free stuff! I get two or three demo CD's a week and a lot of it is really good! We've asked a few of them to come perform at our night so it's cool. Plus, when (if!) they get well known you feel like a bit of a friend to the stars :-D
 
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retrofm dj rio

New Member
promotion

i find promoting through myspace and twitter really helps ive got over 100 followers on twitter and growing also subbmitting your website to as many search engines as possible really drives your web traffic i.e stumble upon digg etc even splut and other obscure directories i also try and drive traffic by subscribing to celebrity twitter feeds and myspace pages as you tend to find they have many followers so adding to them and posting constant station updates etc drives there vistors to your station and site pages even they only browse and look once its still an extra listen or hit also getting your freinds to promote you on facebook via there pages is very usefull im not a personal fan of facebook myself but i do know people who use this service and they drop the odd link for the station on there walls info pages etc also if you google internet radio station promoting you will find many guides and free info code snippets to add extra bits to your site etc to help drive traffic this way
 
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fnoob

New Member
I'm actually creating a whole community around the radio station. It fits my radio genre's very well. Fnoob.com is purely electronic music, which mainly incorporates techno, dnb, electro, house and sub-genres.

I find if you have a decent website with a solid membership base allowing DJs and listeners to submit their own mixtapes and join groups, have various chat and social networking features will keep listeners coming back for more.

My radio is managing to keep its listeners because they have reason to pop back to the website. Not only for news updates, but to interact with others and see what music they have themselves. The live shows from the radio actually add diversity. I think these days there are thousands of internet radio stations out there. It may be worth just checking out the ones at the top of the genre lists on the shoutcast.com directory, check out their websites and see what they offer compared to your website.

However i haven't actually advertised anywhere or done any of the forum 'spamming' yet. mainly concentrating on google rankings for the time being, which is a mammoth mission in itself.

Fnoob only launched at the beginning of September, so it's early days, but i have about 50 outstanding DJ enquiries and various record labels.

Use facebook and twitter! Can'tstate how useful these sites actually are!

Twitter especially. Simply find a band /DJ or relevant account on twitter and start following their followers. There is then a high chance that their followers are interested in your radio. Keep doing this and unfollow those that dont follow back, and after time you have a nice list. I have 1500 decent followers after a months worth of activity, probably 30 mins every 3 days or so to get to that stage. You can then update your account with links to your radio website each time a song is played or a new show starts. I also got 90% of my DJ's from twitter by using this method. there are lots of sites out there that have twitter tools....try to stay way from the twittertrains as they are viral and will spam your account with unwanted updates if you're not careful, this may actually make you lose followers.

Facebook. Create a group - invite your friends. get them to invite their friends and so on. promote your DJs/ show hosts to admin so they can create events and invite their friends and thegroup members to attend. At first it takes a bit of time to set up. After that it's a 5 minute job to repeat.

There are other sites like Digg, Stumbleupon etc. But i haven't had a chance to explore them yet. Maybe someone else can write a guide here?

Feel free to have a look around Fnoob - it may give you some ideas. Im happy to exchange links with other stations. I may even be willing to help out with design and expansion of your website, there may be a fee though depending what you require. But the website is still in beta development and will have most features up and running by 2010.

Above all else, think about being a listener. what did u gain from listening to your radio? why would i go back to it? try and get as much good and especially bad feedback. Create a forum on the website for this.

Lastly - create a guide for your DJs from a technical description to a pre and post show recommendations. not all of us are marketeers, and a little direction is always appreciated....otherwise you probably wouldn't be reading this :). I would also create a press pack and send it out to all online magazines, forums, businesses that you believe would be interested in your radio.

Hope this helps!8)
 
Mystic Politics

Mystic Politics

New Member
link to directory list is dead

redirects to an unfound page.

can u guys give us the correct link to the list of internet radio directorys? Thx 8)
 
Support

Support

Level 1 Support
Staff member
Just added :

StumbleUpon Ads If you want to get an instant audience and are prepared to pay for it then we recommend StumbleUpon Ads. Heres how it works :


StumbleUpon provides a way to browse the web which differs from standard search engines like Google. Rather than searching you "Stumble" through interesting sites. After users setup their basic interests a toolbar brings you to sites that have been given the "Thumbs Up" by other people who share your interests. You join in by also giving the sites you the a "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down". This helps the system suggest better sites to send you.


StumbleUpon also has an ad service where you can promote a web url for as little as 5 US cents per visitor. If you promote your radios start page (example) then every "Stumble" to your page be 1 listener. This is because our start pages come embedded with a flash player set to auto play.
 
jemois

jemois

New Member
Its sad that radio isn't anymore what it was in the old times. Less people listen to radio and switched on TV. I work on radio and will for the rest of my life. I'm glad there are so many live radio stations on the internet so that everybody can enjoy their favorite music and talks. I really like enjoy Ondablanca do to the large categories I can choose from and for TV i like tvlive32.com
 
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radiojockeying

New Member
It is good to know. All the points that you mentioned which are truly appreciable. Keep writing to us. Could you just tell us about best online radio or internet radio?


fnoob said:
I'm actually creating a whole community around the radio station. It fits my radio genre's very well. Fnoob.com is purely electronic music, which mainly incorporates techno, dnb, electro, house and sub-genres.

I find if you have a decent website with a solid membership base allowing DJs and listeners to submit their own mixtapes and join groups, have various chat and social networking features will keep listeners coming back for more.

My radio is managing to keep its listeners because they have reason to pop back to the website. Not only for news updates, but to interact with others and see what music they have themselves. The live shows from the radio actually add diversity. I think these days there are thousands of internet radio stations out there. It may be worth just checking out the ones at the top of the genre lists on the shoutcast.com directory, check out their websites and see what they offer compared to your website.

However i haven't actually advertised anywhere or done any of the forum 'spamming' yet. mainly concentrating on google rankings for the time being, which is a mammoth mission in itself.

Fnoob only launched at the beginning of September, so it's early days, but i have about 50 outstanding DJ enquiries and various record labels.

Use facebook and twitter! Can'tstate how useful these sites actually are!

Twitter especially. Simply find a band /DJ or relevant account on twitter and start following their followers. There is then a high chance that their followers are interested in your radio. Keep doing this and unfollow those that dont follow back, and after time you have a nice list. I have 1500 decent followers after a months worth of activity, probably 30 mins every 3 days or so to get to that stage. You can then update your account with links to your radio website each time a song is played or a new show starts. I also got 90% of my DJ's from twitter by using this method. there are lots of sites out there that have twitter tools....try to stay way from the twittertrains as they are viral and will spam your account with unwanted updates if you're not careful, this may actually make you lose followers.

Facebook. Create a group - invite your friends. get them to invite their friends and so on. promote your DJs/ show hosts to admin so they can create events and invite their friends and thegroup members to attend. At first it takes a bit of time to set up. After that it's a 5 minute job to repeat.

There are other sites like Digg, Stumbleupon etc. But i haven't had a chance to explore them yet. Maybe someone else can write a guide here?

Feel free to have a look around Fnoob - it may give you some ideas. Im happy to exchange links with other stations. I may even be willing to help out with design and expansion of your website, there may be a fee though depending what you require. But the website is still in beta development and will have most features up and running by 2010.

Above all else, think about being a listener. what did u gain from listening to your radio? why would i go back to it? try and get as much good and especially bad feedback. Create a forum on the website for this.

Lastly - create a guide for your DJs from a technical description to a pre and post show recommendations. not all of us are marketeers, and a little direction is always appreciated....otherwise you probably wouldn't be reading this :). I would also create a press pack and send it out to all online magazines, forums, businesses that you believe would be interested in your radio.

Hope this helps!8)
Click to expand...
 
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fozzy

New Member
Good DJs Good music cover all music genres and bingo post your site all over forget itunes thats bull shit need real people to tune in Itunes is bullshit
 
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i99Radio.com

New Member
Best advice I can give that has worked VERY well (for twitter) for us thus far for only being around only a few months.

Download an app called "JustUnfollow" on your iOS/ Android phone & click "Copy Followers". Then type in the bigger name radio stations out there in your genre (You can follow upto 1,000 per day) and boom, instant followers of the same type of music.

Not all of them (in fact maybe at most 200-300 may follow) will follow, but do this every day (& unfollow those who don't follow back) and you will eventually have thousands of followers that like the music you play. It takes maybe 5-10 mins per day.

Now you got a large 'targeted' audience'

It's a cheesy way, but you know what, it works ;)
 
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