All That Twitters Is Not Gold Findings, case studies and tools on forming strategies for online serv

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All That Twitters Is Not GoldFindings, case
studies and tools on forming strategies for
online servicesSRG RetreatAugust 12,
2008Sedona, AZ
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SESSION OVERVIEW
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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

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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
none
basic/ minimal
rich/ enhanced
solid
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1. Providing information about the station
subcategories
Overall
a. Programming
b. Plans and activities
c. Reception
d. Support
e. Staffing
f. Work opportunities
g. Station background
h. Governance
none
basic/ minimal
rich/ enhanced
solid
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2. Providing additional audio programming access
and service subcategories
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
none
basic/ minimal
rich/ enhanced
solid
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3. Supplementing broadcast programming with
additional content subcategories
Overall
a. Lists, picks, sources and links
b. Current information updates and details
c. Extended and enhanced program content
none
basic/ minimal
rich/ enhanced
solid
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4. Providing content not directly related to
broadcast programming subcategories
Overall
a. Extended community information
b. Select topical information
c. Niche community service
none
basic/ minimal
rich/ enhanced
solid
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5. Stimulating listener/user engagement and
interaction subcategories
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
none
basic/ minimal
rich/ enhanced
solid
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5. Stimulating listener/user engagement and
interaction subcategories
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
none
basic/ minimal
rich/ enhanced
solid
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Additional site ratings and information
Use of Public Interactive
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Overall 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
How many full time equivalent (FTE) staff
positions do you have dedicated to all aspects of
online work?
1 FTE
2 - 4 FTEs
5 - 7 FTEs
8 - 10 FTEs
10 FTEs
Source online survey of SRG members. n 15
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Online staffing reporting relationships
Where do the positions you have dedicated to
online work report within your organization?
Separate online/web/digital unit
Development
Promotion
Programming
IT
Operations
Split departments
Source online survey of SRG members. n 15
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Online investment levels
We really missed seeing how the web would grow
and anticipating the investments we would make in
it over the past 10 years.
What would you estimate as your total spending
for online services this year - staff,
contractors, bandwidth, etc.?
Percent of total budget
Source online survey of SRG members. n 13, 14
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Usage comparison monthly web visitors andweekly
radio cume selected SRG members
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Usage comparison Weekly streaming AQH andweekly
total AQH selected SRG members
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B. Whats the view ahead?

• Views for 3 years out on
• Users media mix and desired experience
• Role and value of local vs. global
• Degree and pace of change in the media
  environment
• Degree and nature of the organization change
  required

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1. Users media mix and desired experience
ACCESS Democratization of platforms
More shaving away at traditional media, more
reallocation of time

• Continued shifting to online

My iPhone experience is convincing me

• Significant mobile access

Radio will be catching up with TVs DVR and web
realities

• More on demand streaming, downloads and podcasts

The jurys really out

• Radio listeners vs. audio samplers?

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1. Users media mix and desired experience
DEVICES APPLICATIONS incremental adoption

• Tools will remain much the same its 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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1. Users media mix and desired experience
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 Im not exactly sure what
  people want from us online
• Theres 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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2. Role and value of local vs. global
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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2. Role and value of local vs. global
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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2. Role and value of local vs. global
BUT THE VALUE NEEDS TO BE THERE
Way beyond rebroadcast model

• Significant local reporting, producing, curating,
  hosting and posting

But it has to be awfully good

• Localization of the global

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

• A seamless user experience in seeking content

Not everyone wants to slog through the
blogosphere

• Continued editorial credibility and judgment

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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3. Degree and pace of change in the media
environment
ITS A QUESTION OF THE ADOPTIONltgtADAPTATION
DYNAMIC ...
Were not being pressed by our core to be among
the online avant garde or go mobile but
then again, were not hearing anything at all
from those who arent listening to radio.

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

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

• How much do we need to adapt to be adopted?

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3. Degree and pace of change in the media
environment
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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3. Degree and pace of change in the media
environment
AND A QUESTION OF RADIOS 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 -- thats 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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4. Degree and nature of the organization change
required
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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4. Degree and nature of the organization change
required
MINDSETS CHANGES

• Marketing and branding beyond the station

Its not being on just your website that
matters You can create an aura that makes
people think you are much bigger than you are
Were still just using the web to do more radio

• Actually producing for the web

Were not finding out from them what they want

• Asking users

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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

Whats the strategy Whats notable Whats the
lesson
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WBUR1

• Paul LaCamera
• General Manager
• Robin Lubbock
• Director of New Media

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WBUR2
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WBUR3
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WBUR4
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WBUR5
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LPM1

• Jon Hoban
• Deputy Director
• Tom Mundt
• Director of New Media Strategies
• Donovan Reynolds
• Executive Director

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LPM2
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LPM3
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LPM4
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KUOW1

• Jenna Montgomery
• Director of online Service
• Wayne Roth
• General Manager

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KUOW2
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KUOW3
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KUOW4
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KUOW5
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• Tim Eby
• Radio Station Manager
• Susan Meyer
• Director of Communications

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• Steve Bass
• President CEO
• Lynne Pollard
• VP, Interactive Services

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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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Scope of a fully integrated online strategy
Online Strategy (options, choices, approaches,
tactics)
Organization Model
Strategic Intent (institutional purpose, core
values,vision)
Public Media Strategy (options, choices,
approaches, tactics)
Investment Approach
Performance Assessment Model
Online Value Proposition (from user and
competitor perspectives)
Work in process
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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Strategic intent

• A 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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Public Media strategy mapping the factors
KEY FACTORS
Target
Audience
Impact
Geographic orientation
Content
Public Media Strategic Options
Subject matter orientation
Platform positioning
Access
Interaction engagement
Sources/mix
Economic model
Interrelation-ship of sources
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Public Media strategy mapping the factors and
options
KEY FACTORS
STRATEGIC OPTIONS

• Existing segment(s)

Target

• Extension of existing segments(s)

• New segment(s)

Audience

• Greater share of target segment(s)

Impact

• More time spent using

• Increased value from time spent using

• Local from the local perspective

Geographic orientation

• Local from a global perspective

• Global for the locals

Content

• Broad surveycover the landscape keep users in
  the know

Public Media Strategic Options
Subject matter orientation

• Deep diveown certain subjects be the go to
  source

• Broadcast leadsall web content linked to and
  supplements broadcast programs

• Fully cross-leveragedcomplementary but distinct
  content heavy cross-promotion

Platform positioning

• Web leadsunique, deep web content resources
  shift to web broadcast sends to web

• Agnostic and independentcontent determines
  platform each grows/serves on own

• Where expectede.g. analog FM broadcast and web
  stream - for now

Access

• Early to everywheree.g. mobile, other websites,
  satellite - others as emerge

• Encouraging contributions

Interaction engagement

• Building station community loyalty

• Building civic community

• Existing sources and mix

Sources/mix

• Some new sources and remix

Economic model

• Significant new sources and remix

Interrelation-ship of sources

• Independent streams

• Integrated approach/appeals

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Branching further down to the details on options
STRATEGIC OPTIONS gtgtgtgt TACTICAL OPTIONS
KEY FACTORS
Audience
Money materials
Content
Time services
Platform positioning
Access
Encouraging contributions
I think the emphasis on engagement from our 20s
advisory board members is more on content than on
the social networking part. They have other ways
that they can do that.
Public Media Strategic Options
Interaction engagement
Building social networks (issue/topic focused)
Building civic community
Informing (issue/topic focused)
Economic model
Convening
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Public Media strategy making choices
Illustrative
KEY FACTORS
STRATEGIC CHOICES
Target

• Existing segment college educated civically
  minded

Audience

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

Impact

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

Geographic orientation

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

Content

• Broad survey be the areas primary media source
  for staying in touch across a broad range of
  topics and perspectives

Subject matter orientation
Public Media Strategic Choices
Access

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

Platform positioning

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

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

Interaction and engagement

• Building station community increase listeners
  self-identity as listeners use their networks
  to encourage others to listen/view

• 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

Sources
Economic model
Interrelation-ship of sources

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

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Online strategy deriving from overall strategy
Illustrative
Online Strategy and Tactics
KEY FACTORS
STRATEGIC CHOICES
Existing segment

• 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

Target
Audience
Greater share of target segment
Impact
Increased value from time spent using

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

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

Geographic orientation
Local from a global perspective
Content
Subject matter orientation

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

Broad survey
Public Media Strategy

• 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

Access
Where expected
Platform positioning
Broadcast leads

• 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

Encouraging contributions
Interaction and engagement
Building station community

• 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
  stations own social networking sites)

Some new sources and mix
Sources

• 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

Economic model
Interrelation-ship of sources
Integrated approaches/appeals
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Competitive value proposition
KEY FACTORS
PROPOSITION POINTS AND COMPETITIVE POSITIONING
Superior local coverage and content
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.
Content
Deep archive on key area issues
Context
Better integration of local and global content
Benefits
Better editorial/curatorial sensibility
Credibility
Unusual organizational transparency
()
Sense of belonging
Engaging discussion participation
Online Value Proposition
Sense of ownership
Personally posted and credited content
(-)
Limited access
Slow load streams poor audio quality player
incompatibility
Difficulty of navigation
Casting off to other sites un-integrated
sections/pages
Costs
Lack of search capabilities and options spurious
search results
Difficulty of search
Lifelessness
Inactive blogs, threadless discussion boards,
static or automated social networking pages no
voice no sense of place
Awareness of the value proposition
Clutter
Visual incompatibility and clutter of
advertising competing page elements
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Competitive value proposition
KEY FACTORS
PROMOTION OPTIONS
Broadcast channels
Website(s)
Own
Social network sites
Direct mail
Sources
Awareness of the value proposition
Frequency
Time
Place
Receptivity
Context
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E. What is our collective agenda for greater
online significance?
What are your greatest needs for support and
assistance over the next two years in developing
and managing your online services?
Greatest Need Mentions
Strategy development
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Audience understanding and measurement
2
Production and operating models
2
Economic models
2
Organization models
2
System-wide resources and support
2
Greatest Need
No Need