The Digital Life. Doing Business In an Increasingly Digital World

 Wednesday (3/2) CRS attendees got a major does of how life is in the digital world from Media an Technology Expert Shelly Palmer.

He came before a big CRS crowd to talk about how the digital world has changed our world and how we can make it work for us. For the past 140,000 (give or take) years we humans communicated one to one. For the past 35,000 years we have communicated one to many. Over the past 36 months we have been communicating many to one and many to many through social media.

We deal with it either by ignoring it or by experimenting with it. We need to know it. Bottom line: We will never go back..either get on board or get run over by it.

During the past year social media has overthrown governments in the Middle East and has sent Toyota stock down by 30% and sales down 45% in 11 hours. In 11 hours it destroyed of 50 years of branding and building good will and reputation. We need to more like Steve Jobs who enlists an army of supporters who develop all types of apps. In essence, he has multiplied his staff with the addition of these supporters.

Radio competes with every other medium and its customers. We are in the business of selling an audience to an advertiser and good programming is the way to get advertisers to buy what is in our platform. We need to convert our consumers (listeners) into an army of supporters.

Overall, he says, radio websites “suck”.

We need to figure out a way to make our way into our listeners’ “inner circle”. Create a Fan Base Facebook Fan Page that allows people to like you and you can then write on their wall. You can then transfer important, credible information to your listeners and their “inner circles”. Earn your way into the circle. It will earn you credibility and loyalty. And, that, indeed is our long term solution to a short term problem.