Keeping Pace with the Velocity of Change

How much time do you set aside each week to increase knowledge? What percentage of that time is used to experiment - where failing is most probable and going through the motion of anything is a learning experience?

Musicians know. The serious ones spend hours, months over the course of their careers just putting notes together. Organizing a noise with no particular objective is what usually delivers a song.

Advanced radio broadcasters do, too. The internet offers hundreds of ways - and that's being conservative - to create programming. Each needs to be studied first, to learn, before experimenting. Think of time spent with social media. What you do once you learn makes your station "different" from what others are doing.

The common elements to both of the above are the time and a desire to change. How much of each do you have?

                        Change Waits for No One

At the very least, be you a musician, podcaster or radio station operator, the minimum knowledge required is how all that you are given to work with online ties together.

It may not be obvious that people use your web site differently depending on what type of device they use to access it, but that's fact. It's why over the past couple of months I have spent less time writing and listening to new artists, and loads of time studying and rebuilding our web sites.

RadioRow and RRadioMusic are now "mobile friendly," which took time. I don't consider either completed. (That happens after this Audio Graphics site gets its mobile friendly redo.)

Relative to this discussion: Google recently mandated change in site design to enhance the viewer's experience on mobile devices. Though technical, skimming the explanations of what it expects gives managers a view on how important the device has become. It also points to how spot-on that observation by Marshall McLuhan was over 50 years ago: "The Medium is the Message."

You don't need to know all of how Google Play, Apple's Beats Music, and dozens of podcasting or streaming companies operate. You do, though, need to understand how they affect your options. To do business online you are required to have an understanding on how various devices affect a user's online habits. You also need basic knowledge of the following, regardless of your own niche of expertise:

Social Media
Email Marketing
Subscription-Based Data Gathering
Online Surveys
Browsers
Online Marketing
Search Engines
Search Engine Keyword Ad Buying
Search Engine Content Advertising Networks
Local Search Marketing
Behavioral Targeting
Internet Advertising Standards
Online Payment Systems
Podcasting
Web Site Analytics
Radio Streaming
Video Streaming
Online Ad Networks
Internet Radio Networks
Internet Radio Advertising Sales
Radio Advertising Insertion into Streams
Synchronized Audio/Video Ad Insertion
Customer Relationship Management Programs
Online Meetings
Video Webcasting
(The above is not a complete list.)

Those just stepping into online marketing of music or audio programming today must firmly grasp this: With the velocity of change, don't learn and you'll burn.







Tuesday, May 12, 2015      eMail to a Friend