Radio Sales Café

How many of you use the social networking sites to sell? How many of you use these sites for communication with clients? Feedback please!

We actually use our Facebook page (which is linked to our Twitter account) for several purposes. We'll advertise upcoming promotions to encourage listeners to participate; we publicize upcoming live broadcasts at businesses to give them more publicity; we add links to our Facebook page for added value; and to keep our listeners interested in the station- staff pixs, meet & greet pixs, etc.

In addition, we've held contests on our Facebook page. I'll pose a saying and the listeners' will have to call the DJ operating the boards and give them that phrase, complete it, or answer it. That helped to double the amount of fans we have on our page.

It continues to grow a little more every day.

I use facebook to communicate with clients who prefer that method of communicaiton. Selling is about relationships. By being their friend on facebook I establish myself as their friend in life. It also allows me to keep up with what is going on in thier lives. I am even friends with many of my clients kids. On the other hand I have clients that wouldn't know what facebook was if it slapped them in the face..LOL The other thing I do with facebook is self promote. when I write a really good ad for a client I post it on youtube and then on facebook. I also promote my clients to my other friends if they are having sales or things like that I post it on facebook... I hope that makes sense....

Maybe it's geographical, or our older demographics, but in SE Iowa only our PD uses FB, but no Tweeting.

About 95% of my clients are too busy in their small market & tiny market business to do social networking.

I'm sure that will change, but slowly. I'll do it when it makes sense (& cents) in our area!

Hi Heather,

I do not use my personal Facebook account to connect with my clients - unless that client was already a friend before they became my client or they "friend" me on Facebook and request that form of communication. My personal Facebook account is for me to stay connected with my family and friends and quite frankly, I do not have the time to update it more than once or twice a week. Yes, selling is about relationships, but it is also about professionalism and I think that Facebook is a social networking site...not a place to do business.

On the other hand, my station uses our Facebook and Twitter accounts to help our listeners track contests, local news and weather updates. We have found that not many people in our market are that interested in Twitter at all and many say they don't have time for business on a social networking site. However, I am in a very small market on an island in Alaska where people still prefer to do business Face to Face or over the phone.

It is funny because Missy and I had this same conversation in November at the ABA Convention in Anchorage and she is the only sales person I have spoken to that actually uses Facebook to communicate with clients. I guess really it comes down to a matter of personal choice - both my choice and the clients' choice as to whether or not they want to communicate that way. I personally don't like it when I call a client or go see them and they respond to back to me via email and especially Facebook. I think it is a cop out and an easy forum for your clients to tell you "no". It is much harder to say "no" to someone standing in your office than to someone behind a keyboard! However, I admit that I am a bit old school and my boss says...Look at the numbers...if it isn't working...then fix it BUT if old school is working, why reinvent the wheel?

I am looking forward to seeing other people's reply's and relish getting any ideas of how to make more of the new technologies work for selling radio.

Julie Slanaker
KFMJ 99.9 FM

Hi Missy,

Do you get permission from your clients before posting ads on Youtube or Facebook? I know many of my clients would be completely upset (P.O.'D) if I did that with their ads without their permission. I have asked 3 clients permission to post their ads on Radio Sales Cafe and have been turned down all 3 times.

I hope you are having a stellar 4th quarter! Talk to you soon!

Julie Slanaker
KFMJ 99.9 FM

I use my facebook and my twitter account to communicate with clients, as well as my 500 other friends on facebook. I have found that putting a new copy idea, or posing questions on facebook can be very, very helpful....you get so much feedback. There are some drawbacks to putting yourself out there, but as long as you have the right security on your account then there is really no risk. (in my opinion of course)

I have also used my facebook and twitter to do additional advertising for my clients, if they are having a sale or running a promotion, or if I have just been to a restaurant for example, I will rave about how amazing the food was. Clients get the recognition and I get the feedback, which I can later use for talking points in my copy.

In addition to those two things, I use my facebook to sell myself...my ideas, and our companies promotions and events....I have really enjoyed using the Facebook networking as a marketing tool, and I have found it very useful.

As far as Twitter goes, I have closed 3 different accounts by offering to help them set up a twitter page, we then use their Twitter page to "tweet" sales and promotions, and refer to the Twitter page in their spots.

As far as I am concerned....Both of these sites can be very useful if you use them correctly


Heather Lawless
Account Executive
Idavend Broadcasting