Today, the goal of radio stations isn’t just to get more listeners to tune their car radios to the radio station, but to encourage consistency through reaching out to radio listeners in a variety of ways. Radio personalities already (hopefully) have a strong connection to their radio listeners because that is the main goal of morning/afternoon shows. The challenge is knowing how to give your listeners more while fostering even stronger connections with your audience. Here are some best practices to think about beyond great web design and social media for your radio station website.

Getting your radio station listeners to your website
Get Involved
Radio stations rely completely on one particular listening area so it’s important that everyone that lives, works or drives through this area knows about your radio station website. Research festivals or sporting events scheduled in the neighborhood and make sure your radio station is front and center! Become a sponsor or offer entertainment via your radio station. Make a trade with festival organizers and offer advertising on the radio station in exchange for some spotlight!.

Hook ‘Em
The transition for many from just radio listeners to active participants on your website is important and you have to encourage the move by offering incentives, added information and behind-the-scenes views. Let them know on your radio station that just because you can’t show them pictures or videos over the airwaves doesn’t mean they can’t see great multi-media content. Give them a good reason to visit the website, grab their information and continue to keep ‘em hooked.

Social Media
Getting information from viewers can be challenging but one of the most important initiatives of social media and webpages is for users to subscribe so you can continue to entice them with weekly newsletters and updates. Making sure your radio station is active with all the prominent social media outlets (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc) is imperative so you can connect with your listeners on a more personal way more consistently.

For your Website
Multi-Media
Be sure to include a variety of multi-media images including an array of photos of hit artists, videos of events or contests and rotating slide-shows of behind-the-scenes footage. A great way to accomplish this is through advertising for artists and events.

Stay Well Informed
Become a hub of information about your music industry and make a variety of information available to your users. Stay up to date on the information and make sure you are reporting about interesting things that people will want to know more about.

Internet Radio Stations
Streaming radio is necessary and important to the livelihood of your radio station. Be sure to include a way for people to listen on their computer.

Just Played
A great way to generate traffic and maintain an audience is to provide, on the website homepage, what songs were just played and what is playing now. Adding some information about the artist/songwriter is a good idea. Plan this feature into your web design, your radio station listeners will love it.

Radio Personality Blogs
Asking your radio station personalities to create and maintain a blog is a great way to ensure consistency with your audience. These blogs will also bring search engine traffic to your website, and hopefully bring new listeners to your radio station.