Three Reasons to Embed a Chatroom on Your Radio Station Website

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The internet has enabled us to rally around the topics we are most passionate above. An entire community sprung up online to fawn over recent Netflix hit Stranger Things, and during the recent presidential debate thousands of commenters huddled over their keyboards to discuss and debate. It would be foolish then, for radio station websites not to get in on the act. One of the best ways to do this is to embed a chatroom. The relationship between radio station and listener has traditionally been one-sided – one talks and plays music, and the other listens.

There are a number of reasons why this shouldn’t be the case.

Engage Your Listeners with a Chatroom

Embed a chatroom into your radio station website, and you can engage with your audience in a whole new way.

Imagine that you are a radio host. Your work is a juggling act, one in which you must pay close attention to the music, the switchboard, and the needs of your listeners. It’s not easy, but you’re doing well – the numbers show that there are plenty of listeners tuning in.

When you call out for song requests, however, very few people get involved. Same goes for callers. What gives?

It could be that your listeners are simply too busy to phone in. Maybe they don’t feel comfortable talking live on air. Whatever the reason, a chat room is the perfect remedy.

With a chat room, a listener can send a message or request instantly. No queues, no pressure – just instant communication. You can tweak the content of your show in turn, and immediately improve the show for your listeners.

Live interactive chat

It gets better. Whereas previously listeners were restricted to texts and phone calls, they can now use a range of media to get their point across. Instead of trying to tell the host a funny story, a listener could send a picture of it as it happened. This could be enjoyed not just by the host but by the entire group. There’s nothing wrong with a caller explaining the purpose of a demonstration at town hall, but why not allow them to show it to you via an embedded YouTube video?

If this sounds overwhelming, don’t worry. Quality group chats allow you to configure them to fit your needs, however precise.

A Responsive Tool

Last year, Nielsen found that the second quarter of 2015 saw more Americans tuning into radio than ever before. For many, it is their primary means of hearing the news and learning about the latest issues. For a radio station, being on top of those issues is a great asset.

When you embed a chat room into your radio station website, you can learn more from your listeners than their favourite song right now. You discover the pressing concerns, the stories that are burning in the hearts and minds of your listenership. You can leverage this to become an indispensable public service in the eyes (or rather, ears) of your listeners.

This is especially significant during a Q & A or a live debate or event. By inviting the perspective of your audience, you can gain valuable insight into every facet of the issue. Maybe you and your team overlooked an aspect of a discussion that one listener deems crucial. A chatroom enables you to tailor the content and structure of proceedings in real-time based on what your listeners want to hear. In doing so you can build a relationship with your listeners, which brings us to our final point.

Embed a Chatroom and Generate Community

By embedding a chatroom into your radio station website, you lay the foundations for a community to grow.

A group of listeners who send messages to the host will naturally begin sending messages to each other. These people would have previously listened alone. Now, they generate a powerful following for your radio station and its programming that both of you can enjoy. This feeling of camaraderie will have them coming back for more the next time you air.   

This being the internet, debates can sometimes turn sour. As administrator you can communicate directly with any listeners who are being abusive or having a detrimental effect on the chat as whole. If they continue to do so, you can suspend them or even remove them from the chat entirely.

Embedding options

Embedding means, getting a piece of code and adding it to your website (wordpress, html…etc).
RumbleTalk provides 2 types of chat rooms embed.

  • A floating tool bar chat room – an icon on the right or left.
    Floating toolbar embed chatroom
  • An embed option in a page.
    embed in a page or full screen
  • In addition: you can always get the chat to be full screen using a link that is shared with your audience.

You can’t have your eyes on the chat all the time of course, you have a hypothetical radio show to run. Not a problem – you can appoint members of your team to act as moderators. They can police the chat and ensure healthy discussion while you operate the studio.
Those are just a few of the excellent reasons to embed a chat room into your radio station website. It’s important to note that not all chat rooms are equal, and not all of the features mentioned above are available in all chat rooms. Get in touch to find out more.

 

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