You might have noticed the massive uptick in collaborations over the past couple of years. So, why are we seeing so many artists teaming up? Why do comics go on every other comic’s podcast? The answer in both cases is simple. It gives them instant credibility with a new audience. At least half of the new comedians I’ve gotten into over the past couple years came from me seeing them on the podcast of a comic I’m already a fan of. So, how can radio get in on this trend and take advantage of the power of collaborations to improve our on-air and digital content? Here are a few thoughts on that.
Pairing up with other in-house radio talent. Remember when most stations had talent in all dayparts (at least during the day)? One of the things we all did was the crossover break where we handed things off to the next shift. It served several purposes, introducing one talent’s audience to another’s, creating comradery between talent and getting to see whether talent had any chemistry together before the next time there’s a team show opening. Those same things can be accomplished by pairing in-house talent together for an audio/video podcast. Plus, it will feed both their shows with content they can use on-air to drive traffic to that podcast. There’s also tons of opportunities for talent to partner up for short form digital content as well. Some of the best short form content I’ve seen out of radio stations came from talent teaming up with other dayparts or other stations within their group.
Pairing talent with outside radio talent. One of the huge strengths that both the music industry and stand up have over radio is they all work together collectively despite the fact that they’re technically in competition with each other. There can only be one number one song at a time or one number one new comedy special at any given time. Radio, however, has traditionally been very reluctant to let our talent work with anyone outside the company, much less a competitor. We’ve all signed non-competes over the years that strictly forbid it. However, our industry is currently fighting for it’s life against more competition than ever including some of the largest companies and brands in the world. So, it’s probably time that we all loosened up a bit on that and allowed our top talent the flexibility to work with select outside on-air talent in ways that benefit both companies.
Pairing radio talent with outside influencers. Radio groups partnering with local influencers is one of the biggest resources most of radio isn’t tapping into. It’s also a perfect marriage. Radio has a megaphone and is behind digitally. Influencers are further along digitally but lack that broad megaphone to quickly reach tons of potential new fans and followers that radio can provide.
Pairing talent with artists, athletes and other local celebrities. One of the perks of being in our industry is that we get to rub elbows with lots of celebrities from other industries. When we plan ahead, and get in the habit of it, those celebrity encounters are great opportunities to collaborate on content. It also helps to write that into any contracts we do with artists that partner with the station for station concerts, events or promotions. Because, it’s a lot harder to say no when it’s tied to a payment.
Luckily, in this digital age it’s very easy to collaborate so everyone grows their digital stats. Any social content can easily be tagged to include everyone involved, all of the talent, their stations and companies. Plus, YouTube’s got a new collaboration feature, that makes it possible for all parties involved in an audio/video podcast to build their own subscriptions simultaneously. This feature makes collaboration even more powerful than it previously was because it removes a step, turning something that took multiple clicks into a single click. We all know how valuable that is digitally.
What do you think? What ways have your stations benefited from the power of collaboration? Comment below or email me at Andy@RadioStationConsultant.com.
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