As Hurricane Milton fast approaches Florida, SoCast wishes everyone well as they brace for impact. We understand that radio is crucial for engaging local communities during emergency weather events. Our hope is that by leveraging the tools and tips below, radio stations can fortify their connection with audiences by delivering real-time, accurate information more effectively than traditional and digital-only media.
We suggest creating a ‘hub page’ for this information, so your listeners know how to find the information they need quickly and easily. We suggest breaking up your hub into the following sections:
Breaking News: Here’s how to keep your community updated with real-time alerts
Place this section at the very top of your website, it should be the first thing your listeners see when visiting. Breaking news articles should include large and engaging images and be continuously updated in order to keep your listeners as informed as possible. This section should also include information on how users can submit tips, videos, and images surrounding emergency weather events and should also include information or links on where or how to get community assistance if needed.
SoCast Tools To Use: Blog List Widget, Blog List Layouts, Sticky Posts, Feature Rotator, Activity Stream Conversations
Top Stories & Trending Articles: Help your audience discover top stories and trending articles on essential weather updates
This is one of the most important sections on your website as your listeners are looking to find out what they need to know before they start their day. This section should be easily accessible as they’ll be looking for more information and in-depth coverage on important weather related news topics. SoCast has a tool that generates a list of top and trending stories for our clients.
SoCast Tools To Use: Blog List Widget
Local News: Provide real-time updates on how weather is impacting your local community
This is a big one. As a small or medium market (even as a large market) you can’t compete with major news corporations for coverage. However, where you can shine is local news. Become a hub for your community by providing news coverage, updates and real-time information on how weather is impacting local sports teams, politics, events, charities, city council, transit, school systems etc. Keep in mind that positive, local stories generate a lot more engagement and conversation while contributing to a more supportive community image.
SoCast Tools To Use: Local Listings System, Cancellations, Forms, Blog List Widget
Planning For The Day: Display vital information so your community can prepare for the day.
Think of all the things you’d want to know in order to get through the day. What’s the weather going to be like? Are there traffic delays? Are there bus or school cancellations? The answers to these questions should be displayed prominently either in your homepage, or sidebar. SoCast has a great weather widget that offers various weather solutions. SoCast also offers a ‘ticker’ that can be added to your homepage (or any page for that matter) to alert your listeners to school closings, bus cancellations and emergency weather updates or information.
SoCast Tools To Use: Weather Widget, Local Listings System, Cancellations System, Ticker Widget
Interactive Media: Enrich your news coverage with comprehensive storytelling
To tell the full news story, you should be consistently adding video, images, sound clips and social media to your posts. You should also have a dedicated area for this media on your site to help your listeners quickly catch up on the issues or discover more. A dedicated video gallery is a great start, as is a dedicated page with sound clips and podcasts. Other media that can be added is user submitted photos and video galleries, as well as embeddable social media (think adding the local transit system, border crossing or police services twitter feed to your site) having interactive media will help provide your listeners with a real-time, in-depth information on the news topics that matter most.
SoCast Tools To Use: Activity Stream Conversations, Soundcloud Widget, Video Widget, Photo & Video Galleries Tool
Browser & App Notifications: Use instant notifications to provide timely updates on local, state, and national news, as well as important community events
Use notifications as a way to offer your listeners direct updates for local, state and national news as well as local events. Push notifications increase conversion rates, and are a great way to send urgent or important information. (i.e emergency updates, breaking news, local news, etc)
SoCast Tools To Use: Use the push notifications tool for the SoCast Mobile app or the Browser Notification tool (one signal membership required) for your website.
For in-depth how-to guides, training and more, visit our Knowledge Base: https://support.socastdigital.com/portal/en/kb
If you’re an existing SoCast client, and are interested in Local Listings, Cancellations or our SoCast Mobile App you can reach out to us at support@socastdigital.com
Otherwise, you can learn how SoCast can help you engage your listeners and reach more customers for your clients through our solutions custom built for the broadcast industry by clicking the ‘Book A Demo’ button.
