Davyne Dial is general manager of one of the oldest community radio stations in the country- WPVM in Asheville, NC.

Advertising on social media can be daunting. There are many methods, many platforms, and many levels of cost to navigate. Yet, amidst this jungle of promotion, there is a way to engage with the public that is effective, without using paid advertising. That, of course, would be live streaming.

Davyne Dial, general manager for WPVM in Asheville, NC has been live streaming since 2008. She maintains that live streaming has been a strong tool for the crew in Asheville. In fact, it has been the best tool to help raise awareness of who they are. “We can use the live streaming to social media to our advantage, like you actually have something like a little mini TV station,” she said.

Live streaming can be used in a variety of ways. It can showcase events, political forums, or live concerts. By the same token, radio stations can use this “little mini TV station” to herald its content to the community, for free.

 

Facebook as a Preferred Streaming Platform

Dial emphasizes Facebook as her preferred social media platform. “Once we are live on Facebook, we have an awful lot of information. Using Facebook’s algorithms and stats tell us about how we are doing,” she said. This is because with Facebook, it is possible to monitor users’ reach and engagement. So, a quick word on these terms. Reach refers to the amount of people who receive the stream on their page. Engagement refers to clicking, sharing and likes. Both measures are easy to analyze on Facebook. And like streaming itself, as of January 2020, they can be analyzed for free.

Last year, Dial shared her own data with others at the annual Grassroots Radio Conference (GRC) in Rochester, NY. She included stats and graphs. The information she found helped her decipher which of her live stream shows were the most popular. She also learned that her controversial post on a local sink hole gained way more attention than her more positive news.

These are just a few of the insights Dial has gained through her use of social media.  Though she can attest to the ever evolving nature of promotion as well as technology, which is why she has been invited to give an updated rendition of her presentation in Rochester.  She continues to stress the importance of live streaming for building a radio station identity.  “It is currently the most effective for our purposes,” Dial said.

Davyne Dial will be reprising her presentation on live streaming for the next Round-Table discussion this February. She will also touch on the topic of boosting posts, and maybe other technology topics that come up.