Radio and television broadcasters can grow online revenue by developing social communities that promote products, services and subscriptions.

B2B and B2C companies realize the value of online marketing, but specific industries haven’t seen results from their efforts to digitize their business models. For example, radio and television broadcasts have transitioned to the web to reach new audiences and maintain engagement rates with existing fans, but their promotional ventures don’t always result in success.

Radio Revenue 2012In the first nine months of 2012, total digital advertising revenues for the radio industry reached $561 million, according to the Radio Advertising Bureau – up 7 percent year-over-year. While the uptick continues to be enough to encourage marketers to remain active online, the dollar value comes in at just 4.6 percent of total radio ad revenue of $12 billion in 2012. Certainly, radio advertisers realize there’s a lot of room for growth.

In addition, newspapers have an even greater challenge. For the first three quarters of 2012, online ad revenue for major newspaper publications totaled $2.4 billion, an increase of 2.4 percent from the same period last year, the Newspaper Association of America reports. The 2012 figure amounts to 14.9 percent of total newspaper ad revenue, and markets must exploit all options to see the figure jump higher. While newspaper’s online audiences increased by more than 50 percent in the last 12 months, digital ad revenues remained anemic and grew by less than 5 percent year-over-year.

DemandBase Channel Use for 2013One method marketers use to generate more leads and profit from online radio and television consumers is display and banner advertising. In fact, DemandBase’s “Account-Based Marketing in 2013” report shows that 34 percent of B2B marketers plan to increase this option as a way to attract leads. Radio and TV broadcasters may want to promote the potential reach of advertising on their websites, especially with figures showing online newspaper engagement is on the rise. However, companies that want to grow their revenue online must participate in some kind of inbound content creation and social media marketing campaign. Fifty-three percent of B2Bs use content marketing to reach prospective and current customers, and 60 percent embrace social media content to drive sales.

As for radio and TV broadcasters, it’s time to develop online communities built around sharing and consuming custom content. Media compels viewers to form their own opinions, and when brands publish more content to their websites, a higher percentage of readers will respond. To improve revenue in 2013, radio and TV brands must explore the true value of content and social interaction, as these two avenues – supported by banner ads and sales tactics – can greatly influence conversion rates on the web.

Ted Karczewski is an Executive Communications Associate at Brafton. He works to develop his own voice and apply his passions to the evolving world of SEO and content marketing, but he doesn't shy away from writing for fun. After graduating from Suffolk University, Ted used his Communications degree to test out Sports Journalism before Marketing at Brafton.