The holidays are typically a slower time of year for radio stations. When I was a radio programmer, I used this time to clean my office: throw away anything I didn’t need anymore and file away anything that I still did. It’s also wise to take this time to do the digital equivalent of cleaning house. Here are some things to check on during the holiday lull:
1. Clean up your passwords and logins.
Hopefully, you have the login information for all of your different digital tools compiled into a single master list. Take time to review that list and make sure that it’s up to date. If you have any employees who have moved on during the year, you will want to change passwords or remove their user accounts as appropriate.
2. Figure out what you’re paying for.
Many “software as a service” tools charge a monthly or annual fee. Sometimes, we’ve subscribed to something we no longer need, and we forget about it until the charge shows up on the corporate credit card statement. Look back at the statements for the year and make sure that you’re only paying for the things you really need.
3. Review your social media policy.
Does your radio station have a social media policy? If not, write one. If it does, when is the last time you looked at it? The social media space moves quickly. Review your policy to make sure that it’s up to date.
4. Review the copy on your static website pages.
Many radio stations have website pages that rarely change, such as an “About” page or an “Advertise” page. Peruse these pages to make sure that nothing in the text needs to be updated.
5. Revise your automatic email campaigns.
I am a big proponent of setting up automatic email campaigns to engage with listeners. While this can save your staff a lot of time, there is also a tendency to “set it and forget it.” If you have drip campaigns set up to automatically send out evergreen content, this is a good time to make sure that the content is really as evergreen as you think it is. It may be time to retire that interview with Limp Bizkit or Psy.
6. Check anything that automatically posts to social media.
By the same token, tools that automatically repost content to social media can be a blessing, but you need to keep an eye on them. Take stock of these types of tools. Make sure you understand what they are doing and how you to make any changes if necessary.
7. Update your WordPress plugins.
If your radio station’s website is built on WordPress, any plugins you are using may become outdated over time. The holidays are a good time to update these plugins, but you’ll want to monitor your site carefully to make sure that the updated plugins don’t have any conflicts that can break your site. First, back up your site. Then, copy the live site to a staging area where you can update the plugins safely. Once you’ve updated all of the plugins, spend some time with the staging site looking for any issues. When you’re sure everything is working properly, deploy the staging site to replace the live site. Never update plugins on the live site; you’re asking for trouble if you do.
During the year, we often get so busy that we don’t have the bandwidth to perform maintenance on our digital tools. Take advantage of the downtime to keep things running smoothly at your radio station.
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