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Developing a Community Consultation Policy/Strategy
Community radio listeners are increasingly listening to your radio station in ways other than your FM frequency and DAB+. Are you telling your listeners on-air how to listen to your station? Do they know they can listen to your station using their phone and the Community Radio Plus app or on your website as well as your FM frequency?
Webinar: Community Drive Campaign
Grow Your Listener Audience Online
Community Radio Plus
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Communicating with your stakeholders and community of interest is vital to ensure you are representing them in both programming and operations.
Good two-way communication to and from the board, which is transparent and provides clarity, is often key to effective stakeholder engagement.
Here are some more mechanisms that you might use for receiving input from your community.
Audience and Broader Community Surveys - When getting input from your community it’s important to not just look at your audience. It’s as important to know why people listen as it is to know why people do not. Get feedback to use in programming, planning, training and in your licence renewal with the ACMA!
Forums or Focus Groups - Members of your community can be invited to participate in your program management decisions (by being on the committee or through some other mechanism).
Reviewing statistical information about the makeup of the community in your licence area (age, ethnic groups etc...).
Whatever methods you use to monitor your community’s needs, it needs to be demonstrable. In other words, you will need to keep some form of evidence, eg: collections of surveys, program committee minutes, a feedback log – whatever is appropriate. By keeping these records, you will not only improve your service to your community interest, you will also be able to demonstrate that you are accountable to your community at licence renewal time.
A community consultation policy or strategy helps define the communities of interest the station will target as members, listeners and volunteers. On top of this a community radio station should have a plan or procedure for engaging its communities of interest.
The ACMA particularly requires evidence of community engagement for community radio station licence renewals and having formally documented policies and plans around this can assist in the process.
ACMA Draft Community Consultation Strategy
The ACMA recommends using a Consultation Strategy, and the above template can be used to outline your station’s community engagement approach during your five-year licence period (if a permanent-licensed broadcaster). It is to be read in conjunction with your station’s Engagement Program (see below) at all times.
ACMA Draft Structured Engagement Program
The Engagement Program details your station's objectives, aims and expected outcomes, and how the station will achieve these using specific actions and timeframes.
These policies and procedures can be submitted as part of your B66 application for the renewal of your station's permanent licence.
Designed for staff, volunteers and committee members at Australian community radio stations, this toolkit highlights the need for and benefits of political engagement as well as providing easy to follow insights into how to do it successfully.
The complete CBAA Political Engagement Toolkit:
Everything you do on social media should, ideally, be underpinned by a set of goals/aims and a social media strategy or action plan. Having a strategic plan will help you to address:
what your organisation wants to achieve through social media
which social media sites to focus on
how to engage your audience
how frequently to post
how to measure your social media impact
what to do if things go wrong, or when you’re criticised
A social media strategy or action plan may exist as a document, or it may be more a set of understood principles shared by your Social Media team, or it may take the form of a calendar in which you try out different approaches at different times so that you can evaluate what works best for you.
How to create a winning social media strategy
In an ever-changing media landscape, radio is no longer solely about audio content. New generations of listeners increasingly expect a more visual experience to sit alongside their daily radio show.
Social Media Starter Kit for Community Broadcasters
Yes, you can cram your story into a one-minute TikTok. Here's how
A beginner's guide to hooking audiences with Instagram Reels
Write digital headlines both readers and Google will love
NPR's Facebook Live guide
Sending a regular newsletter can be a great way to engage with your community of interest, encourage two-way dialogue, inform your audience and help turn an occasional listener into a super fan!
Mailchimp - How to Start a Newsletter
Collective Voice - How to Start a Newsletter
CBAA is constantly working to build and improve our resource library. If you have a suggestion for a resource please contact us.
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