As someone who runs an online community radio station, you’re always looking for new ways to engage your listeners and keep them coming back for more. One powerful tool for doing just that is adding a chat room to your broadcasting platform.
There are multiple types of chat rooms out there. However, all allow your listeners to connect with each other in real-time, share their thoughts on your programming, and create a sense of community around your station. The three broad categories of chat rooms are integrated, bundled and external.
In this blog post, we’ll give you a brief description of each of the chat room categories and their respective costs and benefits. We’ll also explore the advantages of adding a chat room to your online radio station. By the end of this post, you’ll be well on your way to creating a more interactive and engaging experience for your listeners.
I. The three broad categories of chat room solutions
As mentioned previously the three broad categories of chat room solutions are:
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Integrated,
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Bundled, and
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External.
No category is the perfect one-size-fits-all solution. Each are dependent on multiple factors, the most critical being:
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the available resources (time, money etc.) your station is willing to deploy to add and maintain a chat room,
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the existing software your stations uses to broadcast it’s content, and
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the amount of customisation you wish to have over the chat room.
Additionally, no category is exclusive of the others. You can have a combination of different chat rooms each falling into different categories. This could be of benefit to your listeners, but any additional complexity resulting from multiple chat rooms is likely to result in greater costs for you as a radio station manager.
Let’s get to describing each category so you can make the decision on what sort of chat room solution is ideal for your community radio station.
1. Integrated
An integrated chat room solution is ultimately provided by an external piece of software, where the chat room window can be integrated into your website. This usually involves modifying your site’s HTML or adding some additional JavaScript code to it. There are many chat room software options available, each with its own features and pricing plans. Some possible options include:
The main selling point of selecting an integrated chat room is your listeners can enjoy your content whilst chatting with fellow listeners all through the same website. A website which you control and have styled in a manner which best represents your brand and purpose.
Using Radio Cult as an example, all you need to do is take the two minutes to copy and paste the generated HTML into your own website and you’re locked and ready (what’s more, if a user has downloaded our mobile app they can listen and chat all through the convenience of their phone). We even allow you to style components of the UI, so that the embeddable chat room blends in seamlessly with your website’s styling. After a few minutes of work, your listeners across mobile and web will be sending text and GIF messages with each other.
The biggest hurdle to overcome with using an integrated chat room solution is the technical knowledge required to set it all up. Though it is certainly not onerous to do so, it does require some basic web development knowledge on your part or a cash outlay to hire someone to do it for you.
2. Bundled
A bundled chat room solution is when the chat functionality is bundled alongside other features by the external provider. The chat functionality is never the primary feature of the platform, but rather it complements the key service provided (which is nearly always content creation). The two most common options in this category are YouTube and Twitch.
Both of these options are hugely popular and have massive user bases. It is quite likely a number of your listeners have used either service and have existing accounts with either. This pre-existing familiarity is a huge advantage. Additionally each of these chat rooms have a rich feature set which include giving users the ability to send GIFs and donate money to the content creator. Both YouTube and Twitch offer their chat room functionality free of charge.
The key disadvantage of this type of chat room is implied in the category name. The chat room is bundled with the primary features of the respective platform. From your perspective as radio station manager this means you have to stream your content through either provider to get access to the chat room. Now, this clearly isn’t a problem if you already use YouTube or Twitch for such streaming purposes, but if you don’t then this is yet another tool you have to manage.
3. External
This category of chat room, is a solution where it is both created and hosted by an external provider. It is highly likely the chat functionality provided is one of the key offerings of the platform. The most popular option for this category is Discord.
Discord allows users to create either public or private servers where they can communicate with each other through a variety of mediums including most importantly chat messages. Similar to the platforms above, Discord is extremely popular. It also has a large existing user base and a rich feature set. The primary purpose of Discord is to facilitate communication rather than content creation, hence as a radio station manager you don’t need to stream of any of your content through Discord to gain access to its chat functionality. Nor do you need to provide any money as setting up a Discord server is entirely free.
The primary advantage of this sort of chat room is also its main disadvantage. That being, the solution is external to your radio station. You will certainly get a polished product should you pursue this category, but it has it’s costs. Your listeners need to be aware you’re using Discord and the link to your specific server. Further your listeners need to have simultaneous access to your radio stream and Discord should they wish to share their thoughts in real time. None of these factors are at all insurmountable, but they should be considered when making your decision.
II. Benefits of adding a chat room to a radio station
Adding a chat room to your online radio station can offer numerous benefits, both for your listeners and your station as a whole. Here are a few of the most significant advantages:
Improved listener engagement and retention
A chat room allows your listeners to engage with each other in real-time while they listen to your programming. This can help keep them more engaged and interested in your station, which can lead to increased listener retention over time. If you're interested in measuring retention, make sure you check out our blog post about analytics.
Creation of a sense of community among listeners
By facilitating real-time conversations between listeners, a chat room can help create a sense of community around your online radio station. This can foster a deeper connection between your listeners and your station, which can increase loyalty and word-of-mouth promotion.
Opportunity for real-time feedback and interaction
A chat room also provides a platform for real-time feedback and interaction between your listeners and your station. This can be invaluable for gaining insights into your listeners’ preferences, thoughts, and reactions to your programming, which can help you refine your content and improve your station over time.
III. We’re done here
In conclusion, adding a chat room to your online radio station is a powerful tool for engaging your listeners and creating a sense of community around your station. The three broad categories of chat room solutions, integrated, bundled, and external, each have their own costs and benefits, and the choice ultimately depends on factors such as the available resources and the amount of customization you desire.
Integrated chat rooms allow your listeners to enjoy your content while chatting with fellow listeners all through the same website, but require some technical knowledge to set up. Bundled chat rooms complement the primary features of the platform and have a rich feature set, but require you to stream your content through the provider to access the chat room. External chat rooms, such as Discord, provide a polished product, but require your listeners to be aware of the link to your server and to have dual access to both your radio stream and Discord.
Ultimately, adding a chat room to your online radio station can greatly enhance the listening experience for your audience and create a strong sense of community around your station.
We hope you found this article helpful and informative. If you ever have any questions or need any additional services, feel free to reach out to us here at Radio Cult. We are the home of community radio and we can’t wait to help you.
As always, keep it locked.