A.)
iHeartMedia’s social media pages are tailored to buyers by highlighting what the company is doing in the business world. They highlight what the company is doing through events and seminars that they host. For example, on February 5 of this year, they posted on their Instagram about their “#iHeartMedia Learning Series Health + Wellness panel”. Through this post, they can highlight that their company goes out and hosts events showcasing what more their company can do aside from the radio industry. They also feature posts about new podcast episodes, including a link to their iHeartRadio app where users can listen. Through this, iHeartMedia can gain listeners by featuring their podcast and including a link to their specific app, gaining awareness of their app and enticing customers, showing what they have to offer.
B.)
On iHeartMedia’s different platforms, you see mostly the same content posted on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. They post frequently across all of their platforms, but you mostly see the same news and events on all platforms. For example, a post made in September of 2019, featuring a “#FQLounge” event can be found on Instagram and Facebook. You can also see the same post featuring the “#GoRedForWomen” campaign with the American Heart Association featured on twitter and Instagram. iHeartMedia posts them same content throughout all platforms to keep their social media content the same across all channels. Through doing this, iHeartMedia can keep their followers up to date on everything happening throughout the company, without having to check other social media sites. Everything they post seems to be important to the company, keeping all platforms relevant.
C.)
The Awareness stage involves, “buyers identifying their challenge or an opportunity they want to pursue” (Hintz, pp. 5). The Consideration stage is when, “buyers have clearly defined the goal or challenge and have committed to addressing it” (Hintz, pp. 6). Lastly, the Decision stage, “buyers have already decided on a solution category” (Hintz, pp. 7).
iHeartMedia seems to tailor their content within the consideration stage. Through the consideration stage, buyers have heard of iHeartMedia and know what they are promoting, but may not know all of the details about the company. By looking at their social media, their content is mainly focused on showing what the company is doing outside of the radio industry. They post about different events they are a part of and are able to showcase who they stand behind and what the company truly believes in. They also advertise on their social media, new podcast episodes, highlighting who is on the podcast. When a buyer sees this, they are able to click the links provided, and are directed to the app where they can listen to the podcast. They are then enticed by the app and all its features and can move into the decision stage of buying the app and benefiting from all of its uses.
D.)
Through iHeartMedia’s platforms, they can adequately portray their value proposition of “reimagining radio”. In my last blog post, I mentioned the release of iHeartMedia’s new apps: “iHeartRadio Plus” and “iHeartRadio All Access”, but they portray their value proposition differently on social media platforms. Through their social media, they differentiate themselves by having multiple different accounts within a platform so that users can follow whatever pages fit their interests. On Instagram, iHeartMedia has many different accounts available for users to follow. These accounts include: iheartradio, iheartradioca, iheartradiobroadway, iheartlifenyc, iheartlatino and many others. Through these accounts, users can follow whichever they are interested in and have more personalized content.
https://www.instagram.com/iheartradiobroadway/
https://www.instagram.com/iheartlifenyc/
https://www.instagram.com/iheartlatino/
E.)
iHeartMedia does use their various platforms for selling. They promote various new stations, festivals and podcasts through their social media. As seen on their Facebook page on December 13, 2019, they promoted a new podcast episode about Apollo 11. Through the link, users can go directly to the podcast episode. Although users don’t need to buy the specific podcast, they are shown all features of the iHeartRadio app and can then decide if they want to upgrade within the app to get more benefits.
Another example involves their Instagram account. Through the iHeartRadio Instagram account, they promote specific concerts and festivals. When announcing concerts, they post a picture of the artist and include a link to go and buy tickets through the iHeartMedia website.
References:
Hintz, L. (29, October 2018). What Is the Buyer’s Journey? Retrieved from https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/what-is-the-buyers-journey
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