Anchor Analysis: Ways Businesses Can Use & Discover Audio Commentary

In the latest update to Anchor, members can now add voice commentaries to any content on the web.

The process is pretty simple when using any mobile browser:

First, click on the share button on your mobile browser.

Scroll through your list of share options and select “More” if you don’t see Anchor listed. Once you select more, you can enable Anchor to appear as a sharing app.

Second, click on the “Anchor” button to share that URL. This will then store that URL in Anchor as a reminder for you to discuss that content in your next wave.

The next time you go to Anchor, you will be prompted to talk about that URL.

If you prefer to avoid all these steps, you can simply copy and past the URL in your Anchor caption. However, the ability to share directly from your mobile is a great way to remind yourself to talk about a particular article, video, photo, etc.

Businesses can leverage audio commentaries in a variety of ways:

1. Discover Audio Commentaries Referencing Your Business, Industry or Competitors

There isn’t s a discovery feature to search for URLs (and what people are saying about them in Anchor yet). However, you can use social monitoring tools to find out what people are saying on Anchor about articles important to your business.

You can create a simple search filter in TweetDeck to track “anchor.fm” mentions along with URLs you want to monitor. In the example below, I wanted to see who was making waves about the latest medium.com article by Anchor. I set up a simple filter in TweetDeck tracking tweets with “anchor.fm” along with “medium.com/@anchorfm.”

This filter revealed waves about the latest post. This method isn’t perfect because it’s not filtering a specific URL, but it can at least help track discussions on root domains. You can improve the filter by adding in keywords that might be associated to the wave. This filter only works to help you discover waves tweeted out. You wouldn’t see waves about articles only posted within the Anchor community.

As you discover these waves, you can decide on whether you should reply back or not. If you can provide insight into the discussion, you should reply to share your point of view. The goal is to add value and create more dialogue about the issue.

You can learn more ways to discover waves that matter here.

2. Use Audio Commentaries for Thought Leadership

Aside from just tweeting a 140 character response about an article, why not also include a wave that provides your audio commentary on the issue. Your voice will help your social post stand out – and will help you humanize your brand as you share your point of view.

3. Discuss Helpful Content That Will Benefit Your Community

As you find helpful content that you would normally share out on social channels, why not add your audio commentary as well and tag the author. This takes a bit more time, but the audio can help you create a dialog about important topics for your community. Aside from that, you can highlight websites that your target audience will find value from.

In this example, I’m using our business account to talk about an article on WalletHacks.com about how much to save for an emergency fund. The goal is to build a discussion about this important topic with our community.

4. Use Audio Commentary in Podcasts

Anchor commentaries aren’t just for building discussions in Anchor, you can re-use the audio in your business podcast. And, if you get permission from those dialoguing with you on Anchor, you can include that discussion as well. Adding new voices and fresh insight from your community is a great way to add variety to your podcast (and more visibility) when you inform everyone they are featured in your latest podcast.

Think long-term when creating these audio commentaries so that the audio is evergreen. This way, you can share out those waves often.

How would you like to see businesses leverage audio commentaries? I’d love to know your thoughts.