31 Things You Can Do With Anchor.fm

(Last Updated On: March 30, 2016)

About Anchor.fm

Anchor.fm is a new audio social media platform. Currently, it’s only available for iOS (Apple) devices. Video is hot, yet, so is podcasting and this platform brings audio sharing to the people. It’s billed as the people’s public radio.

Anchor allows you to create a two-minute audio file or Wave. After you share your wave, listeners may comment or reply for up to one minute at a time — extending the audio segment. You can also reply back and off it goes, a conversation. Your Anchor.fm Wave is easily sharable on Twitter, Facebook and other social media. You can embed your Wave on your blog too.

Currently, it doesn’t seem like you can get the embed code from your dashboard. However, you can grab it off your shared Waves. If you press share within your dashboard and then copy, you will receive a link. Follow the link to the location where your audio is hosted. At that point you can share again and receive your embed code for your blog. You can also get the embed code from your shares on Facebook and other social media.

There is a lot you can do with Anchor. One of the best uses is to ask questions to encourage people to interact with you. This is another good platform to develop awareness and your expertise. Unlike Periscope and Facebook Live, you can stay in your pajamas while starting a conversation. Below is a list of things you can do with this new platform.

What can you do on Anchor.fm?

1. Teach A Class: This is an excellent platform for interactive teaching with question and answer sessions.
2. Interview Experts: Ask experts in your industry to join you on Anchor. Both you and your expert can ask and answer questions from the community.
3. Test your comedy: I’ve heard a few comedians share new material. This is one way to get feed back without standing in front of an audience.
4. Review A Restaurant: Share a few thoughts about your experience at a restaurant, invite reaction and comments from your listeners experience.
5. Survey: This is a good way to gather intelligence and opinion from people who are interested in your topic, service, product or industry.
6. Political Debate: It’s that time. Many people engage in passionate debate on social media. Such debates are informative, entertaining and sometimes painful. The benefit of Anchor is people can share their opinion without interruptions and people talking over each other. There is no benefit to being the loudest.
7. Test Headlines: Get reaction to headlines you are considering for your next blog post.
8. Cooking Tips: What is your favorite cooking tip? Develop an audience and following around your insight and knowledge about preparing great food.
9. Sing: Share your song and embrace the feed back. Maybe you’re having trouble with a line or two and would like some input. Give an intimate preview of a song you’re about to release.
10. What Should I Wear?: Should you wear blue shoes with a pink jacket? I don’t know. Yet, I know there are a lot of people who have opinions and good ideas about fashion. What goes with what and which are the proper accessories?
11. Movie Review: In two minutes how is the new hit movie or art house release? Are the critics correct? Get the conversation going.
12. Stock Tips: What stock is going to make a move today? Those in the know can build a following around their financial and market insight.
13. Special Offer: Share a special offer with your community. Give a discount to Anchor listeners, receive feed back and develop a conversation round your product as a side benefit.
14. News Headlines: What is happening in the news? Pick a headline and start a conversation.
15. Town Hall: Start a town hall meeting with your local community. What issues is your town facing and how can you fix them.
16. Brain Storm: Are you looking for new ideas or trying to solve a problem. Start a brain storming Wave and gather ideas from people in different industries and parts of the world.
17. Mastermind Group: Develop an interactive mastermind group with your community and followers.
18. Story: Share a story. This can be a personal story or documentary. Develop a fictional character people can follow daily.
19. Auction: Auction something of value. You can run the auction through Anchor, however, I would make sure the final sale is run through a safe, secure website or process.
20. Concert Review: So, how was the concert? Did it live up to expectations? Share new, up and coming, bands in your town. What do you like about the band or singer?
21. Sports Talk: Are you passionate about your home team? So are other people in your area and across the country. What does the draft look like?, was that a bad trade?, who is going to win it all this year? Share your insight and ask for other perspectives.
22. Success Tips: How do you succeed in your field or overcome challenges. There are people who would like to know. Some people have overcome similar issues and can offer their advice too.
23. Habits: How do you break bad habits? share your story, coach others and ask for input.
24. Classified Ad: Do you have something to sell that is better explained via audio compared to a text ad. Create a Wave and receive offers.
25. Open Question: #Openquestion is a staple on Anchor. This hashtag and topic is for more serious subject mater. Think a good in-depth NPR (National Public Radio) question, insight and discussion.
26. QOTD: Question Of The Day is another popular hashtag with an open-ended question up for discussion. These questions tend to be more general compared to #openquestion. The platform is young and I’m sure there are adjustments ahead.
27. List: Share an interesting list of your favorite things. My top ten favorite movies are, these are the best five cars ever, here is my bucket list. Encourage others to share their opinions.
28. Share The Good Word: Do you have insight from a religious reading, sermon or lecture you heard. Start a community conversation around the topic.
29. Weather Updates: What’s happening with the big storm? Share insight and resources related to the weather or weather events. How it’s affecting you? Maybe skies are clear, the water is warm and the be discussion is what sun tan lotion to use.
30. Reporter: Report on events in your town. Describe the scene and interview people affected. Get the word out.
31. Reply: Look for interesting Waves to reply on topics related to your interests and expertise. Be an active member of the community.

We are in the early days of Anchor.fm. There are new platforms launching all the time and who knows if this one will catch on, however, I really like it and plan on using the interactive audio for content creation for a while.