Committee weighs ways to promote Monona Go app as subscription cost review continues

The Community Media Committee discussed strategies to increase usage of the Monona Go app and weighed its annual cost during the March 13 meeting. Committee members asked staff to gather past suggestions and report on which promotion ideas have been tried to create follow-up accountability.

Will (committee member) reported high-level platform costs: “So we spend 5,200 on the whole platform,” and said a portion of that — roughly $1,300 — is a continuing fee required to support streaming, although he noted he did not have the numbers in front of him and offered a range as an approximation. Members cautioned the exact recurring amount was not specified during the meeting and asked staff to confirm the line-item breakdown.

Bill Graff suggested tracking previously proposed promotion ideas in a simple spreadsheet or scorecard so the committee can assign follow-up and monitor what has and has not been implemented. “There have been some good ideas that, like, we should put a QR code in the athletic programs or whatever,” Graff said, and recommended assigning someone to report back on each item so the committee can be “more specific and have a little bit of follow-up and accountability.”

Committee members discussed barriers to adoption — members anecdotally noted some residents do not want many phone apps — and considered cross-promotion using radio, the newsletter and presence at events. The committee did not vote to cancel or continue the subscription; members left promotion planning and a request for a concise list of previous suggestions as follow-up items.