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What If No One Liked You
October 15, 2019
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Facebook is now testing hiding "likes" in 7 countries. While they will show mutual friends who’ve "liked" a post, the total "likes" number has been removed.
This week, Fred Jacobs, President Jacobs Media, addressed the benefits of hiding "likes," and steps to real community engagement - beyond the "like."
Below is an excerpt of Fred’s piece. You can also read the full piece here.
2011 seems like a long time ago. That was the year we hired Lori Lewis as our social media strategist.
Lori's role was to help stations make sense out of social media, teach them the philosophy behind audience engagement and connection, and work with them to develop strategies behind their "socializing."
Here we are more than 9 years later, and I'm not sure we've come all that far. I talk to radio stations and the companies that own them all the time, and social continues to be something of a mystery. Or a black hole.
Broadcasters still struggle to set standards for social media activity, resources are wasted, and unknowing employees still get their companies in trouble. I need not list the examples - they are well chronicled and well known.
With great interest, I read Danielle Smith's story in The Drum - "Goodbye to likes: What should the new engagement metric be?" Smith tells us that in Australia, Instagram and Facebook are test-driving the concept of hiding "like counts" from everyone except a post's publisher.
So, how is engagement measured in a social media ecosphere where "likes" could become an endangered metric? And how should radio broadcasters think about an emerging new world of measurement?
To achieve true engagement, Smith offers a number of recommendations, a few of which I've incorporated below:
- Focus on quality, depth and purpose - Nothing new here, but Smith reminds us that knowing and understanding your audience, and then serving up the content that matters to them is at the foundation of building a great brand. Radio operators know this - it's how the business has operated for decades. The challenge in these trying times is marshaling the necessary resources for research, producing great content, and then marketing it to the audience.
- Connect with your audience - Lori Lewis 101 - listening to listeners, establishing dialogue with the audience, and acknowledging them. These are the activities that go to the heart of building engagement.
- Measurement, measurement, and more measurement - Here's where Smith suggests using every metric available - ratings, streaming, app downloads, Shazam - everything - to paint an ongoing picture of what they're doing and where they're doing it.
So, Danielle Smith's recommendations are geared toward the average brand, but when you're a radio station or a personality show, you have unique engagement opportunities. I've listed a number of these below.
- Connect with them personally - We're talking eye contact here. The ability to interface with an audience is something radio can do every week - at concerts and festivals, at sales promotional and appearances, at the mall during holidays, or in the community supporting charitable or civic initiatives. Politicians have proved that engagement can often be achieved with a face-to-face encounter or experience - something every radio brand can accomplish.
- Bring them into your world - The interiors of retailers and restaurants are well-known, and taken for granted by most of us. Even an Apple Store is a known quantity - you've been in them umpteen times. But how many people have toured your radio station - the studio, the music library, the platinum records on the wall, the jock lounge. Stations that regularly bring listeners into the building, whether it's when they pick up prizes or in "open houses" have a wonderful opportunity to engage with fans in ways Spotify, Amazon, and SiriusXM cannot.
- Give them exclusive experiences - This is another area radio can provide that you just don't get from other entertainment or information sources. Going backstage, meet-and-greets, intimate concerts, and opportunities to hang with station personalities are all part of the equation that can strengthen engagement.
- Connect with the community - While there are important national causes, from the Red Cross to Susan B. Komen to Children's Miracle Network, there's no substitute for supporting hometown efforts and groups. Whether you're in Decatur or Detroit, it is the local controversies, community events, and hometown sports teams that move the needle. When stations and personalities do a great job of embracing their local environs, engagement is more palpable, genuine, and real that clicking on a "like" emoji.
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- Focus on quality, depth and purpose - Nothing new here, but Smith reminds us that knowing and understanding your audience, and then serving up the content that matters to them is at the foundation of building a great brand. Radio operators know this - it's how the business has operated for decades. The challenge in these trying times is marshaling the necessary resources for research, producing great content, and then marketing it to the audience.