Radio Using Social Media/The Web To Share Important Info

[SomeRadioGuy]

I know some here kinda complain about stations always referring people to their website or social media but it IS a useful tool these days, when used RIGHT. IF your station isn't using it, your competitor is or will and thats where your listeners will go.
The station I manage uses Facebook way more than our website because thats what listener habits/routines really dictate, so we meet them where they are.

Weather is an important part of what we do out here and plays a massive role in what people do/don't do or how they do it. I like to think like this.. I never present weather in an alarmist or frantic way, it's always done in a laidback fashion wether I'm on air or online.. I regularly update listeners on air over the weekend even when we have no regular local programming... I simply I want listeners to have the info they need to make the decisions they need to make.

And Facebook, for us, is a great place to put that for people who arent listening to the radio 24/7. While the link preview below says "log into facebook", it will take you to a post I made today about weather that shows in good detail how we use Facebook here. No need to have FB or be logged in to see this post.

Facebook

www.facebook.com

 

[gr8oldies]

I know some here kinda complain about stations always referring people to their website or social media but it IS a useful tool these days, when used RIGHT. IF your station isn't using it, your competitor is or will and thats where your listeners will go.
The station I manage uses Facebook way more than our website because thats what listener habits/routines really dictate, so we meet them where they are.

Weather is an important part of what we do out here and plays a massive role in what people do/don't do or how they do it. I like to think like this.. I never present weather in an alarmist or frantic way, it's always done in a laidback fashion wether I'm on air or online.. I regularly update listeners on air over the weekend even when we have no regular local programming... I simply I want listeners to have the info they need to make the decisions they need to make.

And Facebook, for us, is a great place to put that for people who arent listening to the radio 24/7. While the link preview below says "log into facebook", it will take you to a post I made today about weather that shows in good detail how we use Facebook here. No need to have FB or be logged in to see this post.

Facebook

www.facebook.com

Problem with Facebook is your audience may see the post 4 days later (not saying not to use it). Twitter used to be a good way, but now your audience may or may not see it, verification of accounts means nothing, and you get all the nonsense along with it. Threads isn't ready for prime time and Spoutible/Post/Bluesky don't have enough users

 

[TheBigA]

And Facebook, for us, is a great place to put that for people who arent listening to the radio 24/7.

I agree with your whole post, although I say social media is more important than your website. The website was important ten years ago. The thing about social media is it's not governed by Nielsen or PPM or even the FCC. You can say & do whatever you want, you can target any audience, you can do all the things you can't do on the air, PLUS you have the visual element. So you can SHOW your listeners what you're talking about. That's especially important in the storm coverage area.

But yes, use social media, and make sure your streaming link or TuneIn link is on your social media site so it's all integrated.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Problem with Facebook is your audience may see the post 4 days later (not saying not to use it). Twitter used to be a good way, but now your audience may or may not see it, verification of accounts means nothing, and you get all the nonsense along with it. Threads isn't ready for prime time and Spoutible/Post/Bluesky don't have enough users

I would partially agree with you, but knowing listeners habits and behavior out here is important.. i know listeners specifically go to our page to see info, they share it.

out here, next to radio, FB IS THE place bush Alaska goes to share and get info out.. so people are slightly more cognizant of what theyre seeing and where to go to see it and remembering to check.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

I agree with your whole post, although I say social media is more important than your website. The website was important ten years ago. The thing about social media is it's not governed by Nielsen or PPM or even the FCC. You can say & do whatever you want, you can target any audience, you can do all the things you can't do on the air, PLUS you have the visual element. So you can SHOW your listeners what you're talking about. That's especially important in the storm coverage area.

But yes, use social media, and make sure your streaming link or TuneIn link is on your social media site so it's all integrated.

I work for a station in WY still where our facebook is a useful tool, but the websites have been and continue to be more important. its just how things have fleshed out.

 

[TheBigA]

Twitter used to be a good way, but now your audience may or may not see it, verification of accounts means nothing,

That verification thing is so important, because of the way we incorporate handles in our posts. Quite often it takes way too much time to make sure I'm embedding the correct handle in my post. That's because, in my view, the new owner of Twitter is more interested in money than the truth. He doesn't understand the platform, and that it's the content that creates the value.

 

[gr8oldies]

That verification thing is so important, because of the way we incorporate handles in our posts. Quite often it takes way too much time to make sure I'm embedding the correct handle in my post. That's because, in my view, the new owner of Twitter is more interested in money than the truth. He doesn't understand the platform, and that it's the content that creates the value.

Chasing all the advertisers away wasn't a great way to make money. The ads I'm seeing are ridiculous. One being "commemorate the assassination of Julius Caesar with this unique pencil holder". Who wants white supremacist crap force-fed to you while you're trying to find weather info?

 

[TheBigA]

Chasing all the advertisers away wasn't a great way to make money.

The original site was built as a pleasant experience. The image was of a happy little bluebird. Tweets. Now it's an angry black X.

It went from being an adult contemporary station to conservative talk. Yes there's an audience, but not the same kind. Conservative talk stations don't get the same kind of advertisers because they're appealing to differerent advertisers. Musk doesn't understand that.