When it comes to social media, there are lots of data points that we can measure: likes, comments, clicks, shares, retweets, etc. There’s a tendency to lump all of these stats together under the heading of “engagement,” and say, “more engagement is good.” But this oversimplifies the role of social media in our radio stations’ digital strategies.
Key Social Media Stat #1: Incoming Traffic
When it comes to social media, the single most important statistic to track won’t be found in your Facebook or Twitter dashboards; it’s found in your Google Analytics: How many unique visitors came to your website from each social network?
Why is this the most important stat? Because once people on your website, only then can you encourage them to take an action — such as sign up for the email list or stream the station — that will impact your bottom line. Don’t get me wrong; it’s great if people like, favorite, comment, or reply to your posts, but that’s not going to bring more revenue in, so it’s not the top priority.
How do you use social media to drive traffic back to your website? You create original content, such as blogposts or photos, and share them on social media. It’s fine to also share other people’s content on social media, but if your station is only sharing other people’s content, your digital strategy will not bear much fruit in the long run. (Here’s a guide to finding the right mix of station content and other people’s content to share.)
In other words, the key to driving traffic back to your site is to publish Facebook posts and tweets with links back to your compelling content.
Key Social Media Stat #2: Shares & Retweets
But what really moves the needle is when other people or organizations pass the link to your content on their followers. We want them to share your post on Facebook or retweet your tweet. This is what we mean when we say something goes “viral.” In other words, the next important data point to look at when it comes to social media is shares and retweets — not likes, comments, or favorites.
(Note that Instagram does not provide an equivalent way to share or retweet a posting. In fact, Instagram is not a particularly good channel for driving traffic back to your website, which is why I think it deserves less attention in your station’s overall digital strategy.)
So, how do you get people to share or retweet your station’s posts?
It’s all in the writing.
Socially Acceptable Humblebragging
A “humblebrag” is the act of trying “to get away with bragging about yourself by couching it in a phony show of humility.” Here are some examples:
Retweeting or sharing a post is essentially a socially acceptable way to humblebrag. If I were to tweet, “Seth Resler is soooooo awesome!,” I would appear conceited. But if I were to retweet John Doe saying, “Seth Resler is the coolest guy on the planet!,” it would be socially acceptable; it’s perceived as me offering thanks for the compliment rather than bragging about myself.
If you want people to reshare/retweet your posts, the key is to say something complimentary about them that they would be reluctant to say about themselves. The tag them in the post and include a link back to your website:
- “We raved about the fantastic donuts at @DetroitCoffee on our show this morning! Here’s the recording: [LINK]”
- “@StLouisLocalBand has a killer new album out this week! We reviewed it here: [LINK]”
- “The party was off the chain at @AtlantaNightclub last night! We’ve got photos here: [LINK]”
Two important details to pay attention to:
- The verbs you use in your social media posts have a big impact. It’s much stronger to “rave” about something that it is to “mention” it. Passionate verbs increase the chances that your posts will be shared. It’s helpful to brainstorm a list of powerful verbs to use when posting on social media.
- When looking for people or organizations to tag in your social media posts, pay attention to the number of followers that they have. If somebody who only has 100 followers retweets your station, it’s not going to drive a lot of traffic back to your website, whereas somebody with 100,000 followers probably will.
There’s an art to writing social media posts that get shared. Take the time to craft well-written posts, and you should see a noticeable impact on your station’s website traffic.
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