Lori Lewis is a student of the social media game. I don’t believe there’s anyone in radio who studies this space more than her. And yet, as she’ll tell you, success in social media is a very inexact “science.” In fact, what works for one station very likely may not work for another. But the good news is that there are web tools that can take the mystery out of social media, and that’s the topic of Lori’s guest post today.
Somehow, social media at most radio stations often is a very Wild West kind of activity where tweets, posts, pictures, and videos are often tossed out – and then we wait to see what happens.
But to be strategic in the social space, brands need to monitor each piece of communication and study what triggers reaction. This tactic actually allows your fans to guide your success on these platforms, which ultimately builds up anticipation and trust – two key elements of a social brand.
In the same way that ratings and perceptual research provide information about fan behavior and reaction, social analytics have come a long way.
When you consider just how ubiquitous social media has become in the world of radio, it is amazing how little strategy goes into truly studying what works – and what doesn’t. Below is a format chart from Techsurvye9 that illustrates that social media is now a mainstream activity among everyone. While Alternative and CHR fans lead the way, even three-fourths of partisans of News/Talk and Classic Rock stations have a social media profile. In five years, the world of connecting with radio fans has been forever changed. So we have to get smarter about how to succeed socially.
To better understand what success looks like on Facebook, there’s “Insights” for brands to study what types of posts resonate, and now the great news is that Twitter is also offering analytics to learn exactly what registers with your fans.
In what used to be a feature for advertising partners only, Twitter has quietly opened up its analytics platform for anyone to use. And while there are some free tools that already offer insights into your tweets, Twitter Analytics is an opportunity for everyone to take their tweeting more seriously. It allows you to start gauging how effective those tweets you compose really are.
To get started, you can log on here.
Then use your username and password that you use logging into your Twitter account, and you’re off and running.
Once you’re logged in, click the word “Analytics” on the navigation bar and then “Timeline Activity.”
You’ll be greeted by a graph that will show daily mentions, follows, and “unfollows.”
It’s important to not just watch how many people follow you each day – but the “unfollows,” too. Remember – this is a permission based space. Fans are opting in with us socially – and out, too – all of the time.
You can also analyze your tweets to determine which ones triggered reaction from fans. From this Jacobs Media example below, you’ll see Twitter Analytics showing the number of “clicks” – the people so far that have clicked that link.
You’ll also see Twitter Analytics highlighting a tweet that received five times the “normal reach.” This is what you want to study – what actually works and grow from that.
Twitter Analytics should be a map, guiding you to how your tweets connect with your active followers. It’s important to know what matters most to the fans. That’s how you keep them and communicate with them.
The principle behind monitoring your tweets is no different than testing the music you play. Great brands take music testing seriously – they want to know what keeps people tuned in.
Yet all too often socially – that’s just not the case.
And the best part of this is with this Twitter Analytics tool, you don’t have to take it from me. You can now monitor reactions on your own.
This is your brand’s opportunity to go beyond the ordinary and really get wiser.
It’s all in the approach.
Tweet strategically and smartly.
OMG Analytics…I hope you can write on some of the basics that cross over from AM Drive, television writing etc…the basics of character development and character conflict. The notion of engagement vs. posting…love to see more articles like this Lori because it helps people hone their skills with “ratings” on Twitter.
It always makes my day when you are part of the conversation, Dave. And yes – I’ll find more ways to open the discussion up regarding how to ‘hone skills with “ratings” on Twitter.’ Thank you. 🙂
Data driven decision making…finally! My background is in TV, but I’ll tell you we always seemed to make decisions based on what we all “thought” rather than what the data dictated. Part of the problem was Nielsen ratings being only statistically significant if you were a major network show…but now with the analytics you mention present in social media we can start to understand what the audience really wants and truly deliver.
Brian
Right on, Brian. We can allow our fans to guide what works and grow from that! I appreciate your time!