Gavin McGarry is the founder of Jumpwire Media, an agency which specializes in building and managing social media communities. His past experience also includes positions at major television networks, as well as owning and operating a television production company and a boutique advertising agency. Subscribe to the newsletter online.
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At Jumpwire Media, we specialize in building and managing social media communities for brands all over the world. Our team consists of dedicated and avid social media enthusiasts. We are constantly monitoring all social media platforms and studying the data to better understand what creates conversation and engagement within social media communities.�
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We have built communities and trained staff for radio brands such as Virgin Radio, Classic Rock 101, Q107, Boom 97.3, WBLS(FM) in New York, MY103.9 in Phoenix, CBC Music and others.
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Here are some of our best practices:�
- Data is the key.Use each Facebook post as a learning opportunity about your audience: How many people were reached? Who shared? Who liked? Who commented? What time of day was it posted? What was the content? Monitor this on a daily basis with weekly reports for internal discussions compiling all of your station�s data.
- Capitalize on the network effect.�Engage with your audience so you can draw the attention of your friends of friends, which ultimately increases the potential reach of your posts. On Facebook the average user has 338 friends. During the key hours of the day you should be posting at least once per hour on Facebook and Twitter. On Instagram, we usually recommend two to three times per day and at least one Instagram Story.
- It�s not a popularity contest.Don�t get caught up on the number of likes your station�s Facebook page has. It�s about engagement, meaning the number of people who like, comment, and share your content. At Jumpwire we gauge a radio station�s Facebook health in the following way: If you have 100,000 fans you should be getting 300,000 pieces of engagement from those fans every 28 day cycle (likes, comments, shares).
- Who run the world? GIRLS!Women rule social media. Recent studies reveal that women are the majority of users of social networking sites, spending 30% more time on social media platforms than men. Also, 85% of all brand purchases are made by women.�
- Give your station a personality.Use Facebook Live to stream segments of popular radio shows. We have tested the Mevo camera system that streams directly to Facebook with excellent quality if you are looking for an easy-to-use system for your station. Use different social media channels to tease the time and date you will be live. A link post on Facebook will be seen by approximately 12% of your fans. Therefore, if you have 1000 fans, about 120 will see each post. However, when you live stream on Facebook approximately 50% of your fans will see the live video. �Facebook rewards live video feeds with lots of reach to your audience. �
- Use emojis.Using emojis in your posts creates higher organic reach and engagements. We have noticed on both Facebook and Instagram that when emojis are used in the copy it leads to higher reach results which leads to more engagement if the content is good.�
- Build an ecosystem.Don�t just rely on Facebook but rather look for ways to integrate different social media channels. Not only does this make community management more efficient, it�s also more effective. For example: studies show that posting images to Facebook from Instagram provides a 23% increase in engagement. We recommend radios stations focus on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter in that order of priority. You should also focus on developing a weekly email newsletter. Email is still a great way to engage with your audience.
Finally, the people behind the mic for your radio station should be posting on social media. This gives consistency of voice and helps the brand across various social media channels. Also, while it is important for the on-air staff to build their own personal social media brands, make sure that when they are on-air for their shift they should be posting and managing the station�s social media channels to build authenticity with the listeners. Your listeners don�t want to hear from an intern on social media; they want to hear from your station�s personalities.�
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