Social Scorecard this week reports from Philadelphia to find out how WPVI, the ABC O&O, is able to dominate the market on social media by millions over other media outlets. WPVI leads in social media actions in the market over the last six months according to data from audience insight firm Shareablee. It has almost 13 […]
Social Scorecard this week reports from Philadelphia to find out how WPVI, the ABC O&O, is able to dominate the market on social media by millions over other media outlets.
WPVI leads in social media actions in the market over the last six months according to data from audience insight firm Shareablee. It has almost 13 million actions on social, accounting for almost 36% of the total engagement generated by the DMA (No. 4), with more than 35 million social actions.
WPVI also led on Instagram with almost 2 million actions and led on Twitter with more than 770,000 actions.
WIP-FM, broadcasting a sports talk format and owned by Entercom, led on actions per post with 477.
John Morris, WPVI’s VP of multiplatform programming, attributes the station’s dominance on social as a natural extension of its Action News brand on TV.
“For 30-plus years, we have been the No. 1 TV station in Philadelphia and our fans and followers have always talked about being part of the Action News family. They love our anchors and they love our reporters and Facebook has given us a chance to personalize that even more. If you have that kind of traditional relationship with your viewers and then can use your social media to take that relationship to a truly personal level.”
One event that was personal to WPVI’s Facebook users was the Philadelphia Eagles winning the Super Bowl. Three of the top five performing Facebook posts for WPVI, according to Shareablee, were about the Eagles and their big win.
https://www.facebook.com/6abcActionNews/videos/10155423022116378/
“The entire city came together,” said Morris, “and wanted to share that joy and excitement. We made sure that we were part of that and taking part in the conversations.”
While the Eagles winning the Super Bowl was a local story the station knew might come and had planned for, Morris says international stories like the rescue in Thailand can also generate high engagement.
https://www.facebook.com/6abcActionNews/videos/10155818922436378/
https://www.facebook.com/6abcActionNews/posts/10155800991706378
“It was one of those that tugged on those emotional strings. It was that thrill of success, being part of the world watching this event that everybody wanted to comment on and share with their friends.”
https://www.facebook.com/6abcActionNews/photos/a.425296316377.213686.9335481377/10155819316481378/?type=3
But while stories from half way around the world can sometimes connect with WPVI’s Facebook family, the ones that do best are the local feel good stories.
https://www.facebook.com/6abcActionNews/videos/10155805954196378/
https://www.facebook.com/6abcActionNews/videos/10155808122881378/
“We have been doing those stories forever’” says Morris, “and we know that people have liked seeing those stories as part of the newscast, but now we get to see almost instantly the reaction that people get to a story like that.”
Facebook Live is another tool the station uses to engage with its audience, says Morris, citing a daily Facebook Live from one of the station’s meteorologists, Cecily Tynan, at around 4:30 in the afternoon.
https://www.facebook.com/6abcCecilyTynan/videos/10160663992195094/
“That is a must for her followers. They come in every day and they follow her. She loves it. She loves engaging with people on Facebook.”
But covering breaking news via Facebook Live also does a robust engagement, says Morris, especially when it’s from the scene.
https://www.facebook.com/6abcActionNews/posts/10155812154606378
https://www.facebook.com/6abcActionNews/videos/10155802539096378/
Morris says that using Facebook to promote the news on TV is tricky. You can’t just dangle a tease in front of them on Facebook. You have to give them content.
“Because a satisfying content experience is great and people enjoy that, and if you tell a short story in a minute or a minute-and-a-half with video or compelling text and compelling pictures, we believe that you can drive people from one platform to another.”
A recent example was the station’s consumer reporter Nydia Han.
“She gave us a series of stories on some construction problems. We showed portions of the interviews she had, and some of the damage. The response to that on Facebook was huge. The story itself did very well when it was in the newscast. So we believe that you can draw a line from one to the other.”
https://www.facebook.com/6abcActionNews/videos/10154110731931378/
Morris says stations can’t rely on the traditional way of recruiting audience, since people are watching more than the TV screen. So using Facebook to engage with users to bring them back to the TV screen is critical.
“You still need more people to tune in. So those are the ways that we think it could be cost effective. We think with a good story, it reaches people.”
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