Sacramento’s KCRA Leads On Facebook By 2 Million

In this week’s Social Scorecard, KCRA says its “all-in” culture when it comes to Facebook is just one reason the station leads all media outlets in Sacramento, Calif., on Facebook by more than 2 million actions.

KCRA, Hearst’s NBC affiliate in California’s capital, is the leader in social media actions in the market over the last six months according to data from audience insight firm Shareablee.

KCRA has more than 4.1 million actions on social, 36% of the total engagement generated by the DMA (No. 20), with more than 11.4 million social actions.

KCRA lead in actions per post with 193 and also led on Twitter with more than 84,000 actions.

Entercom’s KUDL-FM, which airs a contemporary hits format, led on Instagram with more than 93,000 actions.

Devon Armijo, KCRA’s digital media manager, says KCRA’s success on Facebook is due in part to the station’s dominant position in the market as the legacy news operation.

“So we benefit tremendously from the shared experience and kind of institutional knowledge of the market overall.”

Armijo says another reason for the station’s success on Facebook is the culture inside the station.

“We don’t silo people into rules based on platforms. So what helps us out a lot is creative eyes and just helping hands from every part of the newsroom. A photographer will pitch in on digital, a producer will pitch in on digital, an anchor will offer up an idea creating a tremendous amount of story idea generation.”

Armijo offered these examples of how KCRA’s reporters and photographers capture a moment and put it together for Facebook.

Armijo says he thinks the best strategy for Facebook gives users lots of different options and choices when it comes to content.

“It’s really about emotional relevancy and capturing what moves our audience. Sometimes it’s a feel good story, sometimes it’s a hard hitting investigation, sometimes it’s a tragic story.”

Armijo stresses that paying close attention to their users’ comments and private messages is what the station emphasizes as its most valued analytic.

A case in point was a private message the station received about a light display.

“We found and sought out his story via Facebook, actually interviewed him via Facebook, gathered some of his video and created this really powerful social video. I would have to go back and look at the analytics, somewhere near a quarter million views.”

Facebook Live, says Armijo, is another way KCRA generates high engagement, especially when it comes to getting information out quickly.

“People think Facebook Live is special when we respect that it’s a two-way medium, not a passive viewing experience. Mark Finan, our meteorologist, is the best in the building helping people not only understand the weather and storms that’s coming up, but really using that personal effort to reach out and touch somebody.”

In addition to Facebook Lives during weather events, KCRA also uses its helicopter pilot to marry information with compelling pictures.

“From the latest on the Oroville Spillway construction, to breaking news, to traffic. Dave is really great at talking and engaging with the audience. Those perform really well for us.”

But more than any single post, the secret sauce to KCRA’s success is its pervasive culture that digital is important.

“It allows us not only to produce emotionally relevant content for the Facebook platform, but it also allows us to be creative and innovative and have fun with it and I think that’s a big part of our success.”