‘Winning News Viewers With Social’ Wows At Promax Summit

One of the most revealing and relevant sessions at the Promax Station Summit in Las Vegas last month was  Five Tips For Winning Viewers with Social Media, presented by Apryl Pilolli, head of innovation at Social News Desk, which bills itself as delivering social media solutions built by news people for news people. The room was packed.

One fact Pilolli told me after the presentation that really drove home the importance of Facebook to some stations — one station spent $120,000 during one sweeps month just on Facebook, all its outside media budget for that month. Why? It works, Pilolli said.

I know, what stations have $120,000 to spend on outside media in a year, let alone a month?

I’ve been interested in how TV stations use Facebook to drive and increase viewership to their newscasts for several years. That’s TV stations’ cash cow, the broadcast newscasts. Facebook is a means to that end.

Starting in 2017, in a series of weekly columns called, Social Scorecard, for TVNewsCheck, I profiled the leading TV stations on Facebook in more than 60 cities large and small to find out their social media strategy.

Then, it was engagement that measured success on Facebook. But what worked then on Facebook has changed as Facebook changes its algorithms.

Today, it’s not likes, shares and comments that measure success on Facebook, said Pilolli.

“You need reach and ratings. You don’t need likes. Awareness, preference, loyalty and sales are more important,” said Pilolli.

Here are five tips Pilolli gave For Winning Viewers with Social Media.

Focus on Real Business Results

In the early days of Facebook, likes and shares measured success on social media. Instead, stations should focus on real business results-like gaining more followers or app downloads-to engage with viewers and boost brand loyalty.

Use Thumb-Stopping Creative

“You need something that’s going to grab their attention, stand out and stop their thumb on the phone,” said Pilolli.

That can be anything from a pop of color to something that makes people laugh. She also offers additional tips to keep the audiences’ attention once you’ve got it, like keeping videos under 15 seconds, using talent and optimizing content for the sound off feature.

Target the Right Audience

Use paid social media advertising. Paid advertising should be used to retarget your current audience and those who live in your station’s area-not with people who won’t engage in your brand later. Pilolli suggests utilizing Facebook’s advertising tools like location-based targeting to zero-in on the people that matter most for your brand.

Create Conversational Copy

Pilolli also recommends using emojis, when possible, to help grab the audiences’ attention and seem more personable.

Test, Test and Test

No one has social media completely figured out. Social media is always changing. Keep testing different methods to find out the best method for your brand and your budget.

NOTE: I borrowed heavily from the Promax Daily Brief article on this session, click here to access it in full.

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