Who Replies to Social Media Comments at Your Station?

We’re heading back to the drawing board to design the questionnaire for the ninth NuVoodoo Ratings Prospects Study to field next month. We’re eager to see if Facebook’s renewed growth has maintained. We’re eager to see if Snapchat continues its trajectory and surpasses Twitter.

We’re also eager to see if the connection between radio and Social Media continues to grow. We’ve seen in the past year that most format constituencies are paying increased attention to the stations that interact with them in the Social space. While a few formats showed some settling down between our fieldings in November 2015 and July of this year, the lowest of the formats – Classic Rock – still says 37% of its P1’s pay more attention to the stations that interact with them.

And the percentages among likely ratings responders were also up between our past two fieldings – and show strong majorities of both likely meter and diary responders saying they pay more attention to stations that interact with them in Social Media. In short, the tables are turned sharply in your favor when you take the time to interact with listeners in Social Media.

Social represents the channels where our one-to-many medium becomes one-to-one. So, it’s critical that we work hard to make that communication work to our advantage every time. Posts and other station-sponsored communication need to be curated carefully. What’s the benefit to the reader? Is it engaging? Is it relevant? Is it authentic? Would you want it in your news feed?

Station responses to listener comments should be given a high priority as well. They need to be on-message for the station, reflecting the station’s brand, while being one-to-one, human-scaled communication. If responding to comments is a task you delegate, it’s important to schedule time for training and careful review until shared vision is established.

Many of us who’ve spent our careers working in and around radio began as fans: calling in for requests, participating in station contests, attending remotes and, occasionally, writing fan letters. If you were lucky enough to have your letter acknowledged, the response was probably a one-size-fits-all form letter, along the lines of, “Thank you for your comments. It’s great to know how much you enjoy the station.”

Today, a reply like that to an email or comment on a station website or Social Media page would probably start a war with a listener. Today responses have to be honest and direct and written on a one-to-one basis; responses must feel authentic. It’s a huge commitment for staffs already stretched thin. Nielsen samples are small, but you should treat every Social Media interaction as though the consumer is carrying a meter or diary.