4. Creating Content

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4.1 Content Type

Public media stations generally have six types of posts they produce through their social media accounts:

  • Discussion and questions
  • Promotion of web content
  • News story
  • Promotion of a broadcast program
  • Promotion of an event
  • Fundraising

Content Type

Discussion and Questions
  • By nature, this type of post is engaging to users
  • Questions also promote discussion within your online community

Promotion of web content
  • Increases traffic to station’s website
  • Easy for a station to promote, as stations are constantly producing new content for their website
  • Added reward to users who read the post and then have the opportunity to consume additional content by following the link

News Story
  • The most valuable type of post for users, according to iStrategy Labs’ Public Media Social Media Audience Survey
  • A  local connection makes this type of content relevant to the user

Promotion of a broadcast program
  • Programming is the driving force behind public media stations, and often the reason why users are a fan or follower in the first place
  • Programs allow users to interact with the station in another capacity (radio/TV)
  • Promoting a program online can remind a user to watch or schedule a recording of the show and increase tune-in

Promotion of an event
  • Allows the users to connect outside of the digital realm with each other and with local issues
  • Events often inspire membership and donations

Fundraising
  • Direct way to reach the audience that is supporting you
  • Although the primary goal of social media platforms should not directly be fundraising, stations nevertheless shouldn’t be afraid of reminding fans and followers of the benefits they bring, and in turn, asking for donations

 

It is important to understand that these broad categories are a starting point for your social media strategy. The types of content you choose to measure can change and become more detailed, based on your campaigns, tactics, and audience.

Key Considerations:

Although a station should keep social media content varied, it is important to understand which type of content is most effective in producing engagement for a specific audience.  During the research done to inform this handbook, a social engagement analysis was conducted to monitor the social media activity of ten stations over a period of four weeks.  The research measured the number of posts for specific types of content, including: fundraising, questions, news, promotion of web content, promotion of broadcast programming and promotion of an event. The degree of engagement was also measured according to the number of likes, comments and retweets.

Data from the social engagement analysis indicated that asking questions and soliciting discussion from a station’s audience produced the most engagement. Posts sending users back to station website content were second, and local news stories third.

Engagement Points

Engagement Points signify a combination of Facebook Comments and Likes for any given post. Data was obtained by following 10 sample stations on Facebook for four weeks and logging the engagement each type of post produced.

The Public Media Social Media Audience Survey echoed similar results. The top two types of information station audiences were interested in receiving via social media were local journalism and local events. The next type was station news, which included station programming, video/audio/photos, and behind the scenes info.

4.2 Content Guidelines

Producing great social media content for your station can be a trial and error process. Try different types of content and messaging, and learn what is producing the most engagement from your audience. Below is a quick tip sheet of do’s and don’ts when managing your social media channels.

Social Media Content Do's Social Media Content Don'ts

  • Be personable, transparent, and authentic. Show character and use humor. Your audience wants to engage with a human being, not an organization.
  • Be relevant and informative. Post content about timely topics.
  • Decide on a consistent voice for your social media channels.
  • Establish traditions. Make it a point, after select programming, to follow-up on social media with a Q&A. Every Monday, give a shout-out to a specific fan to recognize his or her constant engagement. Run a contest. Create a repetitive theme that encourages people to consistently engage.
  • Call for action. Ask your fans to Like your pictures, share your comments, and thank them when they do.
  • Keep your social profiles fresh. If you go too long without an update, you will lose credibility and, in turn, audience members.

  • Don’t use social media as a one-way broadcast platform. Use it to interact and converse with your audience.
  • Don’t neglect replies. Respond to every tweet, mention, and comment in your social media profiles. If you feel it is not an issue you can resolve online, don’t hesitate to transfer the conversation to a private space by providing the audience member with the phone number/email/contact details.
  • Don’t be a parrot. Information overload and repetitive content are two top reasons consumers chose to stop following online. Short and frequent updates (two to three times on Facebook, five to seven times on Twitter) are the best way to inform your audience without overloading them.