Social Media for Radio Stations: Why You’re Using it Wrong & How to Fix it

Social media for radio stations can be a really powerful tool, however most people are using it wrong and you probably are too. We're going to show you how you can fix it and make the most out of your content.

Reasons Why You're Using it Wrong

When you hear "social media" you immediately think of places like Facebook and Twitter, but it's much bigger than that. Social media for radio stations is incredibly important as it's part of your station's brand and identity. Often at times radio stations seem to forget this and it can backfire in some funny ways. Take BBC Radio Leeds that started asking questions about biscuits!

Then there's Wish FM that started posting click bait following the passing of Bolton FM's chairman.

And finally there's the time Key 103's messaging wasn't quite right, being more upbeat then intended.

The point is social media should be an extension of your radio station's brand. It really needs to be on point with your show and content you're pushing out.

How to Use Social Media Effectively

With services like Spotify and Last.fm, there's no shortages of places listeners can discover new music. That's not really what they're after in a radio station. Instead it's company, community, and a sense of familiarity and belonging. Effectively you're opening a channel to talk to you using social media.

To get the most out of it you need something called a Content Marketing Strategy. It's a way to plan out out and build content around your shows, so creating things like blog posts, videos, and even podcasts. Then you can take a snapshot of your content and share it online.

Think of places like Facebook as a billboard by the side of the road. You need to showcase your content effectively to get people to pay attention. Without content social media for radio stations loses most of its value.

Here's What You Should be Sharing

There's something called a 4-1-1 rule for sharing content on social media, it goes like this:

• 4 pieces of content aimed at your target audience that's from other sources, effectively you're sharing other people's content.
• 1 piece is original that's educational or tutorial focused.
• 1 piece should be sales related like a product pitch or press release.

For every 6 pieces of content shared through social media it should follow a flow like this. The 4-1-1 rule ties back to your content marketing strategy. Essentially you need 4 pieces of influencer content by a third-party, create educational content, and create sales content. Let's look at how this actually works.

4 Influencer Content

You're aiming to share content for your target audience, so you need to find articles and videos that relate to them. For example, if you're a morning breakfast show you could try morning meal ideas like:

You could also try something a bit more broader, like:

The idea is to follow content creators on places like Twitter and Facebook, then share their content as part of your content marketing strategy. You could also include links from others that mention your radio station or ties back to it in some way.

So where can you find content that relates to your listeners? Well it depends on your type of show and your target audience, but here are a few suggestions:

• Bloggers.
• Bands, artists, and local venues.
• News companies, journalists, and TV stations.

Put together a list of the best places you can get and share content so it's easy to manage.

1 Original Educational Content

These are pieces of content created by you. They can be anything like blog posts, videos, presentations, podcasts, and so on. Basically anything that educates your listeners. For example continuing on from our breakfast radio show you could write an article about the academic benefits of breakfast in the mornings.

The point is to write informative content for your audience.

1 Sales Related Content

The last piece of content is sales related, it's essentially a Call to Action to get your listeners to do something for you. For example this could be entering a competition, retweeting or sharing an article, purchasing merchandise, or signing up to your weekly newsletter.

Here are some examples you can use:

• Get the freshest gig touring dates delivered to you! Signup to get notified by entering your email here: [LINK]
• Want to see The 1975 perform live? Enter with a chance to win here: [LINK]
• Missed out on yesterday's mornings breakfast show? Catch it here: [LINK]

Sales related content can be about anything that benefits your radio station. For example MCR Live do this very well - They teamed up with a company for a free beer competition, so they asked listeners to retweet with a chance of winning.

There's loads more radio stations that take the 4-1-1 rule (or something similar) and adopt into their content strategy.

Social Media for Radio Stations

Radio stations know their target audience and how best to speak to them. Whether that's people that want to be apart of a community, getting the latest news, or they just want the company, stations tailor their content marketing strategy around them.

When your radio station shares content online it's best to think about this overall content marketing strategy. What type of content can create and share that resinates with your audience?

Methods like the 4-1-1 rule are a great place to start. They get a nice flow of content going to keep listeners engaged and part of the community. Try it yourself and let us know how you get on in the comments below.

To Wrap Up...

Want more listeners? Grow your followers by creating a successful social media strategy for your radio station. As a broadcaster you should always be looking for new ways to keep your audience engaged. Whether you are trying to increase your online listenership, sell merchandise, or make your station more visible online.

Whatever it may be, here’s a complete social media strategy for radio station broadcasters you can start using today.