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Content and Posting

Your target audience and objectives should dictate the type of content you post

Your target audience and objectives should dictate the type of content you post and push out to your audience via social media. The content you want to communicate will also dictate the types of social media platforms you utilise.

Although social media channels are great for promotion, any page that is unrelenting in its promotion won’t keep fans and followers interested. Social media is about relationships and engagement. Have fun with your profiles, show some personality and engage your audience.

Some of the best posts on sites like Facebook are the ones that invite feedback or participation. For example, ‘This afternoon on 2FFF Susie Smith will be talking about gift giving. What is the worst present someone has ever given you?’ – open ended questions encourage interaction from your audience and makes them feel valued

So where do you get all of your content from?

A key point to remember is that you don’t have to develop or create all of your own content. Connect and interact with other social media profiles to obtain and share relevant content, and to gain ideas for content you might create yourself.

This will also help to build your own community as people become aware of you when you interact with them online. Also listen in to what your audience is saying and doing. You will become known as the ‘go to’ station or program, by sharing the best information from your local area and targeted directly at your audience.

Content ideas

Value adding content: Media coverage, blog articles by you, other staff or guest bloggers, information about the latest developments in your local area or at your radio station, ‘how to’ videos, hints and tips
Engagement focused content: Inspirational/business quotes, questions about what your followers want, open ended questions, topical information relating to news or special events, competitions
Marketing content: Products or tickets for sale, upcoming events, special offers, testimonials from listeners, case studies, advertising and appeals

Content scheduling

It’s a good idea to make a simple matrix that can be used to plot out what social media channels you would use for specific types of information. For example, a special studio guest would go out via several channels, like Twitter and Facebook. Social media needs to fit within your broader communication strategy and shouldn’t be operating in isolation, so evaluate the audience you have for each channel and allocate your station news and communications to each one.

A communications calendar can also help coordinate postings within social media platforms so nothing gets overlooked, particularly when several people are involved. It helps pace your messages to make sure you aren’t bombarding people with information or going missing in action. It can also help identify upcoming events or news announcements and peak activity times of the year so that you can prepare communications ahead of time. Many email programs and online tools allow shared calendars across multiple users, or you can make a spreadsheet of your communications calendar to share across the station.

Triggers for updating your social media profiles

Some organisations may aim for posting on a time schedule (for example, daily) but consider using the following events as a trigger to post:

Special guests appearing on shows: Tell your fans through your social media profiles (for example, Twitter, Facebook, Google+), encourage your guest to mention their appearance to their fans through their social media profiles, consider a ‘thank you’ or follow up post on their wall or profile afterwards.
Live performances in the studio: Notify your fans about the performances through social media and encourage performers to do the same. If you are able to, capture video and post to YouTube, embed the video on your website and post links to it on your social media sites. Take pictures and post to Pintertest, cross post in a similar fashion and notify the performer that they are available for their use also.
New shows on grid: Update your radio station website and introduce the new show and presenter on your social media pages. Discuss individual show’s requirements for their own page and make sure the presenter/producer is familiar with the station’s social media policy and the contact for social media coverage.
New trainees/faces around station: Post an introduction/bio/news story on your blog about any new staff or trainees, and cross promote on your social media profiles. You could also put a photo on Pinterest, or an introduction or greeting video on YouTube.
Station milestones or anniversaries

Top tips

Make your content relevant and before posting it, ask yourself whether it is appropriate and relevant to achieving your social media goals.
A good guideline to adhere to is the 5 to 1 rule – for every piece of content that is marketing your radio station or a particular program, five other pieces of content need to be about building a relationship with your audience and engaging them.
Make sure you are sharing station news as it happens. What’s happening at the station? Who is visiting? Share it in on your social media profiles!
It’s important to vary the format of the posts (as far as the social media platform will allow), for example you could post images, videos and polls, as well as text and links.
If you’re not already, you could produce podcasts of your radio programs and use those podcasts as content in your social media profiles.
The tone of content in social media platforms is much more conversational and casual than in other forums – communicate with your audience using a style and tone that suits how they communicate with you.

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