CRS In Action: Keynoter Gavin McGarry Offers 11 Reasons Social Media Can Save Radio

"Social is the second microphone"

JUMPWIRE MEDIA Pres./Digital Media Strategy GAVIN MCGARRY delivered the WEDNESDAY (2/19) keynote address at COUNTRY RADIO SEMINAR (CRS) 2014, offering “11 Reasons Why Social Media Could Save The Radio Business.”

MCGARRY began by describing JUMPWIRE’s implementation of what he termed a “social media ecosystem” for radio, that included training existing staff in best practices and providing the necessary tools.

With handheld users checking their device every six minutes on average and the heaviest concentration of e-mail use at the first thing in the morning and last thing at night, MCGARRRY suggested these as the best times to send notices to listeners. And with so much spam out there, keep e-mails text only, short and simple in message.

“Social is the second microphone,” noted MCGARRY, who said training air staff and setting up a separate system in the on-air booth for socials is key, after observing that most jocks prioritized e-mail up on their computer screen. “Think FACEBOOK first, but not only FACEBOOK,” he said. "Utilize FACEBOOK and TWITTER’s real-time data to track engagements."

Other best practices included uploading photos right to FACEBOOK from the native platform and hiding, not deleting posts, because deleting them also deletes all the data, such as comments.

Here are MCGARRY’s 11 reasons social media could save radio:

11. It’s free

10. The networking effect – a sharing economy, with FACEBOOK as a younger person’s Internet.             

9. Woman rule the world: 85% of brand purchases are made by females.

8. Your audience is already on it. FACEBOOK usage dwarfs every other social media choice.

7. Build local global communities. One billion people speak English.

6. Social is local on mobile: think SO (Social); LO (Local); MO (Mobile)

5. It brings passion back to radio. Air talent sees instant results when they can accumulate thousands of likes on a post within minutes.

4. Radio is a trusted legacy brand.

3. Keeps your brand top of mind.

2. Free data. FACEBOOK pages provide audience insights, allows likes to build organically. “Care about engagement, not FACEBOOK fans” said MCGARRY.

1. FACEBOOK can sell radio. MCGARRY demonstrated how to target advertiser needs on a local basis using FACEBOOK user data.

MCGARRY’s entire presentation can be downloaded here.

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