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What The Kids Really Want
September 23, 2014
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As you may already know, Facebook tweaked its algorithm again last week. The change is an attempt to tap into Twitter's real time success, and to simmer down the complaining about how we see the same posts over and over.
At this point, hacking at the code that dictates what we see on Facebook should be nothing new. The social space will always be fluid.
One reason is the growth. Facebook alone has grown from 1 million social networkers in its first year to 1.32 billion monthly active users. Of those billion plus users, 1.07 billion access Facebook via mobile each month.
Every day, more than 4,000 photos per second are uploaded to the site.
While there has been much speculation that kids are leaving Facebook, chipping away at the billions of users, the fact is that some of them are still hanging around.
So what's really happening?
First, Generation Z and Millennials don't have loyalty to one platform. They toggle back and forth between a few.
Second, they are in a "complicated relationship" with Facebook. They want to be there but to have a parent "like" or comment on their post is deeply disturbing. In fact the first (and last) time I "liked" one of my daughter's posts on Facebook -- it was a scream heard around the world.
"Never, ever, 'like' my stuff on Facebook." Point made. They don't want parents interacting with them.
But you know what they do want?
Acknowledgment.
Especially from their favorite radio stations. This is what they want.
And it's nothing new because you've heard me say on many occasions that acknowledgment is perhaps the most critical tactic any brand will include in their arsenal of social execution.
Consider what radio fans told Jacobs Media's Techsurvey 10.
Three in ten social users say they listen more to stations that interact with them socially.
Breaking down the response by generation -- it is the Boomers who really didn't care about being acknowledged. It is Millennials and Gen Z who do.
But the pattern I see with acknowledgment from many brands is that they have gone from ignoring fans to now giving the predictable and gratuitous "favorite" of a tweet, or smiley face/thumbs up emoji on Facebook/Instagram.
As if it's a struggle just to say something back, personally.
Come at social from the audience point of view. Radio has this incredible space to separate itself from the pure plays and everything else we now compete against. Use it to your advantage.
Pure plays can't do what radio can do when it comes to personalized acknowledgment.
They can't respond with a personal touch from someone people enjoy listening to the way Curtis Media/OM Lisa McKay can when fans of powerhouse WQDR/Raleigh reach out socially:
Personalized acknowledgment is one of the greatest ways to keep your brand in the hands and the hearts of the fans.
That's because people naturally feel closer (and listen longer) to those who make them feel like they matter.
Someone from a radio group recently asked me who should head up their social media efforts. I simply said, "The person (or people) who can 'be' social," who inherently believe that every person counts."
There's a profound payoff to the intangible exchanges they can create with fans on your station's behalf. It defies logic to suggest that acknowledgment on these social platforms doesn't move the needle in a meaningful way.
Reach out to me anytime on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter.
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