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Studying Audience Signals Cultivates Sustainable Relevancy
October 29, 2019
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Since 2012, Jacobs Media has been asking the radio audience if they were likelier to listen more if a radio station interacted with them socially.
The early results were predictable. Boomers didn't seem to care, Gen X'ers cared a bit, but it was Millennials and Gen Zers who cared.
So it was interesting to read through 'Adobe Advertising Cloud and Advanis' August 2019 "Voice of the Generations" report, shared by eMarketer.
Same as Jacobs Media's Techsurvey results - a small number of boomers agreed that "there is a place for companies interacting with individual people on social networks (33%)."
The number however increases to 49% among Gen Xers, 63% among Millennials and 69% among Gen Zers.
Two main reasons Boomers don't place an emphasis on interaction:
Didn't grow up with the notion you could tweet a company and get a cool response or remarkable customer service in return.
Data privacy - Boomers' wariness about engaging with brands stems from nervousness around online privacy.
So while the study reveals engagement is a key critical tactic in a brand's social media strategy serving Gen Xers to Gen Zers - and just slightly for Boomers - there's also the "why" people use social in the first place that needs to be addressed in our approach to content creation and curation.
Notice across all generations, the main reason for using social media is "sharing pictures and updates with friends and family."
Social media is personal.
Notice the emotional triggers behind the why folks use social.
People want "to have fun," "get inspired," and "get advice, "learn how to" do what interests them.
Why This Matters:
Research serves as a reminder to pay attention to audience signals (what triggers reaction and what does not).
Studying what consumers want from us (engagement + emotional triggers) and why they use social media (it's personal) teaches us how to resonate through reaction which leads to conversion and attribution.
And to help make content creation and curation a bit less overwhelming, below is a graphic we created as a notable reminder of the top six emotional triggers people continuously say they want from the content that flows through their Feeds.
Content needs to reflect what matters to the audience in order to build & sustain an active fan base.
When we don't spend time understanding audience experience - we risk being throttled out of social media and digital algorithms.
And when we become out of sight - out of mind, we become out of the consumers' choice.
To find out where your station's audience is in the social space and to learn how acknowledging fans can increase your engagement and listening, become a stakeholder in Jacobs Media's Techsurvey 2020. Information is here.
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