Social Media and Your PPM Target Listener

Over the past several weeks, we have been reporting fresh data from NuVoodoo’s just-completed nationwide study of radio listeners 18-54.   We have been comparing the effectiveness of various advertising media at reaching the only pool of listeners who determine our success or failure.  Those who are willing to become radio research subjects in return for payment.

Consistently, we have seen that see that these folks, the folks who get to determine our success and failure by participating as Arbitron subjects, also respond remarkably well to direct marketing.  This makes sense when we think about it.  These are folks who gladly engage and interact, who want to be researched, and who want to find extra dollars where possible.  In fact, in our radio-research-for-money sample, more respondents are likely to read a direct mail piece they receive than are likely to sit through a TV spot.  They also read a lot of their mass email.  And, not surprisingly, these engageable target listeners are also much more receptive to commercial texting than the average bear.

So now let’s take a look at Social Media.  The people we need to reach, the people who may agree to wear a PPM: How big is Social Media in their world?

Social Media:  Now Important to Everyone Except Old Guys

We asked respondents to rate a variety of media, each independently in terms of its importance to their daily lives.  They used a scale of 1 (Unimportant) to 6 (Absolutely Essential).  Here’s how they scored Social Media:

As this chart shows, Social Media skews clearly female and young in importance.  Among Women 18-24, over half gave it a “5” or “6” score.  The next most significant demos are the Women 25-44 and Men 18-24.  Half or more of those demos, a very impressive number, score Social Media a “4” or higher in their daily lives.  Even lots of  Women 45-54 and Men 25-44 now consider Social Media pretty important to their daily lives.  Only among the Men 45-54 do we see the last stand of the pre-Facebook generation.  A social media campaign may not be the best way to get to that particular demo cell. 

How Does Social Media Compare to Radio?

To put those scores into context, let’s line them up against Radio.  How would these same respondents, by demo cell, rate their favorite music station?  Their favorite morning show?

When we look Social Media next to Radio, we realize just how significant it really has become.  In one case, staggering.  Facebook and its Friends are very important in daily life to 52%, while a favorite music station is very important to only 29%, of the Women 18-24.  Among their boyfriends and older sisters, it’s a narrower margin, but Social Media has now surpassed music station.  And while the music station still leads among the Men 25+ and the Women 35+, Social Media is not far off the pace.  Also note, highly significantly, that in the exact three young demos where Social media now leads, a favorite morning show is hardly ever considered very important.

High-TSL = High Social Media Importance!

Let’s break the audience out by Radio TSL.  Is our very best customer, the long-TSL radio listener, as likely to care about Social Media as a short-TSL user?

Actually, the long TSL user is in fact more likely to be into social media.  It turns out that folks who listen to the radio for an hour or more a day are also folks who value Social Media more.  Another wonderful match between the two, showing again the common personality between the Social Media Lion and the PPM-Willing White Rat.

Social Media Junkies Say Yes To PPM!

Now, for the most important test of all.  Let’s break the sample out based on how important they say Social Media is to them.  And now let’s ask each group the initial “Would you agree to wear this ratings device thing?” question.

As you look through the PPM data below, the percent of the sample who say yes to the initial PPM question will look high.  It is.  For two reasons: One, to begin with, we are not looking at the general population, but only in the much narrower subpopulation that matters.  Only that that small slice of the population who will become radio research subjects for money.  Two, invariably a much higher percentage of research subjects predict that they will do a certain behavior than will actually do the behavior.)

Among this paid-radio research population, those who say Social Media is not particularly important in their daily lives (scores 1-2) say yes to PPM at a not quite a 3:2 ratio.  The next tier, (Social Media is a 3-5 in importance) averages to just under a 4:2 yes:no ratio.  Among those folks who give it a 6, the ratio goes to 5:2.  Pretty telling.  The more they are into social media, the more likely they will agree to carry a PPM.

What this means to you

The people you want the most, your listeners who could become your PPM-carrying listeners, match up very attractively with social media. 

Particularly for reaching Women 18-44 and Men 18-24, it would be just nuts to ignore that the SocialSphere is fast becoming their personal-media nerve center.  Especially if you are targeting these groups, a solid, Social Media campaign, at the very center of your advertising strategy in 2013, is simply an imperative. 

And the moment is NOW.  Strike hard where your audience lives, and establish yourself strongly with great Social campaigns that stand out, before everybody else catches up. 

Meanwhile, if you are targeting Men 25-44 and/or Women 45-54, by no means should you ignore social media in support of everything else you do.  Those demos (okay, maybe not the Men 45+) are already increasing in attachment to the SocialSphere.  And their attachment to it, and thus its value to you as an advertising medium, is only going to grow.