Lori Lewis Media is a Social Media marketing agency specializing in marketing strategies for businesses of all sizes. Since 2008, Lori has spent time helping brands leverage social media. The website lists successes in elevating brand recognition and recall, increasing consumer conversion and retention, and boosting attendance and sales.
“Social Media is not about volume, it’s about differentiation” – Lori Lewis.
She is this week’s featured consultant.
Jeff Lynn: Social media is a moving target that often changes. How do you, as a radio station, navigate it effectively?
Lori Lewis: The most effective approach to social media is first having a leader who matches the nature of social media as well as the tone of the brand. The leader must be open to everyone’s content ideas yet able to discern and discuss what aligns and what does not with the brand so the effort towards social is collaborative.
There’s no difference between having a leader over the social space and having a leader over the mothership, the FM/AM stick. Imagine running a radio station without a leader – everyone winging it day in and day out – with lots of opinions. Nothing good comes from winging it.
Find someone at the station or in the building who is inherently of goodwill and enjoys social media. That’s your person to begin building structure, meaning around the space, and navigating it effectively.
JL: Should a radio station speak on social media as one voice or with each talent?
LL: Great follow-up question because here’s where a leader is critical. Over a year ago, content distribution began to change to interest-based delivery – shipping content to people who have a higher propensity to consume each specific topic of content you create to a blend of followers and non-followers. A leader would know that and teach everyone who creates content to focus more on building an essence around the stations’ social accounts – moving away from random voices and topics.
Interest-based algorithms have been the largest shift in social media. But this shift is not to imply a radio station’s social presence should only be one person and their “one voice.” This means social media accounts need to have an essence, a spirit about it – a purpose – so that when non-followers see your content and go to your account to check you out – there’s similar content – a similar vibe to follow for more of that type of content.
JL: For Facebook, is it still effective for the post to include a question to spur interaction?
LL: Of course – but if all you do is ask questions, you become predictable, which leads to fatigue, and folks will move on from you.
The main reason people use social media (just behind checking on family & friends) is boredom. Good old-fashioned boredom. So, your strategy should be everyone’s cure for boredom. And daily questions don’t cut it.
JL: Specifically for music radio, how important is video, and what are the best platforms for the brand extension?
LL: Meta’s Reels exceed 200 billion plays per day across Facebook and Instagram. YouTube’s Shorts Daily Viewers have reached more than 70 billion. TikTok users watch more than 1 billion videos per day.
Impressive numbers show how important video is for brands leveraging social media for awareness and growth.
JL: Is Facebook becoming skewed to the older audience formats, or can it still be effective for Top 40 and Alternative stations?
LL: From my point of view, Facebook use is more about geography than generation. In the country’s more rural, less connected areas, kids use Facebook as much as their parents. In the more populated cities, I find kids more distracted and need more dopamine hits. Facebook doesn’t offer that. Instagram, TikTok, and Snap do.
JL: This may be an impossible question, but can you list three best practices?
LL: People often ask if there are any patterns I’ve seen in the past 17 years of working in and studying the social space. And I always give them this:
The less interested we appear to be in the audience, the less interested they will become in us. People are walking around with the Internet in their pants and have no idea what to do with all of this connectivity. We are more connected today than ever, and we are the loneliest people on the planet.
Our current U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, declared loneliness as an epidemic throughout the country. So, be that brand – be that person who takes time to remind people they matter. I don’t care what content “went viral” or how much you’re “hitting it out of the park on social media.” If you’re not contributing to the intangibles of brand building, which in part is interacting with people on your social assets – your time spent on social is not the highest and best use.
The brands and the people who get social media are about helping people feel a part of something. That’s what creates sustainable brands and people.
#2 and #3 best practices?
See #1.
Contact Lori at Lori Lewis Media.
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Jeff Lynn serves as Editor of Barrett Media’s Music Radio coverage. Prior to joining Barrett Media, Jeff spent time programming in Milwaukee, Omaha, Cleveland, Des Moines, and Madison for multiple radio groups, including iHeartMedia, Townsquare Media, NRG Media, and Entercom (now Audacy). He also worked as a Country Format Editor for All Access until the outlet shut down in August 2023.
To get in touch with Jeff by email, reach him at Jeff@BarrettMedia.com.
