800.275.2840 MORE NEWS» insideradio.com THE MOST TRUSTED NEWS IN RADIO TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014 Relevancy is watchword as radio adapts to Facebook’s latest tweak. Come January, radio brands and personalities will need to work harder to get their organic posts to surface in their friends’ Facebook feeds. In another move to reduce irrelevant and superfluous clutter in the newsfeeds of its 864 million daily active users, the social giant will tweak its algorithms to limit posts that it deems “too promotional.” With the average Facebook user being exposed to 1,500 news items at any moment, BIA/Kelsey managing director Rick Ducey says the message to radio is clear. “Organic posts have to be more contextually relevant,” he says. “It’s a great opportunity for radio to distinguish itself as a relevant local medium.” Whether the goal is to drive participation in contests or to create listening appointments, the latest change will force radio to get more creative. Engagement is in, broadcasting a message is out. “We’ve adapted how we program our stations, now we have to change how we program our social platforms,” says Sam Stiers, VP of content strategy & operations for Interactive One Local. But there’s no need to be alarmed, social media experts say, as long as radio keeps its Facebook conversations relevant to its fans. “Facebook wants to show you things that matter to you and they track engagement by clicks, likes and shares,” says Emily Thousand, affiliate success manager at Second Street Marketing and a former social media strategist for Entercom. “It’s a space where people are building relationships and having conversations.” Facebook change comes as radio works to weave social elements into client campaigns. Facebook’s new algorithm is being adopted just as a growing number of radio stations are responding to client requests that their media partners include social components in their campaigns. But that doesn’t mean stations should put a brake on those efforts. “Radio groups need the social channel to be part of the toolkit they offer advertisers,” BIA/Kelsey’s Rick Ducey says. “Advertisers want it as part of a more integrated solution and if radio doesn’t offer it, they’ll go elsewhere for it.” The concern is that even if just 10% to 20% of a station’s posts don’t meet Facebook’s new engagement criteria, they can reduce the chances of any of a station’s posts making it into user news feeds. “You can do 90% of the right posts but if the other 10% are bad, it impacts the rest,” Interactive One Local’s Sam Stiers says. In that sense, the new restrictions can be seen as giving sellers the ammo to push back against client requests for posts where the sole intention is to get people to buy a product, download an app or enter a contest. Facebook gets millions of dollars’ worth of free promotion from radio stations, a perk it almost certainly doesn’t want to lose, so it’s given radio and its other brand page partners advance notice on the change. “They want to work with us and I’m thrilled they made the announcement in advance,” Stiers says. “It won’t hinder what radio is doing but it will make us work harder to make our posts more engaging.” Listener focus seen as key to navigating Facebook spam-cutting move. Facebook reached critical mass around the same time radio switched to metered audience measurement, making social media radio’s de facto marketing platform to drive appointment listening. Even with an algorithm update coming in January, Facebook can still be used to drive listening occasions, social experts say. The trick NEWS INSIDE >> is to combine value for the user and utility for the station. Looking to get people to tune in for a Beyoncé interview? Ask Facebook users what questions they’d ask her Bigger markets for CBS, or guess what she might wear. Or post 10 pictures of the singer and mention when greater Southeastern she’ll be on the air. “Focus on content that’s about the listener, not about the station,” footprint for Beasley [email protected] | 800.275.2840 PG 1 NEWS insideradio.com TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014 says Presslaff Interactive marketing assistant Nicole Watkins. That can involve a mix of videos, entertainment news, memes, cartoons, lists, quotes or pictures as a way to start or continue a conversation. The goal is to get people to comment on or share a post. “That will work better with the Facebook algorithm and better for your station,” Watkins says. For a movie campaign, posting a trailer is more likely to surface in news feeds than a simple text encouraging users to go see it or to enter a contest to win tickets to the film’s premiere. Posts about the last time one of the film’s actors was on the air is another option. For ticket giveaways, asking users who they would want to bring with them if they won is likely to get people tagging their friends in their comments, increasing the likelihood of the post going viral, experts say. Long-term solution: Build your own database. Ensuring your station’s posts show up in Facebook user newsfeeds is only half the battle. Perhaps more important is using social media to grow database platforms the station owns and can monetize, such as loyal listener email clubs. “It’s becoming even more important to build databases where they can’t be taken away,” Second Street Marketing’s Emily Thousand says. The odds are in radio’s favor. According to data from eMarketer, 91% of American adults check their email every day. Email open rates are 20% while organic brand posts showing up in news feeds is closer to 6%. “The real answer is not to let Facebook rule your communication with your audience, but to build a database of your listeners,” Presslaff Interactive’s Nicole Watkins says. “Then you own the relationship and can target with relevant email messages based on the info you gather, analyze and apply wisely.” Bigger markets for CBS, greater Southeastern footprint for Beasley. Two months after announcing one of radio’s biggest deals of the year, CBS Radio and Beasley Broadcast Group formally exchanged nearly 20 stations in four markets yesterday. The swap advances strategic goals for both companies. By shedding a pair of mid-size market clusters, CBS Radio is able to bulk up in bigger markets. In Miami it’s taken control of Beasley’s three-stations, adding radio for the first time in a market where it has a TV duopoly. In Philadelphia CBS picked up a pair of music FMs to add to a cluster that was heavy on spoken word formats, and where it owns two TV stations. All old, the company now has radio and TV combos in 11 of the top 15 radio markets. The new stations also help beef up content for the CBS Local Media web portals and the Radio.com streaming app. The deal makes Beasley a larger player in the Southeast, adding country WQYK-FM (99.5), classic hits “Q105” WRBQ-FM and four other Tampa stations; and seven in Charlotte, including powerhouses like country WSOC-FM (103.7) and urban “Power 98” WPEG. Growing from 44 stations to 53 gives Beasley a more diversified operation, less susceptible to the ebbs and flows of a handful of big market stations. The 53-year old company is expected to realize operating and financial synergies and expand its revenue base – without taking on any additional debt. By swapping rather than selling, both companies have avoided a hefty tax bill. For staffers, a new manager in the corner office. It’s meet the new boss time for employees at numerous stations that changed owners yesterday. In Philadelphia, staffers at country WXTU (92.5) and rhythmic CHR “Wired 96.5” WRDW-FM are getting to know CBS Radio SVP/market manager Marc Rayfield, who adds the former Beasley stations to his oversight. Beasley market manager Natalie Connor announced her retirement back in June. In Miami, which CBS Radio is entering for the first time, Joe Bell remains as SVP/market manager of rhythmic CHR “Power 96” WPOW, “99.9 Kiss Country” WKIS and “Sports Radio 560” WQAM. Though Bell has been managing the trio for Beasley since January 2006, the stations now have a new programming chief. CBS has transferred Rob Morris from Tampa to Miami as VP of programming. That [email protected] | 800.275.2840 PG 2 NEWS insideradio.com TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014 also helps fill the hole at WPOW following program director Pio Ferro’s departure from Beasley last week after two years at the station. Back in Tampa, Beasley’s freshly acquired six stations are huddling with new market manager Kent Dunn and operations manager Tee Gentry. Beasley last week transferred the veteran managers from its Augusta, GA cluster to Tampa. Dunn is replacing longtime CBS Radio vet Steve Carver, who earlier served as SVP/market manager for CBS stations in Los Angeles, West Palm Beach and Cleveland. A CBS spokesperson says Carver will work on special projects for the company for the next several months. In Charlotte, it’s not immediately known if market manager Bill Schoening will continue to manage the cluster under Beasley. Forecast: 14.5 million NextRadio-enabled phones by mid-2015. Two metrics are crucial when calculating NextRadio’s consumer adoption: the estimated number of FM-enabled phones in the marketplace and the number of those devices where the app has been activated by consumers.