For some reason, I’ve always had a “gift” for social media, even before my radio days. It was something that was pointed out when I was asked to create the Millikin University Department of Theatre and Dance social profiles. The Dean asked if I’d like to do it as an internship, and when I told her I was maxed on credits, she offered to pay me to do it. I wasn’t sure why the Dean thought I was the best person to do it, but I set out creating the profiles, soliciting students to provide content to prospective students, creating plans for social, and trying to be as innovative as I could be.
When I started at WBNQ, the page had just over 10,000 likes. By the time I left in early 2016, it was closing in on 25,000 likes, due in part to successful posts I had made to the page! I had the full-time staff coming to me asking for tips on how to make their posts perform like mine did. Here are a few of my posts on the various station Facebook pages that have performed pretty well.
This was just after Making a Murderer was released, and it was the top of everyone's mind and the number one topic of conversation. Obviously our listeners enjoyed the comedy of a topical reference, with 561 likes (this was before reactions), 459 comments, and 762 shares!
This is my highest performing Facebook post of all time, and still holds the record for the highest performing post of WBNQ's of all time, too! I honestly credit THIS singular post as to why WBNQ's facebook exploded with new likes. The week after posting this, we'd had thousands of new followers!
Anything that generates conversation is great for social media, including riddles! This was pretty tough with a simple enough answer, with only a small percentage of commentors getting the correct one!
And speaking of "generating conversation," sometimes you simply have to ask for the comments! This was pretty funny and a lot of fun to ANSWER their comments, too!
Garth Brooks garners a lot of attention when he makes headlines regardless, but a lot of our listeners saw Garth in Champaign, IL. and many saw this girl in person, so the local tie in a national article was really cool!
Sometimes it's in conjunction with a major fundraiser your listeners feel very connected to! This was the final reveal of Bikes or Bust 2019, after I'd lived in a scissor lift for 5 days and we'd done a radiothon for listeners to bring out bikes for Toys for Tots. The final reveal here was 2,424 bikes, but after we concluded, we got another 36 bikes!
Local, feel-good content works, too! This is where social media becomes important, when we can help someone in need!
In today's ever changing world, you really have to watch the pictures you use to post on social media! I've known companies to get sued for it! So you get creative... you use your own photos, or... you use a picture of a canvas painting that you paint-n-sipped with a friend!
