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Like This If You Like Doughnuts: The Empty Facebook Post

October 2, 2012 by Stephanie Winans 1 Comment

“Like this if you like doughnuts, too.” “Share this if you’re single.” “Like this if you’ve ever played football.”

What do these statements tell you about the brand, station, or person who posted them? Nothing. Except that they are desperate for engagement.

Every post, tweet, pin you make is representative of your brand. While studies show that asking fans to take action (by requesting likes, shares or comments) works, pairing the call to action with a post that contains strong content is key.

If someone shares, comments or likes a post, it shows up on their Timeline. If the post is meaningless and doesn’t contain content that brands your station and entertains the listener, the engagement is pointless. No one is tuning in to your station or liking your Facebook page because they saw a post that says “Like this if you like doughnuts”.

Although you may receive high engagement from that post (many people like doughnuts!), it’s empty and won’t help you achieve broader marketing goals. After all, you aren’t a company that sells doughnuts… are you?

Photo credit: SebastianDooris

Is Radio Above Facebook’s Promotion and Contest Guidelines? How We’re Breaking the Rules

September 12, 2012 by Stephanie Winans 2 Comments

In May of 2011, Facebook released (quietly, of course) new guidelines for brands using the platform. Here at The Randy Lane Company, we notified our clients of the new rules, and tried to help you understand them.

Fast forward 15 months, and you’re still asking about it. Not only are you asking about it, but many of you are still violating the rules. Often.

Before I keep talking, know two things:

I don’t make the rules. I just tell you about them.
Personally, I’m a rule breaker. So when I tell you to follow the rules, it’s because the ramifications are serious and I want to protect you. (Wow, I sound like such a Mom right there. Let the record show I don’t wear “Mom jeans”.)

Now that you understand where I’m coming from, and what kind of jeans I’m not wearing right now, let’s take a look at some of the rules and how radio stations and shows are violating them.

Rule #1: Promotions on Facebook must be administered within Apps on Facebook.com, either on a Canvas Page or a Page App.

How We’re Breaking It: We’re running quick contests on our Timeline as often as we change underwear, without hiring a third-party app to build it legally.

For an example of a legal contest using an App, click here to check out the 102.9 K-Lite Match Game.

Rule #3: You must not condition registration or entry upon the user taking any action using any Facebook features or functionality other than liking a Page, checking in to a Place, or connecting to your app. For example, you must not condition registration or entry upon the user liking a Wall post, or commenting or uploading a photo on a Wall.

How We’re Breaking It: We break it with our fun “caption this picture to win” contests. We break it with our “comment on this post” contests. We break it with our “The first five people who like this post win” contests.

Rule #4: You must not use Facebook features or functionality as a promotion’s registration or entry mechanism. For example, the act of liking a Page or checking in to a Place cannot automatically register or enter a promotion participant.

How We’re Breaking It: We run on-air contests that tell listeners we’ll draw one Facebook fan as a winner. The only requirement for entry is that they like us on Facebook.

Rule #6: You must not notify winners through Facebook, such as through Facebook messages, chat, or posts on profiles (timelines) or Pages.

How We’re Breaking It: We post status updates to notify listeners that they’ve been chosen (probably for a promotion run illegally in the first place!) as the winner.

The rules can be found here in their entirety, under section “E”. But remember, don’t shoot the messenger! I just want to make sure you’re aware of what the rules entail.

Notice the simple threat below the rules: We reserve the right to reject or remove Pages for any reason. These terms are subject to change at any time.

That threat is the reason you should be wary of these rules. Should Facebook take notice, they have the right to shut your page down without a warning. That would mean that you lose everything you’ve worked so hard to gain- your fans.

Is it worth the risk?

Although “everyone’s doing it” might be your first reaction, remember that Facebook tends to make their changes without notice. So if they do decide to crack down on brands who are violating their TOS, you can guarantee you won’t know until it’s too late.

Do you post illegal promotions because everyone else is doing it? Or do you err on the side of caution? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Photo credit: Screenshot taken from a radio station wall post

The Seven Deadly Sins of Facebook

July 24, 2012 by Stephanie Winans 8 Comments

Have you ever spoken at a conference or run a meeting and been surprised by the content your audience responds to?

When I spoke at a radio conference last month, it was the Facebook No-No’s that made the audience feverishly take notes. And I was happy to see it, since I see these “sins” committed regularly- from the smallest markets to the largest ones, from both U.S. and international clients.

These sins could incite penalties from Facebook or Arbitron, or may stunt your social media success by alienating listeners. Either way, these seven sins are deadly:

1. Illegal Contesting
What is a Facebook promotion, anyway? It’s any campaign in which you award a prize or select a winner. Facebook’s rules are restricting, spelling out the fact that they don’t want much to do with your contests or promotions. To make sure you aren’t putting your station’s social media efforts in jeopardy, don’t:

Use any of Facebook’s features as a requirement for entry. This includes those “Caption this picture”, “Like this” or “Comment on this” contests talent love to post during their air shifts. It also includes station contests that ask listeners to “like our Facebook page” to enter, or giveaways that select Facebook fans at random.

Run a Facebook contest without a third party app. To remove the liability from Facebook, you must use an app from Facebook.com ( for example, Involver, Vitrue, WildFire, BuddyMedia) to create a page tab for the contest. This means your contest or promotion will need a budget.

Notify winners on Facebook. You can’t contact them using messages, chat or comments.

2. Talking About Ratings
Don’t talk about ratings in any way. It’s against Arbitron’s social media policy. Mentioning your ratings could entice a listener to admit they submitted a panel or diary, which removes their anonymity. This means those sweet “Thanks for making us #1 in the market” posts to listeners aren’t allowed. Know, too, that Arbitron monitors air talent social media accounts in addition to the official station account. Share this policy with your staff to ensure you aren’t penalized for a harmless ratings post.

3. Sounding Desperate
Don’t sound desperate. Studies show that calls to action (asking for likes and comments) produce results, but getting carried away can ruin your brand image and turn listeners off. Vary the copy in your Facebook posts so you aren’t tagging every post with “like this if you…”.

4. Linking Twitter to Facebook
There’s a reason Facebook and Twitter are both independently successful- they’re different! The language is different for each platform, and so is the ideal frequency of posts. If you have your Twitter account linked to Facebook, you may be alienating listeners with hashtags and abbreviations they don’t understand (or welcome- After all, it’s Facebook, not Twitter). You may also be sharing too often on Facebook, as the daily target frequency is more for Twitter than Facebook.

5. Using it as a One-Way Medium
It’s called ‘social’ media because social platforms are designed for two-way interaction. Make sure your team is connecting with listeners and creating conversations around topics. Posting engaging content is only half the battle; you must use that content to establish relationships.

6. Making It All About Likes
Likes are important, but there are other ways to measure your social media success. Track your progress using more than one metric to get a clear picture of your strategy’s results.

7. Making It All About You
Be more interested in engaging with your listeners than selling the station or show to them. Be authentic and focus on the relationship with your listeners. It’s what you can provide them, and not the other way around. Keep your priorities straight and you’ll create appealing content to gain the attention of new listeners, and strengthen relationships with P1s.

Want to make it eight deadly sins? Tell me what I’ve missed in the comments and I’ll add it!

Facebook’s Schedule Feature: Why Schedule Social Media?

June 25, 2012 by Stephanie Winans 4 Comments

Facebook recently made a giant step forward with the creation of the scheduling feature. You can now schedule a Facebook status (which may include a link, photo or video) for future post within the Facebook platform.

Use this feature to schedule Facebook posts in advance in lieu of HootSuite, or similar third party apps. It’s easy. From your business page Timeline, add a status update the way you normally would, adding your text, link or photo/video. Instead of choosing the post button on the bottom right of the box, choose the clock icon on the bottom left. This will allow you to choose the year, month, date, and time you would like the post to appear on your Timeline. You can edit or review in your Activity log within the Admin Panel.

Why Use Facebook Instead of the App I Already Use?

It’s assumed that Facebook’s EdgeRank, the algorithm that determines which posts appear in a user’s news feed, may penalize posts that aren’t created within Facebook. Using Facebook instead of another application may maximize your reach for each Facebook post.

Why Schedule at All?

Studies show that brands that post (or scheduled posts) outside of business hours showed engagement rates 20 percent higher than those that posted only during business hours, and that Facebook posts made on Saturdays and Sundays receive more likes than posts made during the business week. This means it’s a big mistake to post only while you’re at work.

Assuming you don’t want to be glued to your computer, tablet or phone 24/7, scheduling is a smart option. It allows you to focus your time spent on social media based on the strategy you have (I hope!) created, and get on with the other facets of your job- like what’s coming out of the speakers.

Scheduling is also helpful so that you don’t become what I call a “social media machine gun”, posting twenty tweets and four Facebook posts within two hours (when you’re at the computer) and then running out of “ammo” until the next day (when you’re back at the computer). Posting on Facebook too often will annoy your fans, so use scheduling to spread your content throughout the day. You can be a source of entertainment all day, long after your show ends.

What Is Scheduling? What Is It Not?

But let’s clarify one thing: Scheduling is NOT automating. Scheduling means taking the time to choose content targeted to your audience, crafting the post for each platform, and scheduling it the same way you would in real time. It does not mean setting up an RSS feed for every blog, feature, and podcast on your site and letting those apps automatically post for you. You still want to choose your teases carefully to entice listeners to click through to listen or read the content on your website. RSS apps won’t do this for you.

Scheduling does not replace interaction, so don’t schedule and run. You will get replies, retweets and comments you need to respond to throughout the day. Although you may not always post in real time, you should respond in real time. Scheduling is a way to ensure you’re planning your content in advance, and to maximize the time you have at the computer. It is not an excuse to neglect your social relationships.

Continue to post in real time when you can, but schedule posts to maximize your time and spread your social media content throughout the day.

Sources: Buddy Media via All Facebook and HubSpot via Mashable

Also posted at www.randylane.net

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