5 Ways to Turn Fans into Viewers

With November Sweeps just weeks away, now is the time to solidify your social media strategy and make sure your newsroom is using Facebook to promote what’s happening on-air. Here are 5 ideas I’ve seen – and there’s room for more! Share your ideas in the comments…

1. Showcase the Talent

Promoting your people is smart. Anchors and reporters add a presentation style and personal connection that sets your on-air product apart from any other version of your content. Many viewers want to watch because they want to connect with the people on your newscast. Here are a few examples of stations having fun promoting their Anchors as a way of encouraging Fans to tune-in.

2. Share User-Generated Content

Your Facebook Fans want to be treated like VIPs. And the more you do, the more connected they’ll be to your brand. Show them their opinions matter by sharing comments on-air. And broadcast or share a viewer photo to show how much you appreciate their input in the newsgathering process. Plus, they’ll be more likely to tune-in if they know there’s a chance they will see their name on TV.

3. Contest Buzz

Contesting can be a great way to generate buzz around your newscast. The first step is to secure a prize with WOW-factor. Next, be sure you have a strong plan to heavily promote the contest on-air and online. Third, broadcast the payoff by announcing the winners on-air and showcasing the giveaway. KATU took this a step further by running a Watch to Win contest on Facebook.

4. Don’t neglect the Sports Department

Fall sports can be a great way to engage your Facebook audience. In fact, sports posts tend to get higher engagement than most news content. Make sure you have a strong plan in place to promote any live sporting event happening on your station and be sure to tie Facebook and Twitter into your coverage of High School football. Sports are best when experienced live, so putting out a reminder on Facebook to tune-in can go a long way to turning Fans into viewers.

5. Add value on each platform

Think critically about how you can differentiate each platform (web, broadcast, mobile, social) with new content that adds value. This way, your viewers won’t feel like you’re “teasing” them… but rather just providing new and different content on each platform. Here are some great examples:

What other ways have you seen newsrooms use social media to promote their newscast? I’d love to hear them, please share them in the comments!