Social Media and Radio: How to Take Advantage of this Perfect Pair

There’s a lot of focus these days on digital marketing—and for good reason. Digital marketing allows consumers to find the information they need from the convenience of their smartphone or computer, giving them access when and where they want it. Having marketing that is accessible this close to the point of purchase is why radio continues to be a leading medium for businesses of all types, and when paired with digital tactics—especially social media—the results can be greatly boosted.

According to the Pew Research Center, 91% of Americans age 12 or older listen to the radio at least once a week. On average, people spend nearly 2 hours each day listening to the radio. By comparison, 68% of American adults use Facebook, spending about a half-hour each day. So, it’s easy to see that radio paired with social media marketing can greatly extend your brand’s reach and increase ROI.

Targeting

Pairing social media and radio is an effective way of extending your reach and engaging with a wider audience (or the same audience more often). Radio provides the ability to target your ads based on listening trends and important psychographics. By complementing your radio ads with a social media campaign targeting a similarly focused segment of this audience, you can engage with customers one-on-one and bring them closer to taking action. Use your radio ads to encourage listeners to engage with your brand on social media by posing questions, asking for input, or inviting them to participate in promotions or contests.

Timeliness

When you want your message to be timely and relevant, radio and social media together give you a unique advantage. You have the ability to place ads on both media when you want your target audience to hear that message. For instance, if you’re a fast food restaurant hoping to target people for a quick dinner option, you might want to run radio ads in the early and late afternoon while they’re thinking about and planning dinner. Same goes with social media. For this same campaign, you could even target them with late afternoon specials, further driving them to choose your restaurant on their way home.

Cross-promotion

Being sure your marketing is consistent across media is important and with radio and social it’s no different. For instance, if you have a campaign tagline or call-to-action you’re using on-air, be sure to incorporate that into social posts and even on your about section or cover photo. That way you are increasing the frequency of your message during this campaign, which will ultimately increase your results overall.

You can also cross-promote your advertising creative by sharing your radio ads on your social pages. This further extends the reach of your radio advertising in a platform that makes sense. You can do this the other way around too by directing radio listeners to engage with your social pages. An example might be encouraging the use of a certain hashtag in a contest.

Lastly, if you are utilizing other types of marketing tactics with your radio partner—like an endorsement for example—be sure to tie this into your social efforts. The more you can take advantage of your marketing investment, the better!

Special events

Radio and social media can go hand-in-hand for promoting special events such as contests, festivals, appearances, grand openings, or community events. When promoting your event in your radio ad, direct listeners to visit your social media page for exclusive information, such as where your team will be located, how they can get a free sample, what the details are, and so on.

Also, during any kind of event you’re apart of or hosting, be sure to post photos to social media or do a live broadcast via Facebook or Twitter. Use radio to drive them to your event and then incorporate social media to further engage.

Better together

Radio and social media both provide opportunities for reaching and engaging your target audience in new and exciting ways to build brand awareness. When you use radio and social media together, you can create a campaign that is greater than the sum of its parts, making your ads memorable and increasing your return on investment.