Radio versus Social Media

For the past few years, President Donald Trump has called the major news media Fake News. Meanwhile the commentators on the networks and news organization he calls Fake, call the Presidents favorite channel Fake News.  I’m not about to dive into a political rabbit hole but this is just one example of how we as consumers have been losing trust in the long standing traditional news media, no matter what side you are on, there’s someone on the other side that will say, you’re wrong and they are right.

What led to this widespread division is not just what the news organizations are doing, but the availability for anyone and everyone to become their own “media”.  I’m talking about Social Media.

We can forget about Tom and MySpace which was the forerunner to Facebook.  MySpace is still around but Tom skipped town.

Facebook is attempting to take over the world, still but in light of what they have been doing with data collection and arguing over their legal liabilities, Facebook is losing ground when it comes to Trust. 

I just read a story that summarized findings of a survey taken this summer by Engagement Labs that points out how badly the trust factor in Social Media has fallen this year.  How bad is it?  “Facebook down 56%, Instagram down 38% and Twitter down 140%”

Yikes.

Now before I go any further with sharing the results from this story, I want you to know where I am coming from.  Since 2003 I have worked exclusively in the marketing world.  8 years at a group of radio stations, followed by some shorter positions working for a website development company that specialized in marketing solutions, another several months back in radio, followed by nearly a year as the “Social Media Magician” at an ecommerce company before I returned to radio again in 2013.  

The ScLoHo brand came about due to my online activity I was doing 15 years ago.  I have lived in both social and online media along with traditional media for a long time and I know the strengths and weaknesses of all of it.  The company I work for has a digital division and I can probably out debate anyone on the pros and cons of all this. 

Back to this story and survey from this summer…

A new survey of radio listeners finds their trust in radio and its personalities continues to grow as social media has become far less trustworthy during the past year. Conducted by data and analytics firm Engagement Labs and commissioned by iHeartMedia, the study shows listeners ages 18-69 place higher trust in radio than in television or social media and that 79% of respondents said radio is more or just as trustworthy compared to a year ago while social media is 50% less trustworthy during the same time period.

Here’s more specific numbers:

Among radio listeners 18-69, the survey found 75% trust radio, 66% trust television, 57% trust websites, 38% trust Twitter and 37% trust Facebook.

My radio station, WOWO Radio is a news/talk formated station and I just received data relating to our listenership and the trust factor that I’ll share in a few weeks.

One more quote from this story:

The survey also found that an overwhelming majority of respondents indicated that radio improves their mood, helps them feel less isolated and more connected to their community. More than three-fourth of respondents (77%) trust the information they receive from their favorite on-air hosts. In addition, heavy radio listeners were found to wield robust word of mouth power for advertisers, having more brand conversations and more influence than heavy internet users and TV viewers.

It’s that last part, the robust word of mouth power for advertisers that I’ll gladly talk to you about specifically with regards to WOWO radio if you reach out to me and I’ll also be including that information in an upcoming article and podcast.