Fusion Radio HD

Social Media Strategy

Amantha Hons, amanthakoren@gmail.com Madalynn Kainer, mpk_2017@tamu.edu

Chelsea Powers, chelsea.powers@aol.com Chase Shelton, chaseman70@tamu.edu

This is the social media strategy for Fusion HD Radio. Amantha Hons, Madalynn Kainer, Chelsea Powers and Chase Shelton of the AGCJ 489 Social Media in Agriculture class created this proposal. This strategy proposal includes audience identification, social media goals and objectives, platform identification, content calendars, visuals, social media management tools, and our recommendations for Fusion’s continuing social media presence.

@fusionradiohd | @fusionradio_hd | facebook.com/fusionradiohd Audience Fusion has three key audiences that they want to reach with their social media. The first audience is their listeners. This audience is made up of millennials, especially those ages 18-24. They predominantly live, work or go to school in the Bryan-College Station, but with the live streaming nature of the station, the reach of their listeners could very well extend further. Their second audience is advertisers. This audience is made up of businesses, as well as business owners and decision makers, in the Bryan-College Station area. Their third audience is industry and educators. This audience is made up of professionals and academics who are interested in the station format. ● Audience 1: Listeners

○ Listeners are millennials; specifically those aged 18 to 24. They are college students in the Bryan-College Station area who attend at Texas A&M University or Blinn College. The social media audience is mostly women, but the target audience for the radio station is split between men and women. Listeners are located primarily in the Bryan-College Station area, but due to the live streaming nature of the station, the reach could very well extend further in Texas. Listeners are in the middle to upper class. They value social interaction; entertainment, new and interesting content and fit the “divergent” character of the station. Listeners seek the benefits of new music, a social outlet and entertainment from Fusion.

● Audience 2: Advertisers ○ Advertisers are business owners and decision makers in businesses. They are

professionals, mostly male, and between the ages of 35 and 50. They are in the local market of Bryan-College Station or in the larger market of Houston. They are in the middle to upper class and value their families, careers and meaningful business relationships. They seek the benefit of a way to brand and promote their business from Fusion.

● Audience 3: Industry/Academics ○ Industry is professionals in the radio and entertainment industry or in the

academic field. They are men and women, aged 25 to 44. They are middle to upper class and find fulfillment in their careers. They value education and industry advancement and seek to use Fusion’s social media as a tool to monitor and value the new, innovative Fusion format.

Listeners Advertisers Industry/Academics

Audience Rank Primary Secondary Tertiary

Demographics Millennials College students Mostly women Age 18-24 American

Businesses & business owners Professionals Mostly men Age 35-50

Professionals Middle-Aged Age 25-44

Geographic’s Bryan-College Station Houston Texas Southern Region United States

Bryan-College Station Houston Texas Southern Region United States

Texas United States

Psychographics Middle to upper class Finds fulfillment in social settings and academics Interested in entertainment and finding new music Value new and interesting content Fit the “divergent” character

Middle to upper class Finds fulfillment in career and family Interested in promoting their business Value productive and meaningful relationships in business

Middle to upper class Finds fulfillment in career/academics Interested in new educational/industry tools Value learning opportunities and advancement in their industry

Behaviors Occasions: -Football games -Traveling Shows -Holidays Benefits sought: -New music -Entertainment -Consistent voice -Social outlet

Occasions: -Football games -Traveling Shows -Events -Holidays Benefits sought: -Way to brand -Market and advertise their business

Occasions: -Road shows -Social media Benefits sought: -Social media presence -Digital media -Educational relevance

Goals and Objectives ● Key Message - Fusion is a divergent rock station operated by students. The program and

its innovative format is the product of a partnership between Texas A&M University’s Ag Leadership, Education and Communications Department (ALEC) and Bryan Broadcasting. The key message Fusion wants to convey is a “divergent” sound, one that is unapologetic, sarcastic, does not fit the mold, and almost tongue to cheek, but covertly.

● Goals for Social Media - Fusion’s goal for social media is to help grow and build the Fusion brand. Fusion is a brand new station with an innovative format, so their main goal as an organization is to grow their listener base and attract key stakeholders. They will use social media as an important tool to engage and attract listeners, share their brand, build a solid brand reputation, and keep potential advertisers and colleagues informed. Keeping it related to local news, i.e. Texas A&M and Bryan-College Station, as well as random and satirical news.

Social Media Voice & Brand Fusion is a “divergent” rock station that doesn’t fit the mold of a typical radio station. With its mix of rock, alternative, indie, and countless other genres of music, Fusion breaks the status quo. This translates into its social media voice by the various types of content that is shared. ● Facebook

○ Its Facebook page shares a lot of content with the intention to draw attention to its Facebook page. Occasionally it will share important information about events that Fusion is putting on or developments in their growth. However, the main purpose is to provide content that is funny for the followers to open and in return lead them to its page. It is aimed to attract people in the BCS area as well as others since they have a live stream online that listeners in other areas can tune in to.

● Instagram ○ Its Instagram account is used to inform followers of events it is planning or

currently holding, as well as what is going on in the studio. The purpose of its Instagram is to provide insight to its followers so that they feel informed about what is going on as well as provide them with a feeling of closeness to the station.

● Twitter ○ Geared more towards Texas A&M University students, it keeps its followers

informed of various events going on around campus while also using this tool to draw attention to its station. Its Twitter account also posts things similar to its Facebook page that is funny in order to get retweets and in results followers.

Social Media Platforms ● We chose Facebook as the primary platform for Fusion Radio HD. Facebook has over

894 million daily active users, making it one of the most popular social media outlets available. 87% of 18 – 29 year olds reported using Facebook, making it a popular outlet amongst Fusion listeners. Not only is Facebook a popular social media outlet, it is also easy to use and has many platforms available for businesses or groups. According to Social Media Examiner, over 85% of marketers stated that the most important benefit of Facebook was increased exposure. As a new radio station, Fusion Radio also has that same mission.

● We also recommend that Fusion Radio utilize Twitter as a second social media outlet. Twitter will increase brand awareness and allow Fusion Radio increase their reach. Twitter is an excellent social media outlet for Fusion listeners to use. Not only does it deliver messages in a short and concise manner, it also is easily accessible on both a cell phone and computer. We believe that Twitter is an excellent social media for Fusion Radio to utilize.

● We recommend that Fusion Radio post content that reflects the mission and purpose of their radio station, as well as information shared by the disc jockeys on their radio shows. As a divergent rock radio station, ran by students at Texas A&M University, Fusion Radio should attempt to post articles, stories or photos pertaining to the divergent rock genre, the music industry, pop culture and Texas A&M University. This content should be posted on all social media outlets.

Audience Usage of Platforms

Listeners Advertisers Industry & Academics

Facebook Moderate High High

Twitter High Low Moderate

Instagram High Low Moderate

Periscope High Low Low

● Social Media Platforms ○ Facebook

■ Be sure to tune into Aggieland’s only divergent rock station, 95.1-2! This HD radio station is collaboration between Bryan Broadcasting and the Texas A&M University Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication.

■ September 24, 2015 ■ College Station, Texas ■ http://fusionradiohd.com

○ Twitter ■ Student-operated Divergent Rock station. Stream live at

http://v6.player.abacast.net/693. ■ College Station, Texas ■ http://fusionradiohd.com

Strategy ● Months 1-3

○ Content Calendar (see attachment in the back) ■ The content calendar covers the first three months of the social media

strategy. It begins on October 21, the day the Facebook page was created and continues for 12 weeks, ending on January 9, 2016.

○ Measures of Performance and Analytics ■ The measures of performance that you should use are page likes

(followers on other platforms), engagement, which includes post clicks, likes, comments and shares, and reach. Use the management tools outlined later in the strategy to monitor and report these measures. ● Likes: According to Facebook’s analytics, we received 147 likes in

one day on October 23. By November 18, the page had reached its current total of 178 likes.

● Engagement: Our most engaging posts include articles written about Fusion, videos, photos from events, and articles that reference big trending topics. A post from October 24 featuring a video of Texas A&M Football player Myles Garrett received 106 post clicks.

● Reach: The posts with the most reach are “sharable” content pieces, like event photos, videos, and trending topics. A feature story about Fusion posted on October 22 reached 220 people and a post about a local event reached 403 people.

● Months 4-6 (see attachment in the back) ○ We continued on the path that we were going with our posts, and are hoping for

more likes and higher reaches by January 1st, 2016.

Visuals ● The profile headers we have created for this proposal include 4 color and style variations

of the logotype and tagline, one Texas A&M themed graphic, and one Christmas graphic. The four brand color variations (white with green accents, white with purple accents, green and purple) can be used at any time. The Texas A&M variation, which states “Gig ‘Em Aggies!” can also be used at any time, but we recommend only using it when there is a large Texas A&M event, such as a football game. The final header we have included is for the Christmas season. It is currently up on the social media platforms and we recommend using this one only during the holiday season, or the month of December.

Competition and Inspirations ● Two successful campaigns

○ Candy 95 ■ Facebook: @candy951 ■ Instagram: @candy95.1 ■ Twitter: @candy95

○ 94.5 The Buzz ■ Facebook: @945thebuzz ■ Instagram: @945thebuzz ■ Twitter: @945thebuzz

● Who to follow ○ Facebook- On Facebook, we choose to follow many of the Texas A&M

University pages and ones associated with A&M departments. As well as many music pages such as, Candy 95, MusicMaster, Bryan Broadcasting, and local music venues such as Revolution Cafe and Bar and Grand Stafford Theater. We felt that we should follow many news and media outlets as well, such as SPIN, Alternative Press, and BuzzFeed.

○ Twitter- we tried to stay personal with our followers by following back normal college students. We wanted to have relatable content to share with those followers, so we followed funny study accounts and fellow university pages, i.e. TAMU, ALEC, and TAMU sports pages. Fusion follows many music accounts that keep up with the current events. Accounts such as Requiem, BuzzFeed, Vice, Bryan Broadcasting, as well as local weather and news accounts.

○ Instagram- We follow a lot of on-air talent from Candy 95 such as Tucker ‘Frido’ Young, Ebony Williams, Adam Drake, Casey ‘Catnip’ Atnip and Melissa ‘Mel’ Hering in order to keep up-to-date with events going on in BCS. We follow accounts related to our A&M student audience such as TAMU, 12th Man, Aggieland Outfitters, and X Games so we can find content that our audience would be interested in to share with them.

Social Media Management ● Management Tools

○ Hootsuite for twitter and other platforms, Google analytics, Facebook analytics, and sometimes twitter analytics

○ We use these management tools to keep track of posts and the analytics of the posts made. ■ Hootsuite: keeps up with multiple accounts and it keeps your feeds

updated. You can schedule posts and use it for multiple platforms and users.

■ Facebook analytics: is for Facebook only, and it keeps up with all of the analytics and insights of your page. Some cool features are seeing all post ever posted and their analytics as well as people who have followed or unfollowed your page.

● Engagement ○ We recommend that each DJ have access to or be able to post onto the social

media pages. They should have it open while they are on air and be actively monitoring the page and responding to comments. DJ’s should share stories that they discuss on air and ask for more interaction on the social media sites.

○ We recommend running contests frequently depending on event or occasion. For example, merch and promo item giveaways at live remote broadcasts or ticket giveaways on air.

○ We recommend encouraging users to interact with content and the station. Ask listeners what music they want to hear, post polls, or ask opinions on hot topics.

● Management time ○ We recommend allocating up to one hour per day to schedule posts, respond to

comments or monitor activity on the social media pages. A designated social media or web manager can do this. We also recommend that DJs keep a close watch on the social media sites while they are on air, which won’t take any additional time out of their schedules.

● Increase brand

○ Twitter ■ Holding polls and contests frequently to keep the audience interested.

Responding to their tweets within a few hour time span and their private messages within a 24-hour period. Retweeting and favoriting things that are relevant to the station and surrounding area. Maybe start up a “chat with a DJ” day on a certain day to interact with your audience.

○ Facebook ■ Posting to the page daily to keep the audience interested and informed.

Posting and sharing videos and photos makes the people want to know more and reaches a higher interest rate. Having contests online and in person will keep more coming to Fusions social media and hold them in with the radio station.

○ Instagram ■ Posting three to four times a week to keep relevant with the audience.

Usings certain apps and editing tools to make your post unique and up-to-date. Holding contests on there and having a weekly hashtag, like #musicmonday or #throwbackthursday.

○ For all ■ Some ideas that we thought would work would be holding road shows,

like Bryan Broadcasting, to interact with the audience in person and spread the brand with merchandise. Coordinating with band drives, local band and music stores, and first fridays to host or co-host events. Some student spotlight ideas to go in local publications such as, the Battalion, Student Life, and Ask Ags. Going to local music events and concerts to host live shows or have behind the scenes from the show. As well as having artist features to show off local artists and feature them on the show or online.

Resources ● tx.ag/Socialmediatools ● tx.ag/HootsuiteHowto ● tx.ag/MiscAnalytics

Screenshot of Facebook analytics of when Fusion’s fans are online. Any day between the hours of 9 am and 9 pm are peak times to post according to the Facebook analytics.

Screenshot of Facebook analytics of the demographics of Fusion’s fans from November 10, 2015. Women made up 70 percent of fans and most fans fell between the ages of 18 and 24.

Screenshot of Facebook analytics of the demographics taken on December 6, 2015. Women have risen by one percent as well as the age category of 25-34.

These two screenshots below were taken on December 7, 2015. They show you the most recent post, which the one at the bottom was the one with the most engagement. Our engagement has gone up continually since we began the social media campaign for Fusion HD Radio.