Misleading Ads on Facebook

It's okay, right?

Facebook allows misleading political advertising to be posted. 

Doesn't this make you in the least bit uneasy? 

"The language in Facebook's stated Advertising Policy has recently changed. While the guideline used to say that ads "must not contain deceptive, false, or misleading content," the rule now prohibits ads "that include claims debunked by third-party fact checkers" or, in some circumstances, by third-party organizations "with particular expertise" in the matter."


Facebook seems to be saying they will not allow false advertising if it was previously debunked. Does this mean new false and misleading material can be posted until it can be proved by fact checkers to be false? It seems so.


Take a look at these two stories. The first is from ars technica. Standards for paid advertising are different on Facebook. The second is from Politico. Elizabeth Warren's campaign deliberately posted false advertising to prove a point. “We intentionally made a Facebook ad with false claims and submitted it to Facebook’s ad platform to see if it’d be approved. It got approved quickly and the ad is now running on Facebook,” she wrote. “They’ve decided to let political figures lie to you—even about Facebook itself—while their executives and their investors get even richer off the ads containing these lies.”

By the time Facebook gets around to pulling a post, they've already left the barn door open. 

Political ads can lie if they want

Warren escalates war with Zuckerberg

hashtag

#socialmediaadvertising

When to Post (Using Social Media)

It matters...

Why?

Maximizing reach is essential in a fractured marketplace. That fracturing is already having an effect of listening. The effects are far reaching according to NPR's Research. Statistics cited in a Washington Post article by Paul Farhi points to a decline in listener-ship among the audience that's under 55.

Perhaps more troubling are the broader demographic trends. NPR’s signal has gradually been fading among the young. Listening among “Morning Edition’s” audience, for example, has declined 20 percent among people under 55 in the past five years. Listening for “All Things Considered” has dropped about 25 percent among those in the 45-to-54 segment.

The implication is that the tent poles (Morning Edition and All Things Considered) continue to appeal the audience garnered in the 80's. That appeal is not so strong among audience segments 54 and younger. 

What About Appeal?

Maybe Morning Edition and All Things considered, created by boomers to appeal to boomers is getting old like its audience. Another consideration is that the rush to create local programming to build content stations could call their own may be pulling down the tent poles. Is that content building audience or driving audience away? Local programming for the sake of being local is not valued by the public radio audience. If that were the case, all those podcasts being offered would be wildly successful. They're not. Local content has to match the expectations and values of public radio's audience no matter the platform.  Radio works best when there is a consistency of appeal.

And what about midday programming in general? The appeal of national offerings has not been consistent with the appeal of the tent poles. It doesn't take much to convince a potential loyal listener to tune away. The problem is magnified by the thousands of offerings on newer platforms.

Don't Throw In The Towel

People are still using radio.  According the Nielsen, 93% of Americans are tuning-in. News/Talk continues to be the top format. The top formats among listeners 25 to 54 are Top 40, Country, and Adult Contemporary. The key public radio is to find out where it's younger demographics are migrating. As Nielsen acknowledges, the audience is shifting to digital platforms.

In the meantime...

Tighten up your programming. Listen to the way you sound. Take a critical look at promotions.

Let them know you're still here. You're still listening and you're still engaging. Promote on the platforms they're using. Allow users to access what you're offering on their terms. 

It matters when and how you post. I've been looking around for ideas on when I could make the most of my postings on Social Media. There are lots of ideas waiting for you. Some in public radio have hired experts to help with postings. Others don't have the resources to hire somebody dedicated to managing social media. The information on effective posting is out there and easy to use. 

Fast Company has some interesting infographics they published in 2014. Among the advice given...

• POST ON FACEBOOK DURING THE AFTERNOON SLUMP
• SCHEDULE TWEETS FOR LUNCHTIME
• NO ONE IS CHECKING LINKEDIN ON A FRIDAY

Does 2014 seem dated? There are others offering information about best practices for posting. Hubspot offers posting advice on their site. For instance: 

• The best time to post on Linkedin is Tuesday through Thursday during working hours. 
• The best time to post on Instagram is anytime Monday through Thursday except between 3:00pm and 4:00pm.

I still think what we offer matters. The ground is shifting below our feet, but the sky is not falling. I remember the stickers that used to be on the windows in the control oft the first public radio station I worked for. It said...

Think Audience!

Digital News Users Not Buying

Reuters has bad news about subscriptions for on-line news. Michael Rosenwald, reporting for Columbia Journalism Review that only 11% of on-line digital news consumers actually pay for the services. Most digital consumers resent digital advertising and 47% block the ads with apps.

Other findings

• Ad blocking app and low subscription rates are bad news for legacy news sources and disruptive aggregators like Buzzfeed and Huffington Post.
• This is an international trend.
• Mobile devices are replacing tablets for news.
• Smaller screens limit advertising.
• Facebook is the go to Social Media source over Twitter.
• Publishers are migrating toward sponsored content.
• Sponsored content is meeting resistance. (40% ) 

Uncomfortable Questions

If people are unwilling to pay for news content on-line and if they're blocking ads, who's going to pay for the service? And, if the current funding model cannot sustain the providers, are these news sources going the same way as newspapers?

Hot Topic

Firewall issues abound for sponsored content. Journalistic standards call for a clear separation between sponsors and the content. Can sponsored content be trusted as news even with full disclosure of who is paying for the content? There's backlash already. According to 40% of the respondents to the Reuter's survey say they felt disappointment when they discovered the content they thought was news was actually sponsored content. To these users the articles certainly do not meet journalistic standards. Should it be considered advertising?

Sponsored content may not be as overt as commercials from the 40's and 50's, but there should be a certain amount of skepticism. Check out his ad for RJ Reynolds from the early days of Television...

Facebook was Down?

I missed it! Facebook was down!
I stumbled across this report from Huffington Post over four hours later.
Facebook Goes Down.
I thought...Perhaps I'm not really connected all that much. Should I feel bad? Am I just too far out of it?
Then I realized...Maybe not.
I was working on a quarterly report for South Church. I was under a deadline. And earlier, when Gmail was down, I was working on my job search...sharpening up my resume and crafting a cover letter.
There's something positive about not being totally consumed by social media.
I'm not celebrating. If the Internet had gone down, I would not have been able to complete the quarterly report, worked on my job search. looked at articles on-line or written this blog.

Creating A Public Radio Program Buzz

  From the Top is taking its roadshow to Utah Public Radio. The program was recently added to their line-up.      

Getting involved with remotes of national programming helped launch WNPR's change in programming focus. WNPR was able to generate community and listener excitement around StoryCorps, Wait, Wait and A Prairie Home Companion.
Here's some of the positive results we had at WNPR:

• Listeners loved it.
• Press coverage about the station increased.
• The appearances created development opportunities.
• Staff became involved. All of this was a positive experience for them.

 UPR is experiencing some of that glow. The Salt Lake Tribune has press coverage today. There will be more coverage as the event draws closer. UPR also has the news posted on their Website and Facebook Page.




From the Top airs on UPR Friday afternoons at 2:00 and Sunday nights at 9:00.  

Updating Media Skills

Something really interesting happened last week with the Planned Parenthood - Komen controversy. The response on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter using shared information (curating) changed the result.

I'm taking some courses on marketing and new media. I've only just begun. I know enough to, perhaps, do more damage than good. The courses have got me thinking about the ways public media can use social media.

In Public Radio (public media) we've been looking for ways to attract a younger and larger audience. We've been looking for the right combination of programming (format) to attract that audience. The answer might not be on the air. Or, maybe it already is. The quality content of public radio (public media) put on the right platforms can grow the audience. NPR is already doing this. I'm speaking of content created locally. This is content already being created. Thoughtful selection and sharing the content through social networks will expose the content further. This is only a theory. But, it's easy to do and inexpensive. Because of that it has a lot of potential.

The starting point is to put the content being creating on the platforms used by the public radio audience and measure the results. See if you can take advantage of the curatorial power of social media to expand the audience.

Embrace Social Media...Fire the Madmen?

Does it make sense to lay-off all your marketers while embracing social media?

I don't think so. Not all of them anyway. At one of the public radio stations I worked for we had 200,000 listeners and about 4,000 people who liked us on Facebook. Our air time was still more effective for reaching our audience.  Social Media is another tool to use in getting your message out there. It has not replaced traditional media.

P&G is not replacing traditional media. But, they are finding that social media can help them keep costs down. You still need creative people to craft your message to reach the market segment (constituency) you want.  The Jim Edwards Article on the Business Insider Website points out, "P&G's Old Spice campaign is a  textbook example of what the entire company should be doing."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/pg-ceo-to-lay-off-1600-after-discovering-its-free-to-advertise-on-facebook-and-google-2012-1#ixzz1kzq27J5i

The Platform Matters

I recently sent out a post about WOSU's decision to sell its AM signal. WOSU had recently transitioned its news audience to 89.7FM. The change was made possible after the station had purchased another FM signal and moved classical programming to that signal.

The transition to FM for the news programming was, unfortunately, 25 years late. The radio platform preferred by the Boomers (NPR's prime market segment) is FM radio.

I'm spending some time helping with the production of the Real Life Survival Guide. One of the goals of the program is to continue the conversation on-line. We were frustrated by the scant participation through the program's website. (Of course, there's that scary moment when we thought nobody cared.) Through the help of our web guy, Gary Choronzy, "the new RLSG / Facebook comment integration is now live. what this does is synchronize site comments with FB conversation threads. to see it in action, see Bruce's latest post:"  http://reallifesurvivalguide.com/2011/12/09/whats-the-best-way-to-get-started-on-an-exercise-routine/

We're trying to increase awareness of the program and increase participation by utilizing Facebook...the platform used by most of our listeners.