Digital media and how to use social media branding.

Social Media is every where! Within todays society, roughly 64%, or two-thirds of adults have not only home Wi-Fi, but they have access to at least one, if not more, smartphone, desktop, laptop, or tablet that enables them to have consistent access to the internet. (Source:) Because of the easy access to the internet and the quick availability to the multiple online channels of information, people are starting to spend more time online, than anywhere else. However, even though there are millions of websites and apps, social media apps are among the most used out of all them. It is because of that, that it is becoming imperative for media organizations, such as magazine, newspapers, television and even radio stations, to not only have an online presence, but to develop a social media brand, as well.

        However, before we can start talking about how to build up your social media presence, we need to fist discuss what a social media brand is. So, what is a brand? No, we are not referring to the kind of permanent mark that a farmer leaves on their cattle. The brand that we are referring to in this sense is that of a

“name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers” (Source:)

         Take the talk radio show, The Breakfast Club, for example. The Breakfast Club is arguable one of the most popular morning talk radio shows in America. The show is hosted by DJ Envy, Angela Yee, and rapper Charlamagne tha God. The original talk show started in 2010 on New York’s Power 105.1 FM. However, in 2013 the talk show became a syndicated radio show. This means that the show was licensed to broadcast on multiple different radio stations around the world. Part of the reason why the show became as popular as it has is thanks to their social media platforms.

         The Breakfast Club radio show is now broadcasted on 41 radio stated around the world, including the main radio station of which they started Power 105.1 FM in New York. So, how did a radio station utilize social media and build such an influential social media brand? I mean, it’s a radio show, all they do is talk on the radio. No one even likes to listen to the radio anymore, right?

Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are the three main social media outlets that The Breakfast Club talk show uses. Each morning their broadcast is filmed live on Facebook. This is important for two reasons. One, you get to actually put a face to the voices that are coming out of your speaker. Two, once the filming is done, people can still watch and see what happened during the live broadcast. The Breakfast club utilizes YouTube in a similar way. The show will post their broadcast on their YouTube channel, but they also post more exclusive and personalized content from their broadcast. Take for instance that you only like to hear the “Rumor Report” and don’t care too much about the rest of their show. Well, then you could go on the shows YouTube channel and watch all of the “rumor reports” that have been aired on the show. Their Twitter page is probably their least used form of social media, but the show utilizes it to further advertise for the show and the different things that is talked about on show. They also utilize it as a way to interact with their fans by sometimes retweeting something a fan said, or shared.

So, lets talk numbers. How do you know if you have a strong social media presence? The simple answer can be found in the amount of followers that you have. The Breakfast Club the show has over 2.4 million people who either follow or like the Breakfast Club on Facebook. The shows YouTube channel alone has 4.21 Million subscribers. On Twitter, the show has 624 thousand followers. Out of three of the most popular social media platforms, the Breakfast Club has a combined following of over 7.2 million fans, or followers. This is not even including the personal accounts that each of the host has. On Twitter alone, the three host have a combined following of 3.8 million, with Charlamagne tha God having the majority with 2.12 million fans.

The success of the show has to deal with their ability to cultivate such a large and loyal fan base among their social media channels. So, how can other radio shows, newspapers, magazine, or news channels build their social media brand like the Breakfast Club did? There are a few steps in which you can take in order to brand yourself on social media better. The first thing that you need to do is to make sure that your social media accounts are all updated. You also need to figure out which social media platform(s) you plan on using. The most popular social media platforms for branding are Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat. However, once you have figured out what you want to be known for, or what your niche is, you will get a better idea as to which social media platform will work best for your brand.

             The second thing that you will need to really focus on is finding your niche. What do you want to be known for? What areas do you have expertise in? Are you a makeup artist and want to showcase your makeup skills and review popular makeup brands? If so, then I would suggest using Instagram and YouTube as your primary social media platforms. Are you a travel photographer? Instagram and YouTube could also work for you to showcase your photographs.

“The more unique and engaging content you create on your chosen topic of expertise, the more your followers will start to think of you as a leader in your chosen field.” (Source:)

              The third thing you can do to help build up your brand on social media is to make sure that you are posting your content on a regular basis. Are you going to be able to post every day? Every week? Every other week? Whatever the time frame, make sure to stick to a schedule. One of the things that can kill a brand before it even gets a chance is inconsistency. The majority of people on social media, myself included, have rather short attention spans. Therefore, it's not only important to grab the attention of your followers, but you must also be able to maintain their attention in order to stay relevant. According to the Digital Marketing Institute, posting 3-4 times a week is the “sweet spot” for individuals.

             Lastly, you want to make sure that your content is creative and captivating. No one wants to see the same post done by 30 different social media influencer wannabe’s. Make sure that the content you create is authentic to who you are. If you are creating random content based on what other people are doing, you are likely to lose followers because they will see you as someone who is just trying to get famous. If that is your goal, you will likely never reach it. As I’ve stated in my last post,

“People don’t care what you do. They care why you do it.” – Simon Sinek.

Therefore, you want to make sure that your content stays true to the brand in which you are trying to create. Keeping up with trends is okay, as long as you can find a different way to do them, or find a way to make them relevant to your brand. Branding for your organization is not an easy thing to achieve. As we are finding out each week, utilizing the power of social media is not as easy as some people make it seem. However, once your brand has been established, you can start to enjoy the benefits of it.

The new media era.

      Traditional media outlets such as newspapers, radio, or television used to be the only way to stay connected with what is going on in the world. While these forms of media are still around, they are no longer the only way for someone to receive information. In 1990, Time Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. Although the internet was first developed in the late 1960s by the U.S. Department of Defense, it wasn't until the creation of the World Wide Web that the information within the internet was easily accessible. (Source:) The creation of the internet led to the innovation of the computer. At first, computers were only found in the business world. However, in 1968, Hewlett Packard marketed the first desktop computer. It was this invention that led to the creation of portable computers, known today as laptops. (Source:)

      In the early '90s, the invention of smartphones quickly became a part of our everyday lives. Fast forward to 2019; we now have the technology to have access to the World Wide Web in the palms of our hands. We no longer tied to the printed newspapers and the nightly news. Now, if someone wants to know what is going on in the world, they can search for it on the web, or “Google it” as it is more commonly known.

     With the rise of the internet came the innovation of social media. Social Media platforms, such as Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter allowed for people to become more connected with people throughout the world. This need for connection quickly became a pillar within the Millennial/Generation X (Gen X'ers) generations. While Millennials were born at the beginning of the internet/social media boom, Gen X'ers have only ever known the world to be one accessible through their phone. Both generations have become accustomed to getting all of the information they wish for via their smartphone. However, the adoption of this innovation created a problem for print media, newspapers, especially. In 1984, the total circulation number for weekday newspapers within the U.S. was 63.3 million. However, in 2018, the total number of weekday newspapers was only 28.5 million. While that number is still quite large, the drop in circulation number is still rather significant. (Source:)

        According to a Pew Research survey conducted in 2018, one-in-five adults stated that they get their news through social media. While social media usage is still most popular amongst the younger generations between the ages of 18 and 29, older generations are slowly coming to terms with its ability to be used as a news source. The Pew Research group found that 36% of people between the ages of 18 and 29 use social media as their primary news source. While only 2% of the age group uses newspapers, close behind them is the 30-49 age group with 22% for social media and 8% for newspapers. As you can see in the graphic below, however, the 30-49 age groups are still using the internet (News Websites) to get their information. This graphic shows how even the older generation is relying more so on television for their news than newspapers.

      Another thing to point out about this graphic is how the younger generation doesn't have one media source that massively outweighs the others, except for newspapers. Millennials and Gen X'ers are more likely to get their news from a variety of sources, unlike the older generations, like the Baby Boomers. (Source:)The use of social media is only going to go up. The younger generation enjoys the accessibility and the connection to the world as a whole that social media provides.

        So what does all of this mean for the Print media industry? If the trend of social media continues to rise, like we are expecting it to, the circulation numbers of newspapers will more than likely continue to dwindle. Millennials and Gen X'ers need instant gratification. They don't want to wait for a newspaper, even if it is a daily publication, to be produced for them to get the information they want, especially when they can receive that same information within minutes via their phone. Because of that, I don't see how the print media can create innovation to regain their popularity amongst the population. While the younger generation can appreciate the nostalgia of the past, it is highly unlikely that they will return to print media as long the accessibility of social media and the internet is still available.

With all of that being said, some newspapers are trying to remain relevant in the eyes of the younger generations by creating a website to fulfill their need for instant gratification. Newspapers are also realizing the importance of having a significant presence on social media. Newspapers, such as the Washington Post and New York Times, are starting to utilize their social media platforms more and more. They are also using social media to attract more readers to back to their own websites by posting links to the stories on their multiple social media platforms. In 2018, it was reported that there was an average of 11.6 million visitors to the top 50 newspaper websites in one month. However, while that number is on the higher end, the average amount of time that the visitor would spend on the website is 2 1/3 minutes. That is long enough to probably just read the article that drew them to the website in the first place. This number is also trending lower than it has in the past. The amount of time a visitor spends on a newspapers website went down 5% between 2017 and 2018. 

So, if newspapers aren’t getting their revenue from subscriptions, where are is the money coming from in order to keep the newspaper afloat? Well, some of the revenue is generated via digital advertising. “Digital advertising accounted for 35% of newspaper advertising revenue in 2018, based on this analysis of publicly traded newspaper companies”. More and more advertising companies are beginning to utilize social media and websites due to the fact that there are more people spending time online, rather than watching television and reading print media. 

Overall, print media is slowly, but surely, in a state of consistent decline. However, if newspapers are able to acclimate to the new world of technology and find a wa to remain relevant among the younger generations, I believe that they will be able to flourish online. However, the new technological advances within todays society will, at some point, make traditional media either irrelevant, or out dated.

Sayonara to print media. Hello, digital media.

In the spring of 2012 Apple released what would soon become the final nail in the coffin of the print journalism world. The iPad was released on March 7, 2012, only a short decade after the first iPhone was released. Within those 10 years, the world of journalism, especially the world of print media, drastically changed. The narrative of how print media is slowly dying has been around for several decades. However, we are now witnessing the print media taking its final few breaths, or as some would say, reaching its final descent. While the landscape for print media has been in a constant state of uncertainty and change over the last few decades, it has fought vigilantly to remain a primary source of information for its readers. However, with the ride of technological advances, such as the internet, smartphones, and now tablets, the need, or even desire, for a tangible newspaper or magazine is quickly becoming a nostalgic memory.  

While the numbers of newspapers and magazines readers have been in a constant state of decline, they are now taking a steep fall in what might be the final nail in the coffin. Tablets, such as the iPad, are allowing for consumers to reach their news in a quicker, more efficient manner, in comparison to waiting till the next day to receive the daily news. We now live in a highly technological and steadfast environment where everyone wants to be able to know what is going on within the world around them at a moments notice. This is where newspapers and magazines fail, and tablets prevail. Today’s society has become accustomed to the accessibility of the internet and, for lack of better terminology, has become addicted to the immediate access to countless streams of information.

Just like how newspapers and magazines replaced the telegraph and the town criers before them, tablets, in conjunction with the internet, will soon permanently replace the use, or need, for any print media. While this truth is bleak, the silver lining is that those same newspapers and magazines are more than capable of moving from print media to digital media and publishing the same content, just in digital form. Newspapers and magazines, such as The New York Times, and Times, Inc., have already shown a major shifted into the world of digital media. Just like within the laws of nature, only those who are capable of adapting during the times of change are the only ones who can survive. While I do believe that there will always be a need and a market for journalism, the outlets in which the journalist use in order reach their audiences are changing immensely.

While the members of the Baby Boomer generation, and the older member of Generation X, still hold onto the nostalgic and tangible newspapers, once their generation is either outnumbered by the younger generations, or they pass away completely, the landscape of the journalism world will change yet again. The younger generations, such as Millennial and Generation Z, will further implement technology into every aspect of every day life. Having a tablet will be just as common as having a cellphone, or a television. Therefore, I believe that if news organizations would spend more time focusing on developing a strong and loyal following for their digital newspapers and magazines, then the job of a journalist would be better secured.

One of the ways that news organizations can further secure their standing moving into the next decade is to stop running away, or discrediting, the power of social media. While the older demographics may not fully understand the draw or effect that social media has among the younger demographics, it is becoming increasingly obvious that social media is a huge part of todays society. The bottom line is this, social and digital media are now in the final stages of replacing what most consider to be outdated outlets of information, i.e. newspapers and magazines. While the decline of print journalism has been slow and painstaking for those who have lost their jobs due to cutbacks, I believe that we will be seeing even more cutbacks and closings in the years to come. So, sayonara to the days of print journalism and hello to the technological steadfast world of digital media.