Harnessing the power of commercial radio for news stories

With all the worries over the future of ‘traditional’ media, and the hype about the next big thing in social, radio continues to thrive – and, in the case of commercial radio, achieve record-breaking success.

It’s for reasons like this:

It continues to connect directly with listeners, providing moments that can’t be replicated on Spotify or Apple Music.

While the success of commercial radio is fantastic for those involved in the industry, it is also a useful reminder of the opportunities it presents to both communicators and marketeers.

Commercial radio achieved record-breaking listeners this year

Commercial radio is enjoying incredible success right now.

The latest RAJAR listening figures revealed that it achieved over 40 million weekly listeners in the second quarter of 2024 (April-June), beating its previous record set earlier in the year.

And it enjoys a record market share of 55%, compared to the BBC’s 42.6%. The combined weekly audience for radio in the UK, both licence fee and commercially-funded, is at a new high of 50.8 million adults – again beating Q1’s record.

Live radio is still the choice of audio for audiences

Rajar Midas survey 2024: vast majority of weekly Audio Listening in the UK is live radio

RAJAR’s Audio Survey Spring 2024

Radio is competing against podcasts, streaming and our own music collection for our ears – but you may be surprised to learn that live radio is still by far the preferred choice of audio, according to the latest RAJAR Midas survey.

And Matt Payton, the CEO of Radiocentre, the body that represents commercial radio, claimed that 86% of commercial audio listening is live radio. Radiocentre held a very interesting and thought-provoking conference last week that sparked me to write this piece! You can check out all the talks at Tuning In 2024 on YouTube.

Radio is still one of the most trusted sources of news

Radiocentre research: RADIO – THE MOST TRUSTED MEDIUM FOR NEWS:Radio is the most trusted source of news across all media – 7 out of 10 listeners trust news to be factual and true on radio. The least trusted news source is social media (27%).

Radiocentre online survey conducted in Q1 2024 by Differentology of over 3,000 commercial radio listeners, made up of a nationally representative sample.

It feels like it’s harder than ever to decipher whether something is true or not, especially on social media; for the UK public, radio is still regarded to be among the most trustworthy sources of news.

The above results of a Radiocentre survey on trust were based on answers from commercial radio listeners; the findings of the wider UK public for Ofcom’s recent report are similar for radio and TV, but less drastic for newspapers and social media.

And the quality of local news reporting during the summer riots was praised by the media minister Stephanie Peacock, who said:

“Local and national journalists have been in the thick of it, putting themselves at risk to make the public have information they can rely on.  In an age of increasing disinformation and misinformation that is a really important role.

“Now more than ever, as we’ve seen in the last few weeks, having that reliable source of local information and news is really important.”

 

 

Reaching disengaged audiences through commercial radio news

Radiocentre's Beyond the Bubble: key groups of news consumers

‘Beyond the Bubble’, Radiocentre, 2020

Research by Radiocentre for their 2020 report, Beyond the Bubble, identified four different types of TV and radio news consumers:

  1. Super-seekers: who constantly check for the latest news updates on different media
  2. Enthusiasts: have a keen interest in news and check for updates regularly
  3. Outsiders: will listen to or watch when news comes on the radio and TV, but don’t usually seek it out
  4. Avoiders: have no interest in news and will avoid it if they can

At the time of the report, ‘outsiders’, the second largest group, made up 1⁄3 of the commercial radio audience – around 12 million listeners. This group was more likely to be female, from the C2DE socio-economic group and living outside London or South East England and ‘floating voters’ (not strong supporters of a political party.)

And the size of the groups who don’t seek the news out on radio, or actively shun it, are likely to have now gone up, judging by the record levels of people avoiding the news, describing it as ‘boring, depressing or repetitive’, in the newest Reuters Institute of Journalism report.

In fact, the Radiocentre report suggests that commercial radio is the news source that this ‘outsiders’ grouping would least avoid.

Radiocentre Beyond the Bubble report 2020: commercial radio the news source that disengaged audiences were least likely to avoid

‘Beyond the Bubble’, Radiocentre. 2020

And I suggest that similar thinking would apply to BBC radio music-based stations. The Financial Times’ Stephen Bush regularly refers back to his view that parties need to focus more on Radio 1, 2 and 3 than 4 and 5 when it comes to reaching ordinary members of the public.

Stephen Bush tweet: Imagine you only get your news from music radio. What is the Tory message to you?

Commercial radio news bulletins and features offer potentially great opportunities for organisations, businesses and the government to reach those disengaged or hard to reach audiences with targeted and relevant content and messaging.

 

The competitive and fragmented news audience

Ofcom news consumption report 2024: TV top of main platforms for news

But this doesn’t mean radio is the sole solution to your comms issues.

More people in the UK are getting their news from online (through digital or social media) than TV, for the first time ever, according to Ofcom’s annual study into news consumption.

Radio is still quite far behind – in terms of the most important source of news for those surveyed, even Radio 4 only scores 2% overall. But don’t get the wrong end of the stick – this is about how radio can be used to target those who are not usually seeking to get their news and information.

And audiences continue to place great importance on trusted, impartial and accurate news – especially from public sector broadcasters like the BBC.

However, the challenge from online continues to grow. Nine in ten (88%) 16-24 year olds use online sources for news – and TikTok is the largest source for 12-15 year olds. And a new Pew Institute report suggests TikTok is also growing in popularity for news among young American adults.

This reflects the increasingly competitive, fragmented and ever-changing media environment that we now live and work in. Try not to be distracted by the shiny new thing, or hype around a trend or platform. Look at where your target audience is and where they are potentially interested in hearing your messaging or information.

Read more: Should my organisation leave Twitter – or stay there?

How I can help

If you need help reviewing your approach to reaching and engaging your audiences on multiple platforms, including maximising your potential on radio, get in touch!

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Sharing is caring: Focusing on making sharable social content

Recent posts by Twitter/X owner Elon Musk and the head of Instagram Adam Mosseri have revealed a shift in what is important when we’re thinking about our next post: make your content sharable.

Instead of “posting and hoping”, or just “broadcasting” by telling users about an announcement or story, we need to place far greater emphasis on triggering an emotional reaction, or making it feel practical, new or relevant to that audience.

As you’ve probably seen, be it with ‘for you’ tabs on Twitter/X, pages on TikTok, or mixed up in your feed on Instagram and Facebook, all social platforms are moving towards more algorithmically-driven approaches as a way to try to increase the amount of time you spend and engage on that app.

That’s partly because we have generally stopped being so public in our reposts and commenting, preferring to share posts privately on direct messages or messing apps like WhatsApp.

Both Musk and Mosseri have publicly emphasised how important sending a post can be as a signal to the mysterious algorithm, to boost its visibility and increase its reach.

Twitter/X on what the algorithm sees when you share posts

Elon explained it in his trademark way – partly in response to the backlash over the type of content appearing in users’ for you tabs:

Elon Musk tweet on sharing/sending tweets: The X algorithm assumes that if you interact with content, you want to see more of that content. One of the strongest signals is if you forward X posts to friends, it assumes you like that content a lot, because it takes effort to forward. Unfortunately, if the actual reason you forwarded the content to friends was because you were outraged by it, we are currently not smart enough to realize that.

Read: Should my company stay on Twitter/X – or leave?

Instagram explains why you should focus on sendable and sharable content

And this is how Adam Mosseri explained the importance of “thinking about creating something that people would want to send to a friend”:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Adam Mosseri (@mosseri)

Read: What young people think of as ‘news’ on Instagram

How to make your social posts and content more sharable

So rather than focus on telling followers and viewers something, focus on making them feel something: for example, happy, sad/empathetic, angry (though I would be careful to not overuse this), entertained, informed or something that helps them in their lives.

You may see this as just an extension of the old adage of “don’t make boring content” – which is true! But on social, as in the rest of the media environment, where there is so much more content than ever before, and the competition for people’s attention is greater than ever, it’s important to really think carefully how it would appeal to your target audience – beyond those that already follow you.

 

 

Should my organisation leave Twitter/X – or stay on there?

Recent events on Twitter – or X, as we should now call it – have left individuals and some organisations to consider quitting the platform.

Critics of Elon Musk have accused him of using Twitter/X to stoke hate, amplify disinformation and of prioritising profit over social responsibility, particularly over the riots in the UK.

Elon Musk tweet on UK riots: "civil war is inevitable"

Although emotions have been running high these past couple of weeks, don’t rush to delete your company’s Twitter account – take some time to reflect on whether it still helps to meet your strategic objectives and audience needs – and have a comms plan if you are going to announce you are going to deactivate it.

Twitter is not as popular as it was – but it is still ‘the go-to place for news on social media’ 

A lot has changed since companies set up their Twitter accounts, a decade or more ago.

From once being the place for firms to post their news and announcements on social media, and offer a new form of customer service, it’s been overtaken by Instagram and rivalled by TikTok in terms of popularity among UK adults, according to the latest Ofcom Online Nation report.

Ofcom Online Nation reportsurvey: Top social media services among UK adults

And according to the recent Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2024, it is further behind in terms of the top social, messaging and video networks in the UK:

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2024: TOP SOCIAL, MESSAGING, AND VIDEO NETWORKS in the UK

And the same piece of research claims that globally, TikTok has now overtaken X/Twitter as a source of news:

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2024: sources of news on social media. YouTube is used for news by almost a third (31%) of our global sample each week, WhatsApp by around a fifth (21%), while TikTok (13%) has overtaken Twitter (10%), now rebranded X, for the first time.

Since Musk took over Twitter, he has declared “f–k business” over firms deciding not to buy ads on the platform, and created confusion and trust issues with the ability for anyone to buy a blue tick – once a clear symbol of authority and veracity.

But he has also kept with the pre-takeover implementation of Community Notes to challenge incorrect posts and tried to boost X’s finances with paid subscriptions offering popular features to users, like the ability to edit a tweet within an hour of posting it and tempting content creators with shares of ad revenue.

Despite these turbulant 18 months, a study from the Pew Research Center in the US appears to show that X is still more of a destination for news than other social platforms – by that, I mean most Twitter users go there specifically for news, although others also see news passively in their Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook feeds.

And judging by the US presidential race, the UK General Election, the Euros and Olympics, if you want the latest breaking news, analysis (and hot takes), the best memes and an ability to immediately react to live events, nowhere can quite rival Twitter.

Interestingly, the head of social media for BBC Radio and Sounds, Jem Stone, claims the most popular tweets over the attempted assassination of Donald Trump seemed to be from the mainstream media:

Twitter: Jem Stone tweet:The two pieces of content most shared on X, and probably most remembered from the Trump rally on Saturday were the photography by @dougmillsnyt (the fist pump/bullet) and that very early reporting by @BBCBlindGazza interviewing a key witness. The BBC and the New York Times.

And today, the Premier League announced it had launched an account for refereeing and VAR updates – but only on X, not on any other platform.

Welcome to the Premier League Match Centre X account. This page will provide live updates from Stockley Park including information directly from the VAR Hub. We will issue near-live updates on operational matters from all matches - including clarification on refereeing and VAR.

However, for many of the public, they feel worn out by the sheer amount and depressing nature of the news, and prefer not to see it in their social feeds – and the data from the Reuters Institute report seems to back this up. And the sometime hostile nature of some users has made it an unwelcoming place.

Many companies’ have shifted their initial very public customer service accounts and conversations to DMs, their websites (for live chat or email), or even to WhatsApp business accounts.

Even for news organisations, including Sky News, Twitter had not been a big driver of referral traffic before the changes to links in posts:

Sky News Nick Sutton on Twitter referral traffic

What to do if you think your company should leave Twitter/X

 

1. Review how Twitter fits in with your comms strategy and business objectives

It’s good to have a regular social media review anyway, and this should always be part of your process when setting your next communications strategy.

Analyse the stats of your Twitter activity from the past year or so against previous reports. A significant decline in engagement could indicate that your target audience may not be on there anymore, or the shift to an algorithmic-focus has made it harder for people to see your posts – or that more effort is needed to improve their impact.

And check if your key stakeholders and individuals that you’re trying to influence are still actively on there. Check the replies tab to see if they are more of a replier/lurker than a poster (this used to be easier to check with the likes tab, before it was removed from public view.)

Do also compare it to your engagement performances on your other platforms. Don’t overfocus on followers – with the shift in prioritisation of algorithms over followers by most platforms, they aren’t as important as it once was. 

Away from the numbers, reflect upon whether X is a channel that still aligns with your values as a company. 

RNOH NHS Trust tweet:Due to significant changes on this platform in recent months, X is no longer consistent with our Trust values. Therefore RNOH is closing its account. Please follow us on Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn. Thanks to everyone who has followed & supported us for the last 13 years.

You may have seen the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust post last week that it was deleting its account as “X is no longer consistent with our Trust values” – which include “equality, for all” and “trust, honesty and respect, for each other”.

But it was also the case that it appeared that this account was getting little interaction and engagement for its tweets – and wasn’t necessarily the best communication channel to reach their generally older audience.

However, the head of NHS England, Amanda Pritchard, continues to be active on Twitter, posting messages for staff, stakeholders, and the media.

Assess the pros and cons of leaving and consider the other ways for your customers to get in touch, through social, your website and offline.

If your social team or colleagues with high profile Twitter presences have been affected by what they’ve experienced on there, think about ways to protect their mental health – either for others to temporarily take over or rotate their responsibilities, or suggesting breaks from posting on there. 

2. Consult and inform internally and with key stakeholders

Talk and get approval from your wider comms team, senior leaders and executives before deciding to delete your Twitter account.

It is also worth considering whether to inform key external stakeholders of your decision before you communicate it publicly.

3. Communicate your decision clearly and link to other social accounts

If you do decide to leave Twitter, post and pin a tweet to users that includes an explanation (you don’t have to go into the details), and ideally link to your other social media accounts where they can follow you.

This is what BBC Radio 6 Music and Radio 2 did when they both left Twitter and Facebook earlier this year:

BBC Radio 6 Music tweet about no longer updating their Twitter account

BBC Radio 2 post about no longer updating their Facebook account

4. Leaving your Twitter account dormant may be better than deleting it

It can be confusing for followers who try to find your account on Twitter, only to find it has disappeared with no apparent notice. And by deleting your account, you open up the potential for the handle to be taken by people who may want to cause confusion, spread misinformation or cause harm.

Additionally, some very popular tweets can still provide invaluable advice, information or assistance to users. 

Leaving your account dormant, with a pinned tweet explaining what has happened and links to other communication channels, is an alternative to deleting it.

If you do want to go ahead with deactivating your company’s account, make sure to download a copy of all your tweets, content and data – they are a really valuable resource of insight into what worked well for future social campaigns and you may want to reuse that image or video.

You do have 30 days to change your mind if you do want to restore a deactivated account, so note the date in your shared calendars, just in case.

5. Continue to monitor Twitter

Don’t just walk away, delete the app and never check Twitter again – keep a close eye on mentions of your company and your deactivated handle to monitor the response to your decision, but also whether a customer or stakeholder posts something that requires your attention.

There is no perfect social media platform

I’ve seen a lot of posts on Twitter and elsewhere about moving to Threads, Instagram, or Bluesky. That may be understandable, for personal reasons.

But all platforms have their faults and downsides – there is no one ideal social media platform! It all depends upon where your audiences are and their interests – your target groups may be more spread across different spaces than before. And sadly, there is some nastiness and trolling on all of them.

For authorities, X is still is important – we’ve seen how it has been used effectively to disseminate vital public information. But it’s also been a good wake-up call for them to think more about how to better use other social channels to engage sometimes hard to reach audiences, rather than rely on a tweet.

And for everyone, it’s been a timely reminder to build more direct relationships with their audiences, than relying on third-party apps and sites.

Finally, a reminder that there can still be nice things on Twitter:

Robert Lindsay tweet: I was reluctant to post our Lola's condition as it's so personal but believe me your responses have been so heartwarming and kind. Thank you, It's also restored the positive of this media which can be for the good xxx

If you need an expert hand in helping you to review your social media approach, or modernising your wider communications strategy, get in touch.

Lessons from the Labour government on presenting new leaders on social

Making good first impressions with staff and target audiences, and landing key messages with them, are rightly important for new CEOs or senior leaders – and although these organisational changes are major events, they are often rare.

But for those working in government, changes in prime minister and secretaries of state are more frequent, and civil servants tend to have a lot more experience in showcasing their new bosses to those important target groups (especially in these past five or so years.)

So what can we learn from these first seven days of this new government in terms of how to present new executives on their social and digital platforms?

Audiences are more willing to engage with content from new leaders (at the start, at least)

Lessons from the Labour government on presenting new leaders on social: New PM Keir Starmer and wife Victoria in Downing Street

We all know how we are living and working in an era where we are overwhelmed with content on our phones, on the TV and in our inboxes.

But when there is a new major organisational appointment, stakeholder audiences are more keen than usual to see and hear from that person and company.

With Labour coming to power, this is the first change of political parties in No10 in the truly social media era, so it is slightly unique in that both key stakeholders and the public are more interested and receptive to what ministers have to say.

But despite this more positive and welcoming environment, the government has needed to work hard to capitalise upon this opportunity, with engaging, relatable and sharable content.

Have clear, simple messages to land on social

From Keir Starmer’s first address outside No10 to the stream of social posts from ministers, there has been a common set of messages repeatedly landed, as part of the new government’s comms strategy:

Change, fixing broken institutions, focusing on economic growth, resetting international relationships and a return politics to public service.

Take a look at this video from No10’s digital comms team announcing the Prime Minister and his new Cabinet, which has similar vibes and soundtrack to Rishi Sunak’s new PM video from a couple of years earlier:

 

In all his media communications so far – not just online – Health Secretary Wes Streeting has hammered home his claim that “the NHS in broken” and setting out what he will do to “fix the NHS”.

Lessons from the Labour government on presenting new leaders on social media: Health Secretary Wes Streeting tweet: To fix the NHS

Demonstrating that leaders have taken clear, immediate decisions that benefit the target audience on issues they care about can be impactful.

It’s not a surprise that this tweet announcing “tough action” on cleaning up rivers, lakes and seas after the Environment Secretary’s meeting with water bosses (while the regulator Ofwat announced that water bills were going to rise) was popular – 900,000 views, according to Twitter.

(Disclaimer: my partner is the head of digital comms there, but I think this is among the best performing posts on government social channels this week.)

Show personality and authenticity

Getting a leader’s personality over on social media and doing so authentically can be tricky at times, especially in the early days.

Although I’m not a huge fan of civil servants clapping in their new ministers, what I really like about this video from the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government is that Angela Rayner feels genuine in her reactions as she enters her new department, seeing her photo already on the ministerial wall and thanking staff for their warm welcome.

 

This selfie by Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds is more engaging to me than a formal ministerial pic in an office – and still lands a clear message in the post wording.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds selfie with ministers and Department for Business and Trade staff

And sometimes the best moments that show your genuine personality are unplanned and unscripted!

And Hacker T Dog should be given his own Sunday morning politics show for this grilling of Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy! (My four year old’s takeaway from this was, “They’re closing down the BBC?” 😂)

Corporate social videos don’t need to be formal and filmed professionally

Keeping on the theme of authenticity, I liked this from Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, who has replicated this format a couple of times already on Twitter this week.

Yes, he’s at his desk, but the jacket is off, and he’s talking in a really easy to understand and engaging way (and without autocue) about the lifting of the offshore wind farm ban – and landing messages about the pace of change and helping to deliver on the election pledge of making Britain a clean energy superpower.

And it’s simple, short and snappy – and vertical too. You don’t have to use professional-level kit for corporate videos, especially for the off-the-cuff, ‘breaking news’ feel of this content. And it can be easily posted on other platforms too.

 

Use the voices of beneficiaries, customers and staff to land your messages

Although the new government is enjoying its honeymoon period, this will not last long – and after an election campaign where politicians have been all over our media, many voters are likely to be wanting a break from it all.

So instead of leaders or ministers just talking at the screen, look to see when you can use real, ordinary people – from beneficiaries of policies, projects and services, or even your staff.

This is a far more effective technique to engage the less-politically inclined members of the public, who are not using Twitter/X (and if they do are not following ministers) and do not want to see politicians in their feeds elsewhere.

We haven’t seen enough of the public featured in the Labour government’s social output so far, but that hopefully will change soon.

There was some nice interaction in the Department of Health and Social Care video, where Wes Streeting was in listening mode, hearing from patients and doctors, rather than another direct ‘piece to camera’ telling you what you should think is important to you.

 

Collab with content creators and influencers to land your messages

So far, we’ve seen quite standard social and digital media comms from the Starmer government – but the previous administration had begun to develop relationships with content creators and influencers to help to get their messages out to a non-politics obsessed general public.

This collaboration by the Treasury with Mr Money Jar allowed their news about inflation falling to be told in an engaging, native storytelling format, and wove in soundbites from an interview with the then-Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt.

This week, you may have read about the Biden administration’s work with content creators and influencers and even seen unlikely collabs at the Nato conference:

@mandaround Replying to @ur mom THE COOLEST thing l’ve done in my career to-date – IM AT THE WHITE HOUSE BAYYYBEEEE this NATO summit has taught me SO MUCH already and I’m dying to tell you guys everything that I’ve learned and seen 👀👀👀 The way I was in the same room as THIRTY TWO presidents and prime ministers??????? WHAT I’m doing my absolute best as a hashtag woman in STEM, and hashtag woman in a room full of men in general, to ask questions (to insanely high level officials 😮‍💨) and take up space, and LET ME TELL YOU it’s been a bit nerve-wracking You guys are about to get smmm content from here (and also some cool opportunities for all my scholars interested in geopolitics and other subjects in political science 👀) SO GET READYYY #university #student #canada #justintrudeau #NATOsummit #NATOCanada #ontariouniversities #canadianuniversities ♬ original sound – Amanda | Student life ♡

But giving access and also loosening editorial control can have unintended consequences – for example, Amanda Round’s most popular TikTok was pointing out that only 3 of 37 Nato leaders were women.

And TikTok content creator Olivia Juliana explained to Politico about the backlash facing her and her peers to posting Biden content on the app.

Email is effective

Like any comms plan, there should be a multiplatform approach to landing messages – and more ‘traditional’ approaches like TV, news websites and email are still important.

For example, the new Education Secretary wrote an open letter to the workforce “to make clear the valuable role they will play in the government’s agenda for change”, which was then posted on the Department for Education’s blog on GOV.UK and shared on their social media:

Letter to the education workforce from Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson

While Wes Streeting sat on the This Morning sofa to talk to their viewers about his plans for the NHS:

New Health Secretary Wes Streeting tweet: Our NHS is broken

Be creative, think ‘what would appeal to this audience?’ and go to where they are online

In the excitement to show action and engagement with key stakeholders, there has been a huge volume of content from government social channels. But, generally, less is more.

Where possible, be creative with formats, backdrops and presentation styles – a formal ‘piece to camera’ in an office should be reserved for serious moments!

And think if video really is the best way to get your points across (we still prefer to consume news in written form, according to a respected Reuters Institute report.)

Use insight to inform your strategy on the platforms where your audience are (I’m hopeful that the TikTok ban on No10 and departments will be lifted soon – the parties showed what is possible on there during the campaign and the Ofcom stats that show how many of us now get news from the app).

Also, look at your social analytics to analyse what type of content works best for that topic.

Put yourself in your audience’s shoes: if all your CEO’s content are videos of him or her talking at camera in their office, how is that going to stand out in people’s feeds?

And now social platforms are embracing algorithms over followers and engagement is key to boost visibility, think about how your leader’s content is sharable to reach a wider audience.

But direct comms is still best – have you considered a policy-themed or personality-led WhatsApp channel to share updates direct into your audience’s phones? Think specific and niche, not broad-based.

If you need some help with rethinking your approach on how to land your new CEO or boss on social, get in touch!

And sign-up below to get an occasional email with practical analysis and applicable actions to improve your multiplatform communications!

 

Why the General Election shows Twitter/X still matters for news

2024 election campaign use of Twitter: Rishi Sunak tweet: You will always be better at spending your own money than the government is.

There’s been a lot of talk about TikTok and the power of video in this General Election campaign (yes, that includes from me) but not much on Twitter/X and the power of words, and their ability to make news.

I found these tweets from Rishi Sunak initially, followed a couple of days later by a similar one from Keir Starmer, really interesting:

  1. They go against conventional wisdom that you must have a visual element to a social post for it to be seen and engaged with.
  2. They are simple, clear, powerful one line statements, which aim to sum up their view, be it on a belief, issue or a policy. We’ve seen a lot of this with inspirational sayings going viral on Instagram, and sayings about business and life being liked a lot on LinkedIn.
  3. Like many successful social strategies, they are aimed to generate a reaction – you may feel passionately wanting to advocate this view, or you may be so aghast that you share it and make clear your opposition to it. But that helps spread it beyond their followers to reach more people, and be shown up more on the For You tab on Twitter.
  4. It shows how important Twitter is to their campaigns in engaging politically active users, reinvigorating their supporters, and appealing to journalists and opinion-formers.

 

Why Twitter/X is still important in news and communications

Twitter/X still matters: Sunday Sport tweet: There is a strong argument for British Twitter being the most British thing about Britain. 24 hour pisstaking, It's fucking glorious.

Twitter (I still call it that) has been written off a lot in the turbulent time since Elon Musk took over, but it is proving to still be influential and a platform you can’t ignore from a comms/media perspective.

We know that most voters aren’t actively on Twitter/X, but it is still the place where mainstream news, memes and debate tends to start, to then be picked by up and amplified or turned into a story by the media.

The election campaign seems to have reinvigorated users, reacting to the news, policies and bloopers that have come up these past few weeks.

Ofcom Online Nation reportsurvey: Top social media services among UK adults

As Ofcom’s 2023 Media Nations report showed, Twitter is still a way behind other social apps used by adults in the UK, and may soon be overtaken by TikTok.

But it was interesting to see a study from the Pew ResearchCenter in the US that X is still more of a destination for news than other social platforms for Americans  – by that, I mean most Twitter users go there specifically for news, although others also see news passively in their Instagram, TikTok and Facebook feeds.

Pew Research Center report: Twitter/X remains more of a news destination than other sites, but the vast majority of users on all four are seeing news-related content

My use of X has certainly changed over recent years (I tend to use more lists than the main feed), but it still helps me get a snapshot or insight into news and topics, both personally and professionally.

The main political parties know a tweet can still influence journalists, decision makers and opinion formers more than TikTok – often I’ve seen TikToks go more viral on Twitter than where they originally came from!

But like TikTok, it won’t be Twitter Wot Won It. Organisations need to have a strategic multiplatform approach, tailored to different audiences and channels, both owned and social. It’s a far more fragmented, complex and competitive media landscape than in any other election before.

 

How to stop Facebook and Instagram using your posts for AI

Meta are allowing Facebook and Instagram users to opt out of their posts and content being used for generative AI training. For content creators it’s their own hard work, for individuals it may be their private photos, but you can see why you’d want to stop them being able to do so.

It’s not the easiest process it could be, but it is pretty straightforward for those based in the UK and EU – and you need to act before 26 June. I explain how below.

How to opt out of Facebook and Instagram using your posts for AI

You may have received an email like the one below, or a notification in your app, for your Facebook or Instagram accounts.

You can tap or click on ‘right to object’ to start the process to stop them using your content for AI training.

If you haven’t received this email and want to try to appeal against it, try this link.

I have found that for one account, I’ve not received any notification, by app or email, and when I tried going directly to the appeals page, I wasn’t allowed to access it.

How to stop Facebook and Instagram using your content for IA training: appeal page won't load

How to explain why you want to stop Meta using your posts Facebook for AI

You should see a page called ‘Object to your information being used for AI at Meta’.

How to opt out of Facebook and Instagram using your posts for AI training: Meta objection page

Select your country and enter the email associated with your account – you have to repeat this process for each individual account, unfortunately.
The section ‘please tell us how this processing impacts you’ may feel overwhelming, but I’ve tested different approaches with my personal and professional accounts.
I found that both these worked for me:

I am a content creator and put a great deal of original research and time and effort into my work and retain copyright for this. I object for it being used without payment.

These are my personal photos and information behind a private account that I do not want to be used publicly.

Although Meta warns, “We’ll review objection requests in accordance with relevant data protection laws. If your request is honored, it will be applied going forward”, I’ve not had a request turned down for the UK.

But that’s not it: Meta will send a code to your email associated with your account to complete the process – this comes through quickly, though.

 

 

How do I know if Meta won’t use my Facebook and Instagram photos and posts for its AI training?

The good news, you don’t have to wait for long. In all the times I used it, confirmation that my request had been approved came through within 20 minutes.

How to stop Facebook and Instagram using your posts for AI training: Meta email approving my request

How can I stop Meta using my data for AI training if I don’t live in the UK or EU?

PCWorld has reported on a potential solution: a Meta help center page where you can submit a request to access, delete, or file a complaint about personal information “from third parties being used to develop and improve AI at Meta”: https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/510058597920541

How to stop Facebook and Instagram from seeing data shared by sites about your online activity 

But you may want to go further while you’re at it, and stop specific sites from sharing data with Meta about your online activity.
Mashable highlighted this page called ‘Off Facebook activity’ , where you can choose to disconnect specific sites that share data with Meta, clear previous activity, and manage future data sharing.
Off Facebook activity page to stop sites sharing information about you with Meta
It’s not clear how much this would stop this data being used for AI training, but Meta does state that “information shared on Meta’s Products and services” could be used.

 

Users are getting more protective about how their data is used

With generative AI needing ever more content to feed its development, and a rise in more privacy-aware users, I think we will see an increase in people becoming more selective about how they share their personal data, and especially their content.
It is good that Meta is being clear about giving users an opt-out to have their posts not used for gen AI training, as many sites may have not made their users aware before. But I’m not sure what the opt outs are for business pages.

 

 

Why the Conservatives and Labour are using TikTok differently

Labour and Conservative Party TikToks

It’s like buses: you wait for one major UK political party to join TikTok, and then two come along on the very same weekend… Must be an election! But the Conservatives and Labour are taking very different approaches to how to use the platform.

Let me guide you through the tale of two TikToks.

Why have Labour and the Conservatives suddenly joined TikTok?

Despite the growing popularity of TikTok, and its use by some Cabinet ministers such as Matt Hancock and Grant Shapps, both parties had appeared hesitant to adopt it, due to the perceived concerns over the security threat from China. The US have now passed a law to ban the app unless it’s sold by its Chinese owners – a move that ByteDance is now contesting in American courts.

TikTok has continued to maintain that it is independent of Beijing and ByteDance insists it has no plans to sell the business. 

Ciaran Martin, the former GCHQ cyber chief and ex-head of the National Cyber Security Centre, recently told the BBC’s Media Show that:

“This is mostly an issue both about geopolitics, and influence and control over the internet, than strictly speaking a cybersecurity issue”

But there are overwhelmingly compelling reasons to establish a presence on there.

In a relatively short space of time, TikTok has established itself as one of the most used social media apps among UK adults, according to Ofcom’s Online Nation report – and I wouldn’t be surprised if it soon overtakes Twitter/X.

Ofcom Online Nation reportsurvey: Top social media services among UK adults

TikTok is the most popular video platform for 15-24 year olds, who use it for an average of 58 minutes a day, according to Ofcom figures from last year, while the demographic of users is getting increasingly older. 

Ofcom Media Nations Report 2023: time spent per day on social media platforms, by age

And another Ofcom study suggests as many as 1 in 10 of us use TikTok as a news source – more so than BBC Radio 1 and Channel 5.

Ofcom news consumption report 2023: One in 10 of us use TikTok as a 'news' source

And despite signing a law to ban it, Team Biden launched their reelction campaign account in January, with a SuperBowl-themed Q&A.

 

@bidenhqlol hey guys♬ Fox nfl theme – Notrandompostsguy

You may remember that No10 enjoyed some good success during what felt like a recent peak of TikTok, during the start of the war in Ukraine.

And my 4 year old enjoyed seeing Bluey, Bingo and Boris today:

@10downingstreet What do #peppapig, bluey and bingo have in common? #uk #australia #fyp ♬ original sound – 10 Downing Street

But that account hasn’t posted since Liz Truss took over as PM and the app was then banned on government devices, though the UK government has been working with TikTok influencers and content creators behind the scenes.

Let’s hope that both parties using it means departments can get on there (with a thought-through strategy, of course.)

Why Labour are getting plaudits for their use of TikTok

Labour has over 80,000 followers on TikTok in the space of a month. The key to their most watched content has been to lean into memes and TikTok trends, mainly poking fun at Rishi Sunak and the Tories’ new policy of national service for 18 year olds.

 

@uklabour Surprise surprise #generalelection #toriesout #ukelection #ukpolitics ♬ original sound – UKLabour

Judging by the most popular comments to the videos, this approach has struck a chord with younger users, and it has even drawn praise from GB News deputy political editor Tom Harwood

GB News' Tom Harwood praises Labour's TikTok

But we’ve seen Labour ‘win’ Twitter in the last few campaigns as far back as 2015 – but that’s not resulted in being in power.

Engaging and motivating your supporters is important, but just one part of a campaign.

The TikTok trick for Labour is finding a way to blend in positive messaging about their policies, land key messages consistently, and establish Keir Starmer as a credible PM to undecided or wavering voters, in an engaging way.

But people love the banter, less so the blah content. 

On their other videos, they haven’t quite replicated the success of their viral content criticising their opponents – but there’s still a long way to go in the election.

The Tories’ approach to TikTok

It may have been a case of “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”. And I’m sure it’s a topic that CCHQ, like Labour, have been thinking about for a long time.

But TikTok isn’t the “young person’s app” anymore. Like every social media platform, it tends to be initially adopted by younger people, before older demographics join as it becomes more mainstream. For example, I have seen my personal TikToks about the death of Dennis Waterman and 40 years since Knight Rider began do well, with lots of comments sharing their memories of both.

And today, the New York Times reported internal analysis from within TikTok that found nearly twice as many posts in favour of Donald Trump than those in support of Joe Biden, since November: 1.29 million pro-Trump posts, compared to 651,000 pro-Biden posts.

Would I have launched with the National Service policy? Probably not. 

But it got people talking about the Tories’ new TikTok account – and what matters most in algorithmically-driven social feeds is people viewing and engaging with what you post. Like it or hate it, it’s seen as engagement and TikTok will therefore show you more of it.

 

@ukconservatives This will change lives #nationalservice #generalelection #uk #rishisunak ♬ original sound – Conservatives

The Tories are also boosting engagement by producing videos of Sunak replying to comments

Their TikToks so far have tended to feel more “traditional” in feel – like a vertical snip of TV, to be more watchable to an older audience.

It appears to be in keeping with the apparent messaging around the Tory leader – playing it straighter, “a sensible man with a plan” vibes – as an attempt to avoid losing votes to Labour and Reform from different sets of people. 

The digital gurus behind the Conservatives’ 2019 success were Topham Guerin. They took a dramatically different approach on TikTok with New Zealand’s National leader, Chris Luxon, who sought to disrupt social feeds and capture attention as the change candidate, as they detail in this article.

@christopherluxonmp Morning skincare routine with a focus on rebuilding the economy and restoring law and order🧴#fyp #nz #skincareroutine ♬ Aesthetic – Tollan Kim

The Sunak approach reminds me of Tony Blair’s ‘S&M strategy’ of 2005 in trying to show that you’re listening to voters, while directly reaching the public without the filter of the media.

 

So is Labour winning the election campaign on TikTok?

Reform Party on TikTok

Screenshot

On crude numbers, Labour is ahead. But the Reform Party is ahead of both, with an earlier and slow and steady approach, building 120,000+ followers. And Matt Hancock has double that, although he’s not posted since March.

But social media has changed. It’s not about followers anymore for many platforms –  not just TikTok. It’s about the engagement rate – and the engagement from the audience you want. It’s the hidden metrics from public view that are poured over by very clever social analysts at both parties.

So what is the key to winning on TikTok?

I’ve been testing a range of content on TikTok for a few years – from government case studies and PM statements to Eurovision and ‘on this day in wrestling history’.

And despite the hype, you don’t need to produce slick, highly-produced vertical videos to go viral. Simple and emotive can be very effective.

From my experience, to find and engage the right audiences, your videos need to:

  • Be new or informative
  • Be visually appealing, either in the title caption, or the first few seconds of the video
  • Generate an emotional reaction: good or bad, funny or sad – make users feel something
  • Feel relatable or sharing a common interest or passion of the user
  • Feel sharable – that the viewer wants to send the link to WhatsApp, or feel driven to reply, or like
  • Ensure that when featuring people, be it leaders or the public, they appear genuine and authentic

YouTube and WhatsApp are more important than TikTok

9 audience segments from Charlesbye report into news habits

It’s not ‘the TikTok election’, no matter what pundits claim. We live in a time where there is far too much content for us to consume, in a fragmented, competitive and ever-changing media landscape. 

The above graphic from a recent study by Charlesbye, shows that campaign communications require a sophisticated targeted approach. It’s more than Mondeo Man and Meta ads.

As the earlier table showed, YouTube is now the most popular social or digital media platform among UK adults, having overtaken Facebook. And TV is still the biggest source of news.

But keep an eye on WhatsApp – the top app most used by UK adults – especially the new-ish feature of WhatsApp Channels.

Both Labour and the Tories are using the new Channels feature to directly engage with supporters, hoping that their posts will be shared with friends and family.

Keir Starmer WhatsApp Channel

The Keir Starmer channel has 9,000 followers but Rishi Sunak is well ahead on 29,000. Both have only really been active around the local elections earlier this month.

Rishi Sunak WhatsApp Channel

The opposition leader’s one reads more like a series of tweets, while the PM has more of a personal touch, such as him taking a picture of himself holding a trophy, but neither appear to be the kind of content you’d forward onto a mate. I would have thought they may have tried one of their TikToks, posted natively on there, But expect to see more sharable content as policies get unveiled. 

The digital campaign in this 2024 general election will be bigger than ever

Digital and social media will likely be the most important its ever been in Labour and the Tories’ campaigns, with the ability to target messaging at specific groups of voters online. We’ve already seen huge sums spent on digital advertising, and we’re only in week one.

It won’t be TikTok Wot Won It, but it could play a valuable role in both parties’ strategic communications aims to win the general election.

Update: I chatted with Sean on Sky News on Thursday to discuss the importance of TikTok in the Genera Election campaign:

 

 

Google cracks down on affiliate marketing and voucher code pages

Google’s recent core algorithmic changes have had a jaw-dropping impact on the rankings of some famous sites that use affiliate marketing – and now they’re manually going after news publishers’ voucher code pages too.

Google’s algorithm changes on site’s affiliate marketing pages

This list, compiled by SEO guru Lily Ray, is shocking. Some of the names at the top you may not recognise in the UK, but there are familiar names: Hello magazine has lost 79% of its search traffic, NME.com is down 73%, GQ is 70%.

Google algorithm changes impact news publishers' search referral traffic

Lily does point out this data from Sistrix only includes the top organic links – not Top Stories, News or Discover.

And according to Press Gazette analysis, some news brands have benefitted from the changes, especially the i.

But search referral traffic could be soon further impacted by SGE – Search Generative Experience – which is generative AI-driven search results displayed on the page. But the results so far have been hit and miss – and even dangerous.

Google SGE results advising on passing kidney stones

Why is Google targeting the search ranking of affiliate marketing and voucher code pages?

Affiliate marketing is where there are links, often in product reviews, where the publisher gets a fee if you go on to purchase it. Some sites may highly rate a product because they are incentivised to do so.

And Google did warn that it was cracking down on ‘site reputation abuse’ or ‘spam’, such as where news publishers host low-quality, unchecked content from third parties to benefit from their ranking power – like voucher codes and affiliate reviews. This is not the same as syndicated news content, forums or native advertising with close involvement with host sites.

Google has indicated this downranking is being done manually at the moment – more sites will be impacted by the algorithmic changes.

Google site reputation abuse policy targeting voucher codes - why Tom's Guide is an exception

Is this a bad thing? Well, Google see it as improving the experience for users – which is much needed. And I’m sure like me, you hate being tricked into trying to use an old voucher code or buying a product that appears to have a good review, only for it to be useless.

It’s a sign of how hard things are now for publishers, with sharp declines in social traffic and display ad revenue. It seems diversification of income streams and focusing on high quality, relevant content continues to be the best advice.

 

Read: How news publishers can compete with the threat of AI

 

Logan Paul’s perfect rebuttal of Prime ‘forever chemicals’ claim

I’m impressed with how Logan Paul has cleverly responded to and rebutted serious allegations that his drink Prime Hydration contains illegally high levels of chemicals from the plastic bottles (PFAs, or ‘forever chemicals.’)

He did it in a way that feels authentic and believable to his followers, with a lot of hard work done behind the scenes.

 

You may have read about the class action lawsuit in the US, or seen viral videos on TikTok from a medical malpractice lawyer not directly linked to the case, talking about it.

What Paul and his team have done so well here is rebut each claim in great detail on TikTok – where a lot of the buzz is happening and where he has a huge following – not in a press release, or a briefing to journalists, or a long Twitter thread,like one of Prime’s rivals might do.

It looks like a typical green screen/reaction TikTok, but it has clearly been carefully researched, produced (and legally checked) using facts and stats to support Paul’s defence, in a way that any detailed rebuttal would, but with characteristic Logan swagger.

He then shared the same video natively on Twitter, Instagram (where he has his biggest social following) – but interestingly, not on his massive YouTube channel.

And his punchy, authentic response even won him some new customers!

Logan Paul Prime response TikTok comments

Yes, there are some outstanding questions over the amount of caffeine in his product, which is popular with children, despite the hype dying down a lot.

But as a response to allegations that could cause serious reputational damage to him and his company, it’s a smart move.

This doesn’t mean that your CEO should try to copy this exactly for your next crisis; it’s all about being true to your brand/company, knowing your audience and where they are online, tackling the rebuttal at the source, and being confident in what you’re saying.

Read why GHCQ’s former cyber chief believes TikTok ban is “more about geopolitics than cyber security”

 

Ofcom Podcast Survey 2024 provides great audience insights

The Ofcom Podcast Survey 2024 gives us a fascinating insight into how audiences consume podcasts – and what to think about if you have your own show.

Media consultant Adam Bowie has gone through Ofcom’s data to pull out the key findings – and what they mean.

Ofcom Podcast Survey: podcast consumption is plateauing 

The share of people in the UK listening to podcasts regularly (at least once a week) has stayed the same as in recent years – but we’re listening to slightly fewer than before.

Ofcom: Podcast listening varies a lot by demographics 

Ofcom Podcast SUrvey 2024 shows changes to audience habits by age

Credit: AdamBowie.com

There’s been a big increase in the number of 18-24 year olds listening to them, while the figures for 25-54s have decreased. And ethnic minorities are overwhelmingly listening to podcasts more regularly than other ethnicities. And it’s still a sharp divide between socio-economic backgrounds – ABC1s are much more likely to consume podcasts.

And what people are doing when they’re listening to shows varies a lot depending on age.

Social media is best to promote new shows, says Ofcom Podcast Survey 2024

The chart below shows how social media and word of mouth can be key in promoting new shows, especially for 18-34 year olds.

Ofcom Podcast Survey 2024: social media is the biggest way for audiences to find new shows

Credit: AdamBowie.com

But news leaders are investing more in video over podcasts

Though it seems that media leaders are not prioritising podcasts this year; according to this Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism report, they are focusing more on video.

News publishers are planning to produce more of video than any other format, according to the new Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism report, ‘Journalism, media, and technology trends and predictions 2024’.

Is there space or interest to launch a new podcast?

The results of this Ofcom Podcast Survey is another reminder of the importance of looking at data, especially your own, and examining what content your audience likes (and doesn’t) and their behaviours. However, this is a very broad market – there is a podcast for every niche nowadays, and what applies generally, or to one show and their audience, may not apply to yours.

If you are being asked to make a podcast, look at your existing audience insight and analyse the competition in the podcast market – is there space for a new show, and is there likely to be demand for it?

And consider whether audio is the best format. From a personal point of view, I find that the visual version of my own show, Sorry You Went Viral, performs far better than the pod offering – especially the clips on TikTok and YouTube.

You can read the raw data from Ofcom here, but I really recommend reading Adam’s easy-to-read analysis in full.