Does it pay to fish where the fish are?

For news providers, social media represents a great way to reach younger audiences. But, who gets the credit for the content? Ultimately, does it benefit the provider or the platform?

In this study we recreated a Facebook experience to accurately measure how many people engaged with different types of news content on the platform, for how long and crucially how it impacted on key brand metrics (eg affinity, trust, likelihood to use) for the provider.

One of the stand-out findings from the study is that at best, only around 8% of content is even noticed and even less is attributed to the actual news provider – a finding described by Fran Unsworth, Director World Service Group, as a ‘wake-up call’.

The results from this study gave the BBC the impetus to form working or steering groups to address the tactical issues of improving branding on Facebook posts and led to changes in: a) branding of their content on social media, b) their social media content (specifically, the balance between text and video) and c) how senior management think of reach on social media. The study won Best International Media Research Project at MediaTel 2018.

“As the BBC continues to grow its reach and influence around the world, on a plethora of digital platforms, it is essential that we understand the impact our journalism is having on our audiences. This groundbreaking project was critical in understanding to what extent our content was recognised by, resonated with and was valued by audiences; and it has directly led to the fundamental, tangible, significant changes in our editorial and branding strategies.”

James Holden, Director of Marketing & Audiences, News