Geotargeting Content on Facebook NPR's Experiment in Local EngagementKeith HopperDirector of Product Strategy and Development
@khopper
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NPR has 271 independent member stations providing national and local news to individual communities
About 93 percent of the U.S. population is within the broadcast listening area of one or more member stations
NPR Programming reaches 26.4 million listeners every week
Stations
Geotargeting: What we did
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Geotargeting content on Facebook
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Geotargeting content on Facebook
npr.org
kplu.org
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Experiment around what drives local engagement and clicks on Facebook
Encourage digital behavior change at a local level Explore ways to deepen our digital partnership with
stations
Core Objectives
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What makes a good geotargeted NPR Facebook story?
NPR’ssweetspot
Localflavorgeotargeted
Editorial Strategy
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Measure campaign traffic Determine method for engagement performance
between Global NPR Facebook posts and geotargeted posts
Engagement Rates =• Likes/impressions• Shares/impressions• Comments/impressions
Measurement
Geotargeting: Results
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Engagement Measurement – First PassG
LOBA
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EOTA
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Used Facebook Insights data, focused on three metrics:
Engagement: The number of Shares, Likes and Comments on a post
Reach: The number of unique people exposed to a post
Engagement Rate = Engagement total / Reach total
Engagement measurement – 2nd Pass
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Engagement performance measurementG
loba
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Total Engagement Rate (Oct – Dec 2011)
0.02
0.003
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First 50 posts drove 50k+ visits More than doubled social media traffic in first month Geotargeted posts responsible for site’s largest traffic day
and three highest traffic months Seattle now largest growth region for overall NPR account
“likers” NPR National desk is now promoting local pieces globally Engagement success is driving editorial changes in local
newsrooms
Other highlights
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Community-driven conversations
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Community-driven conversations
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Community-driven conversations
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Community-driven conversations
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Is this repeatable? Will it fade over time? Does it scale? How much can this drive global NPR follower growth? How valuable is this to stations and users? What other ways can this be done? What’s next?
Some Outstanding Questions
Geotargeting: Takeaways
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Experiments! Start small and stealthy Know what you need to measure, set up early Be prepared to learn and pivot
Geotargeting! Select content that works on Facebook Encourage content that engages your local market Use your large potential audience as a carrot Can you scale?
Takeaways