Making 'Friends'...and a Lot of Them

Interesting post on Lost Remote about stations’ efforts to sign up Friends on Facebook, which is of course a free (outside of a station’s own labor costs) way to promote the outlet in the market.
No one can really measure how much a strong social media strategy–Facebook, Twitter, etc.–helps a station. As one Top 10 GM told me yesterday, “I’m not really sure what you get from it…You don’t get cash.”
KUTV Salt Lake and WJW Cleveland may be the station leaders in the Friends department, notes Lost Remote, both with around 200,000 (or approximately 199,700 more than me).

LR says WJW had some unique ways to drive Friend numbers on Facebook.

The first is a franchise called, “Facebook Friend of the Day.” Fox 8 picks a new Facebook friend every day to feature in a short on-air bumper in the morning show, which is also posted as a screen grab and video online. (If you have any doubts that this is effective, a Topix post called “How to Become a Fox 8 on Facebook Friend” has over 600 comments.)

Then in September of last year - when Fox 8 had about 57,000 fans - the station held a Facebook campaign called “Save These Faces.” The station promised to donate $2,500 to a Cleveland animal shelter if Fox 8 reached 100,000 fans in a week.