Two weeks ago in this space, I wrote that KARK-TV, Channel 4, of Little Rock used the story of 4-year-old Caleb Linn to promote itself on social media sites.
KARK asked its fans and followers March 28 on Facebook and Twitter to click “like” and to “retweet” KARK messages as if doing so were sending thoughts and prayers to Linn’s family after the child’s body was found in a river in Fulton County.
As of April 9, KARK had garnered 4,227 Facebook “likes” in response to a post that said, “Click ‘like’ below to send your prayers to the family of Caleb Linn.”
Nearly 700 fans “liked” a similar post soliciting sympathy for University of Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino after his motorcycle crash April 1, although a few Facebook users responded negatively.
Nicholas Stehle wrote, “This is a disgusting tactic to get likes. Who RUNS this page?!”
KARK’s news director of about one month, Austin Kellerman, deflected criticism of the station’s strategy.
“I don’t think it’s fair for people to say we’re benefiting from it in any way,” Kellerman told Outtakes in an email. “This doesn’t help us grow our base or gain new fans. … We’re simply giving an opportunity to people who already like our page to express themselves.”
Kellerman’s statement isn’t precisely true, regardless of his intentions.
Here’s a mini-lesson on business use of social media: Companies commonly push for Facebook “likes” and Twitter “retweets” of their Web posts because the more often their existing fans and followers “like” and “retweet” those posts, the more unassociated Facebook and Twitter users encounter the posts while they use the social media sites.
Encouraging “likes” and “retweets” is asking social media users to spread the businesses’ site content to the users’ acquaintances and friends — and that’s exactly how businesses often try to pick up more Facebook fans and Twitter followers.
KARK began using the “likes” as “thoughts” or “prayers” strategy in mid-March.
“I posted a story on our Facebook page about a state trooper being shot outside of Hope. I was amazed by the response from people wishing him well in his recovery and sending their thoughts and prayers,” Kellerman said. “In an effort to give users an outlet to express themselves rather than having to comment on a story, we posted an image of the trooper and asked people to like the post to show their support. Again, the response was overwhelming.”
Kellerman doesn’t see the need to ensure that clicked thoughts and prayers reach the parties for whom they were intended.
“In this day and age, I have no doubt friends and family of those involved will inform them about all the support they’ve received online,” he said.
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