Why Look North Yorkshire uses social media to reach audiences
Helen Thomas
Head of Regional and Local Programmes, Yorkshire
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Helen Thomas, Head of Regional and Local Programmes, Yorkshire reveals how BBC Look North Yorkshire is using social media to connect with local people.
A story which was picked up by our regional news team in Yorkshire has melted the hearts of millions this week – and it’s become one of our most popular Facebook posts ever.
It is a powerful example of BBC Look North Yorkshire really connecting with its audience, and shows the awesome effectiveness of social media when the right material is chosen.
The team from Look North Yorkshire chose a short video clip for their facebook site of an eight-year-old boy with cerebral palsy being cheered on by a crowd as he finished a triathlon last weekend. It’s footage you might be familiar with if you are one of the tens of millions of people on Facebook to be served the post. The 45-second clip has now been viewed 23 million times on the social media platform. It’s a remarkable response for a remarkable boy. It’s easy to like.
It is also now the most popular Facebook post from the BBC’s local and regional teams, overtaking a post about a dying woman and her horse. And it is part of a trend we have seen in the past couple of years on Facebook – with video content at times reaching huge audiences. Another post from Look North, about a pygmy goat, has been watched 15 million times and a film about #TheDress from Midlands Today (it was created in Birmingham) has 6.5 million views.
A film of the rollercoaster crash at Alton Towers in June was watched 3 million times and a video from BBC South Today of a man dressing as Spiderman to surprise his dying son was watched 2 million times.
It’s easy to see why these posts have done so well. They are poignant, fascinating and affecting and show our BBC regional teams rooting out the best local stories which have incredible resonance with audiences everywhere.
There are many other posts that don’t reach these numbers and the challenge with them is to keep people watching.
With Facebook video it’s important to remember it will most likely play automatically and silently in people’s news feeds. Because of this we can see a big drop off in views within a few seconds of a video being played.
Shorter videos, which work well without sound, tend to have a better average view time. And we need to grab the audience’s attention with our best pictures at the start of the film.
With this in mind we’re experimenting with new styles such as using captions like on this video about a bullock with a wheelcart.
There’s a big audience on Facebook and our regional teams are already really skilled at reaching them. Reflecting stories that really matter to our local audiences is vital, and it’s great that facebook is yet another tool that we can use to ensure our viewers and listeners see and hear the brilliant content we produce, day after day.
Helen Thomas is Head of Regional and Local Programmes, Yorkshire
