Getting "Likes"
/Palm Springs Weather Anchor Haley Clawson celebrated a social media milestone when she passed 100,000 "Likes" on her Facebook page.
She even posted this celebration dance to Instagram about her big Facebook moment.
So, one might be asking, how does a Weather Anchor in market 146 get over 100,000 "Likes" on Facebook?
The Palm Springs market only has 152,840 TV homes. So is everyone in Palm Springs on Facebook and if so, are they all following Clawson?
The answer is no.
In fact after breaking down Clawson's "Likes" it appears that only 5821 of her followers are in the United States. Forget Palm Springs, we're talking the entire country here.
5821 is a long way from 100,000, so where are her followers from?
It appears that while Clawson might have just a few thousand (at best) followers in Plam Springs, she's huge in India. 34,306 people in India are following this Weather Anchor in Palm Springs. Another 16,341 people in Bangladesh are "Liking" her and 15,912 in Pakistan are big fans.
Now we all know how Clawson was able to get these "Likes" and it is all part of the game that so many people in TV news are playing.
I'm sure it helps the fragile egos and it might even help you with a boss that clearly has no clue how social media really works.
But, the problem is that stations are spending a lot of time, effort and money trying to get their people engaged on Facebook. So talent does what they think they have to do to stay in good with the boss.
It's a vicious circle and it's a waste of time.
Put the money, time and effort to bring viewers to your website and not Facebook. Take down the ShareRocket scoreboard off the newsroom wall and start focusing on something you do own and do control.
Every market has a Haley Clawson, in fact, there are several Haley Clawson's in every market and station.
It's time the 50 something white guy in the corner office figured that out.
Here's a look at where Clawson's top Facebook "likes" come from. Notice that the United States is No. 4 on the list.
