How to make Facebook support every radio campaign

Plan the post while the advert is still fresh

The best time to agree Facebook activity is when the advertiser has just said yes. At that point, the offer is clear. The campaign dates are being set. The advertiser still remembers why they bought airtime. Your sales person also has the full story in their head.

If Facebook is added later, the work spreads across too many people. One person has the advert copy. Another has the logo. The advertiser has the offer details. A presenter knows the tone. The person posting on Facebook has to pull it all together from old emails and quick messages. That is where mistakes and delays creep in.

A simple rule helps. If the radio campaign has a start date, the Facebook plan should have one too. It does not need to be complex. It just needs to say what will be posted, when it will go live, what the call to action is, and who can approve it.

This also protects the value of the radio buy. Facebook should not replace the advert. It should support it. A listener hears the advert in the car, then sees a clear post later that day. Or they see the post first, then hear the advert and recognise the offer. That repeated message is useful for the advertiser, and it makes the campaign feel joined up.

Collect the details once, not all week

Most chasing happens because the station did not collect the right information at the sale stage. The advertiser may think you already have everything. Your team may assume the advertiser will send it. Then the campaign starts and everyone is looking for the same basic details.

Before anyone writes a post, collect the campaign facts in plain language. Do not ask the advertiser for a marketing essay. Ask for the few details your team needs to turn the campaign into useful Facebook content.

Here is the simple list I would want before the first post is drafted.

• Advertiser name as it should appear in public
• Campaign dates and any key times
• Main offer or message
• One clear call to action
• Advert schedule or key airtime period
• Preferred image or logo if they have one
• Words or claims that must be included
• Words, prices or claims that must not be used
• Facebook page to tag if relevant
• Approval contact and backup contact
• Deadline for final approval

Use a one page planner everyone understands

You do not need a heavy document. You need one shared plan that a sales person, producer, presenter and advertiser can all understand in two minutes. That is what stops the long email chain.

A useful rule worth pinning above the sales desk is this: if a post is not planned before the advert is booked, it will usually be chased after the advert is on air.

Here is a one page radio campaign Facebook planner you can use as a house standard. It is deliberately plain. The value is not in the form itself. The value is in making every person agree the same facts before the campaign starts.

One page radio campaign Facebook planner

Use this for each advertiser campaign where Facebook activity is part of the plan.

• Advertiser name
• Main offer
• Campaign dates
• Advert schedule
• Key message
• Call to action
• Post dates
• Post purpose for each date
• Image or creative note
• Approval contact
• Approval deadline
• Final sign off
• Notes for presenters or sales team

Keep the schedule simple and tied to airtime

A local advertiser does not always need a big social plan. In many cases, a few well timed posts are better than a busy list that nobody can manage. The key is to match the Facebook activity to the shape of the radio campaign.

For a short campaign, I would usually plan around the moments that matter most. The first post tells people the offer is live. A second post reinforces the message during the heaviest part of the airtime. A final post gives a clear reminder before the offer ends.

For a longer campaign, you can vary the angle while keeping the same message. One post might focus on the offer. Another might focus on the local business. Another might remind people of the deadline. The advertiser still sees the same campaign, but it does not feel like the same line repeated every time.

A simple four week local advertiser schedule might look like this.

• Week one: launch post on the first day of the radio campaign, with the main offer and call to action
• Week two: reminder post during a strong airtime week, using the same message as the advert
• Week three: local story post, such as why the offer matters or what the business is known for
• Week four: final reminder post, with the closing date or last chance message if there is one

Protect both brands before anything goes live

Your station has its own tone. The advertiser has theirs. A good Facebook post needs to sit comfortably with both. That is where planning helps again. When the post is rushed, it is easy to sound unlike the station, unlike the advertiser, or too much like a generic sales message.

Start with the advertiser. What do they call their products? Are there details they must get right, such as opening times, terms, place names or booking rules? Are there words they avoid because they sound too cheap, too formal or not like them?

Then check the station side. Does the post sound like something your station would be happy to put in front of its own audience? Is the wording clear for local listeners? Does it make sense without hearing the advert first? If a presenter shares or mentions it, will they understand the message quickly?

The approval route also matters. Do not leave it open to five people at the advertiser. Name one approval contact, one backup and one deadline. If the advertiser has not approved by that point, your team needs to know what happens next. That could mean moving the post, using agreed wording, or holding the post until the advertiser replies. The important point is that nobody is guessing.

Let StationCortex keep sales and Facebook together

Once you have a clear habit, the next step is to stop rewriting the same campaign details in different places. This is where StationCortex can help.

StationCortex includes Facebook Marketing & Scheduler. It uses information already held in Cortex to create on brand content for the station and its advertisers. That means your team can work from real campaign and advertiser details that are already part of the sales record, instead of typing the same facts again into a separate process.

The benefit is simple. Your station can create station and advertiser content, reuse real Cortex data, and keep marketing connected to sales. That is useful when a campaign moves from yes to booked, because the Facebook work does not have to start from a blank page.

It also reduces the chance of small details drifting. If the advertiser name, campaign dates, offer and schedule are already held in Cortex, your team has a better starting point for Facebook content. The sales team can see the campaign as one piece of work, rather than a radio booking over here and a social media job somewhere else.

This matters even more as your station grows. Spreadsheets and loose notes can cope for a while, but they often start dropping sales detail when the team gets busy. The same is true of Facebook support. If the plan lives in someone’s inbox, it is easy to miss. If it sits beside the campaign, it is easier to manage.