WTJU and SoMe Question

In December we finished another fund drive at WTJU, and by the end of the final day we didn't quite meet our goal. As we were asking for pledges on the air, I was busily typing away, keeping up the bullpen chatter on the station's Facebook and Twitter feeds.

That got me thinking about the quantity -- and quality -- of our Social Media (SoMe) numbers. And if there was any potential for growth in those areas.

Here are the numbers:

WTJU Facebook Page: 1,982 Likes

WTJU Twitter feed: 1,324 Followers

WTJU Online Listenership:
For December (the last complete month of stats)
3,739 Visitors, 6,805 Hours, 16369 Sessions

Our goal for the fund drive was $40,000. We need to raise $158,000 directly from our listeners to fully fund our operational budget for a year.

So what if every single one of those people pledged $10/month ($120/year)?

Facebook Friends: $19,820/month, $237,740/year
Twitter Followers: $13240/month,, $158,880/year
Online Listeners: $37,390/month, $412,680/year

Wow. Any one of those sources would more than fully fund the station for a year.

Of course, it's not realistic to expect that any of those sources will fully come through for four reasons.

1) Online relationships can be pretty casual. It doesn't require much effort to click "Like" or "Follow."

2) It assumes absolutely no overlap of audiences. What are the chances that someone who follows us on Twitter is  also a Facebook friend and/or an online listener? Pretty good, actually. So some of our Twitter/Facebook/Online Listener numbers represent the same person rather than three different people.

3) It assumes all are individuals, and listeners. I think it's safe to assume all of our unique online listeners are real. But SoMe? Not so much. Take our Facebook Friends. A significant amount of them are either station volunteers, bands that have played in our studios (or we otherwise support), or local businesses -- folks who wouldn't be expected to pledge money to the station. The same is also true of Twitter, although there's not an exact correspondence between the two groups.

4) Not every person who listens to non-commercial radio pledges. In fact, the percentage can pretty low.

So given all that, suppose we just assumed 10% as the maximum realistic pledge potential:

Facebook Friends: $1,982/month, $23,774/year
Twitter Followers: $1,324/month,, $15,888/year
Online Listeners:  $3,739/month, $41,268/year

Well, we couldn't fully fund the station from any one of those source,s that's for sure. But look at that online listener number. That would take care of our $40,000 fund drive goal quite handily over time. And 10% of our Facebook Friends get us over halfway there.

So I wonder: are we leaving money on the virtual table by not effectively pitching to these groups?