Last week’s program was provided by Rotarian Matt Edgemon.  Matt’s guest speaker was Lila Gross with New Channel 8.  Lila is the first “Social Media Reporter” to be hired in the broadcast industry for the sole purpose of reporting for, about and from social media.  WFLA has grown their following on Facebook (their main focus platform) over 200% to over 1 million.  By creating Lila’s position and crafting it around the new minds on social media, WFLA was able to break the glass ceiling of the broadcast industry.  Lila spends her days tracking trending stories and leads that will play well on social media.  She focuses on topics that do well in the space and maybe individual stories already gaining some traction.  The goal is to create content folks on social media want to share or comment on to increase your reach and your engagement.  WFLA was #1 within their parent company, Nexstar, #2 in Tampa and #13 in the country among local news organizations for total actions and #3 for total video actions on Facebook.  A 211% increase in total actions, 108% increase in shares and 428% increase in video actions.  Over 26M actions, including more than 6.3M shares and reaching more than 11.2M unique engaged individuals on Facebook.  WFLA New Channel 8 is the #15 most engaged local news brand on Facebook.  Driving more than 1.7 total actions, WFLA saw more than 400,000 “shares” in 2017, placing them #14 for this metric among all local media.  WFLA focuses on the audience.  They are aiming to grab the attention of working women, age 25-54, usually moms who are multi-tasking.  Stories focused on things affecting their kids, heart-warming moments, and community involvement.  8 On Your Side exposing “scams” are also a large part of their focus.  Making sure posts are right is also a part of the equation.  The focus on social media is a huge part of our culture these days and WFLA is making sure their audience is a part of it! -provided by Mike Arndt