When WSB-TV’s Monica Pearson announced her retirement on Monday after 37 years on the air, it was big news for Atlanta. After all, she worked through seven presidencies and six Georgia governors, and the state’s population doubled during her tenure. WSB not only splashed the news on air, but on social media — “Monica” even became the #2 trending topic on Twitter nationwide.
Instead of just announcing it on air, @wsbtv built anticipation with a tweet promising big news that will “change Atlanta TV.” Soon thereafter, they sent a personal video message from Pearson, one personalized for Twitter (she calls them her “tweet-hearts”) and another for Facebook. “I wanted you to be one of the first to know,” she said, plugging the 4, 5, 6, and 11 p.m. newscasts for more.
Then @wsbtv suggested a hashtag, #Monica, and WSB staff shared pictures and goodwill wishes on Twitter and Facebook. It all added up to a ton of trending topics in Atlanta: 6 of the top 10 trending topics were about her departure. She received hundreds of @ messages to her personal Twitter account, @MonicaWSB, (she answered many of them), and the station’s series of Facebook posts attracted over 1000 likes+comments.
WSBTV.com also created a special section commemorating Pearson’s 37 years.
It’s a great example of a coordinated social media campaign at a local TV station that respects consumers on all distribution channels — not just TV. (Although WSB was sure to promote the newscasts several times.) It also goes to show that integrating social media into the planning process for marketing and news events — not tacking it on after the fact — can make a big difference.