Launched in 1997, eurweb (the Electronic Urban Report, www.eurweb.com), is the premier destination for information about urban entertainment, sports, politics, and opinion. Founded by Lee Bailey, a former radio DJ, Bailey is known for sharing the latest news from the black music industry breaking some of the biggest news stories in the past forty years. Based in Los Angeles, over one million people globally visit www.eurweb.com monthly giving listeners the daily scoop on their favorite entertainers in music, television, and film.
The Social Urbanite
Generally speaking, city dwellers are more social than suburbanites. In a recent study conducted by Arizona State University, urbanites spend an average of 92.8 minutes per day socializing with friends, acquaintances, or neighbors, compared to their suburban counterparts who average 87.5 minutes per day.
However when engaging with others via social media, both urban and suburban residents use social media to communicate at about the same rate. According to a recent Pew Research Report, 71% of suburbanites use at least one social media site (most likely Facebook) whereas 69% of urban dwellers engage using social media.
Social Media Strategy
Lee Bailey, founder of Rabercom Enterprises and eurweb.com wanted to put urbanites use of social media to the test. Initially, he added a social media stream to eurweb.com to increase the editorial value of the site’s content believing that reader’s who arrived on the website from social media will stay longer engaging with both the social media stream and the site’s content. Within just 2 months, Lee discovered that not only did social media enhance existing articles, but urbanites engagement rate on eurweb.com jumped significantly. Specifically,
- Reader time-on-site increased by 49.7%
- Bounce rates decreased by 51.1%
In addition to capturing relevant social media content to enhance existing articles, Lee is alerted to trending stories and breaking news.
According to Lee Bailey, owner of Rabercom Enterprises, “Crowdynews increased site engagement almost immediately. But, what I like best is knowing about everything that is trending on social media including the latest in entertainment news.”
The social media stream is displayed below content on the article page.
Next Steps for eurweb.com
eurweb.com is planning to implement a full-page social media stream designed to cover special events such as the annual BET Awards. By promoting the full-page stream on their social media channels, eurweb.com’s goal is to drive additional traffic to their website from social.