creating purposeful news content
DESCRIPTION
At our institutions, we commit a significant amount of resources to creating news content — press releases, internal and external newsletters, homepage feature stories, and more. We rely on this content to tell our story, communicate important information, and forge connections with readers in a timely, high-impact fashion. But how do we ensure that news content is on-brand, reaching the right audiences, and providing real value? News content can have high strategic value for supporting institutional goals, but only if we plan and publish it with that intent. How much do we publish news content out of habit or reflex, rather than with clear purpose? Are we making good use of our time and resources — and our readers’ attention? This webinar was originally delivered April 29, 2014.TRANSCRIPT
Creating PurposefulNews Content
Georgy Cohen@radiofreegeorgy
“To set his paper apart from its more sensational competitors, [New York Times publisher Adolph Simon] Ochs adopted the slogan “All the News That’s Fit to Print” (first used October 25, 1896) and insisted on reportage that lived up to that promise.”
Encyclopedia Britannica
WHAT IS ‘FIT’?http://www.flickr.com/photos/usdagov/7087349351/
WHAT PROMISEDOES OUR
NEWS LIVE UP TO?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/74497032@N08/6900311851/
NEWS IS NOT INHERENTLY
VALUABLEhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/74497032@N08/6900311851/
WHOCARESABOUT
YOUR NEWS?
Less than 1% of visitors view a news release.
We can see by looking at landing pages for visits that include a news release that, when a visitor lands on a news release page, it is typically a dead-end with most of those visitors leaving the site from that page.
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Chris Scott, Headscapehttp://boagworld.com/content-strategy/website-news/
#meetcontent
Less than 1% of visitors view a news release.
We can see by looking at landing pages for visits that include a news release that, when a visitor lands on a news release page, it is typically a dead-end with most of those visitors leaving the site from that page.
- Chris Scott, Headscape
“
http://boagworld.com/content-strategy/website-news/
NEWS INHIBITSTASK COMPLETION
http://www.flickr.com/photos/robandstephanielevy/4616960925/
It is not enough, for example, to write a press release saying how your organisation has won an award. Instead you need to clearly explain how that benefits the user.“
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Paul Boag, Headscapehttp://boagworld.com/content-strategy/website-news/
#meetcontent
Why does thismatter to theorganization?
Why does this matter to me?
HOW DO WE MAKENEWS SOCIAL?http://www.flickr.com/photos/33917831@N00/2911248047/
VALUEOVERVOLUME
We focus on publishing content our readers love so much they think it is worth sharing. It sounds simple but it’s hard to do and it is the metric that aligns our company with our readers. In the long term it’s good for readers and good for business.
“15
Jonah Peretti, Buzzfeedhttp://cdixon.org/2012/07/24/buzzfeeds-strategy/
#meetcontent
“
http://boagworld.com/content-strategy/website-news/
NEWS IS THE‘SHOW DON’T TELL’
OF OUR BRAND
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eleaf/2536358399/
Universities have an opportunity to leapfrog the mainstream media and explain our research, teaching and wider contributions to society in forms beyond the text-based press release. ... We have websites, and access to the tools needed to reach the public.
“17
Kyle Christie, formerly King’s Collegehttp://kylelchristie.com/2011/08/07/is-it-possible-to-go-beyond-press-releases/
#meetcontent
NEWS NEEDS
CONTENTSTRATEGY
1. PROCESS2. PRODUCT
3. PEOPLE
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/49392356@N03/8446610848/
1. PROCESS
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CRITERIA
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SOCIAL PROMOTION
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CONTENT DISCOVERY
EDITORIAL CALENDAR
http://www.flickr.com/photos/49392356@N03/8446610848/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/chefranden/390872656/MEASUREMENT
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Style guide
http://www.flickr.com/photos/londonmatt/3559945802/
Planning and publishing#cssummit @radiofreegeorgy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_protector
TAXONOMY
36http://www.flickr.com/photos/argenberg/184104386/http://www.flickr.com/photos/soldiersmediacenter/4367407655/
LANDING PAGES
“The old mantra that every page needs to be a homepage has never been more true...The goal is to give [the reader] a clean and interesting reading experience for the article... and beyond that to make sure that we are giving the reader a sense of what else is on our site.
- Bob Cohn, editor, Atlantic Digital
http://www.niemanlab.org/2012/08/coming-in-the-side-door-the-value-of-homepages-is-shifting-from-traffic-driver-to-brand/
#ncsrmr @radiofreegeorgy
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Story metadata:-
EDITORIAL PLANNING
40REAL-TIME
41CONTENT HUB
42
2. PRODUCT
http://www.flickr.com/photos/49392356@N03/8446610848/
The ultimate goal is to retire the press release. It’s a great holder for facts, but you’d never want to read one. We want to tell stories.“
44
Tomas Kellner, GEhttp://contently.com/strategist/2013/07/29/we-want-to-retire-the-press-release-an-interview-with-ges-tomas-kellner/
#meetcontent
2 . STORYTELLING AND CONTENT TYPES
http://www.flickr.com/photos/49392356@N03/8446610848/http://www.flickr.com/photos/eguidetravel/5662538696/
1. CONVEYRELEVANCE
2. EVOKEEMPATHY3. SPURACTION
46
Style guide
http://www.flickr.com/photos/londonmatt/3559945802/
Planning and publishing#cssummit @radiofreegeorgy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_protector
#ncsrmr #psuweb12 @radiofreegeorgy
#ncsrmr #psuweb12 @radiofreegeorgy
#ncsrmr #psuweb12 @radiofreegeorgy
56
Style guide
http://www.flickr.com/photos/londonmatt/3559945802/
Planning and publishing#cssummit @radiofreegeorgy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_protector
57
Style guide
http://www.flickr.com/photos/londonmatt/3559945802/
Planning and publishing#cssummit @radiofreegeorgy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_protector
3. PEOPLE
http://www.flickr.com/photos/49392356@N03/8446610848/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/49392356@N03/8446610848/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/49392356@N03/8446610848/http://www.flickr.com/photos/acanella/7260425106/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vitike/5217716870/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35927320@N03/4549876293/
64http://www.flickr.com/photos/wonker/1436280027/
65http://www.flickr.com/photos/wonker/1436280027/
Owned and facilitated
Take, share and archive minutes
Source ideas from across the
organization
Include social, photo and video
Revisit editorial priorities
Share measurement
meetcontent.com@meetcontent