Harness the crowd and engage your audience
Central Ohio SPJ Pro Chapter
Putting “social” in the social media plan of a news organization means engaging the audience beyond churning out links and monitoring page views. That advice comes from Mandy Jenkins, digital page editor for Digital First Media.
Speaking via a Google Hangout on Air to a standing-room-only audience, Jenkins encouraged journalists and communicators to consider the types of social media uses for readers, rules that apply to all social media uses, and to think about meaningful and unique ways to engage readers.
According to Jenkins, there are three key ways to connect with readers:
1) Conversation – know what issues people in your community are talking about and cover those issues;
2) Collaboration -- look or ways to cover news in the community by working with readers;
3) Outreach -- reach out to readers by keeping relevant customer service in mind.
When working with social media, Jenkins encourages users to consider these key rules/guidelines of engagement:
· Respond to readers – Jenkins considers this the most important rule of social media. Respond to people when they respond to you. If people take the time and care enough about responding to you, be sure you get back to them. Pick the feedback you want to re-tweet. Further, Jenkins says readers like to learn about how news stories are developed. “They like to see behind the curtain and how the sausage is made.”
· Ask for help -- Readers want to participate in our news gathering process and story development, so ask for help! Be thankful when they help you. Consider putting a note of how they contributed at the bottom of your story.
· Correct mistakes -- If you make a mistake, make corrections quickly and publicly. Do not try to cover it up – “remember, the cover up is way worst than the crime,” Jenkins said.
· Do not fight online -- When you get criticism, don’t get into a fight about it. “There is nothing worse than a fight with a reader, “said Jenkins. She recommends that once an exchange it gets beyond a second back-and-forth message, take if offline. Address such concerns one-on-one and do not engage it on social media.
· Be consistent -- Readers like to know what to expect from journalists and news organization on social media so maintain consistency (i.e. consider Tweeting at the same time of day).
· Give useful information – Be sure to share information that is useful to your audience – social media is not just about your headlines and links. Be human and offer more to the audience that is more than the regular news story.
When considering methods to further engage audiences, Jenkins offered the following recommendations:
· Online chats – People love online chats. They can provide effective discussions among readers, journalists and community leaders such as public officials, coaches and other experts. For news organizations, these online chats can provide feedback about what readers want to see in news coverage. When using online chats, Jenkins recommends that reporters encourage the audience to leave questions on an online message board in advance of the chat. This allows an opportunity to research responses and promote the online topic in advance. This type of engagement and interaction does not require advanced software and can be effective. Suggested tools: CoverItLive and ScribbleLive.
· Video chats – Combine online and video chats to maximize engagement with the audience. The New York Times uses this combination often and promotes chats a week in advance. And, we even used it at #kipcamp! Suggested tool: Google Hangouts.
· Collaboration – Also known as “crowdsourcing,” this concept involves asking readers to participate in news-gathering projects. They “opt in” for participation by providing feedback on a wide variety of news – including breaking news and long-term projects. Generally speaking, we are asking the audience, "What can you tell us about this story?"
Jenkins also highlighted the following crowdsourcing tools:
· MapAList – allows a connection between a Google Form to a map. For example, a community in California uses this form for a neighborhood crime watch program. This is also a good tool if reporters want readers to contribute data to a map (i.e. best Christmas lights or Fish Frys in town!).
· SoundCloud – allows crowdsourcing online using audio.
· All Our Ideas.org – responses built around one question but allows people to contribute a variety of responses. Used recently for election coverage voter feedback.
· Storify – Enables bringing pieces and parts (photos, documents, maps, quotes) from different sources to build your story. These resources are embeddable and can be created over time. Good for adding community feedback to a developing story – a contemporary “letter to the editor.” You can pull in You Tube videos and publish on your site.
Finally, Jenkins reminded journalists: “There is still real life to consider – you can still talk to your audience one-on-one!" Get out of the office and talk with people in person. Meet with them at coffee shops, town meetings, mobile newsrooms and events. She suggests that some papers have used happy hours and inviting the community to use newsroom resources for their research as a way to meet people in person. Tools such as Eventbrite and Facebook event scheduling can assist with planning.
