Making Your Content Social

Staci Baird @girljournalist

You’re not competing with (other news sites) - you're competing with videos of cats on Roombas. ~ @plautmaayan

News is a conversation.

Did you see that video on YouTube?

Did you watch the news last night?

Did you read that story about…?

Did you see that photo of…?

Social = Sharable = Talked about

How do you get people’s attention?

This presentation needs 100% more cute baby memes.

You want people to read your story.

But do you want more?

You want people to read your story,

talk about itand…

“And...” is your goal.

Don’t ever stop asking WHY the is important.

story^

Some potential goals for your story

• Take action!

• Share on social networks, email, text

• Request more information

• Complete a survey

• Write their congressman

• Volunteer, donate

Who should read your story?If you say “everyone” you risk no one reading it.

What’s their most pressing issue problem desire?

How can your story help them?

Get to know your audience. How will they consume your content? What social platforms do they use? How do they use them?

What metrics to look at

• Visits (not page views)

• % new visits vs returning

• Source (referrals)*Social networks

• Mobile devices

Social networks aren’t content dumping grounds, but opportunities to engage in conversations.

Interactive engagement

• Twitter chat

• Google Hangout

• Live Stream

• Offline community forum

Think social from the start

• Start with a plan

• Think about the “And what...”

• Don’t try to do everything. Pick one thing and do it well.

Exercise?

What do you want people to do after reading your story?

These are your goals.

Who needs to read the story (who can take action, make a change)?

This is your target audience.

What will success look like?

Make success something you can measure.

What is being said about your topic right now?

Use listening tools:Social mentionGoogle search hashtagsTwitter searchFacebook searchInstagram searchPinterest searchGoogle + search

Post publishing promotion

• Share the stories on your organization’s social channels as well as your personal networks.

• Unpack the package and share the story components as individual pieces of content. *Always link back to the full story. “Read more, Learn more. Find out…”

• Ask for feedback.

• Respond to comments. Join the conversation.

• Review the metrics.

Help your social media team

• Provide the social media team with

• Quotes

• Original photos/infographics

• Short video clips

How can you make your content social?

more^

Humor

Emotion

Make it personal

Provide a call to action

Social components of a story

• Headlines

• Images

• Factoids

• Surveys/polls

• Unique story designs/formats

Headlines

• Humorous

• Controversial

• “Top 10”

• 1 out of 10

Headline examples

• Stanford Biologist and Computer Scientist Discover the ‘Anternet’

• 5 Ways Your Life Is Going To Change Because Of Obamacare

• 19 Things America, Canada, And The U.K. Cannot Agree On

• Americans are actually getting skinnier. New study shows 43% drop in obesity among young children in the U.S.

Images

• EVERY story should have some visual component

• Infographic

• Photo

• Photo gallery

Factoids

• Interesting data points

• Quotes

Factoid examples

• How Much Snow Does It Take To Shut Down Schools Across The U.S.?Spoiler: About an inch of snow can shut down the entire South!

• “Obamacare can't work, folks. It just cannot.” ~Rush Limbaugh

• “I don't want to pay for a sex-change operation … I’m not interested. I like being a boy.” – Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga

!

!

*Hint: these make great Tweets!

Surveys/polls

Unique story designs/formats

Calls to action

• Tell readers what they should do

• Take this survey to find out x…

• Register to x…

• Write your congressman and ask them to x…

• Share this photo to ….

• Like this story if…

• Please RT

Questions?

Resources

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/02/04/the-confluence-of-content-and-social-media-insights-for-success-in-2014/http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2013/08/27/6-steps-to-decoding-your-target-audience/ http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2013/06/how_people_read_online_why_you_won_t_finish_this_article.html

Tools for listening:

Social Search - http://www.socialmention.com/, http://www.webfluenz.com, http://www.social-searcher.com/

Hashtags - http://www.hashtags.org/

Search for #hashtags on Google, Yahoo and Bing

Stories

• https://engineering.stanford.edu/news/stanford-biologist-computer-scientist-discover-anternet

• http://www.thebolditalic.com/articles/575-i-went-to-school-to-become-a-clown

• http://www.thebolditalic.com/articles/575-i-went-to-school-to-become-a-clown

• http://www.buzzfeed.com/mackenziekruvant/76-seconds-in-the-brain-of-someone-with-add

• http://www.fastcodesign.com/3026558/infographic-of-the-day/graphic-lunchroom-hours-leave-students-hungry

Examples of sites that publish social content

• http://www.buzzfeed.com/

• http://www.upworthy.com/

• http://www.good.is/