Community Blogs 2.0 GateHouse Media News & Interactive DIAL IN: 888-398-2342 ACCESS CODE:...

Community Blogs 2.0

GateHouse MediaNews & Interactive

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Agenda

Why blogs?

The survey

Recruitment

Retention

Frequency



Why blogs?

From the newsroom handbook:“Community blogs add another layer of local content to your website. When you pick the right bloggers or content, you add to a portfolio of local experts who can speak on relevant issues, furthering your site as a destination for your community to visit.”



Why blogs?

EMPHASIS ON:

<< the right bloggers or content >>

You’re not just fulfilling an Inner Circle requirement – you’re offering new, interesting, informative, entertaining local voices to your roster of writers.

Think of community bloggers like reporter stringers. And treat them that way. Don’t set them and forget them.

Why blogs?

Blogs aren’t dead:There are more than 76 million WordPress blogs in the world, according to WordPress.

Over 409 million people view more than 13.1 billion pages each month on WordPress.

There are lots of other blog platforms where readers follow topics and people they connect with.

The survey

From the horse’s mouth

•About 40 bloggers from Massachusetts were sent a survey regarding their experiences and concerns writing for us.

•28 bloggers responded (70% return rate)

•It was clear people appreciated the contact and opportunity to give feedback.

The survey

Some takeaways:

•Most people started blogging with us because we asked them to.

•Half had never blogged before.

•They continued blogging for us because of the positive community feedback they’d received, as an outlet for their writing bug and exposure the paper affords them.

•Most bloggers self-promote on social media.

The survey

Some takeaways:

•The best things about blogging with us: • a built-in readership, easy, far-reaching, reaction, relatable

because they’re local

•The worst things about blogging with us:• Lack of editor feedback, no stats, little promotion, technical

problems, not paid

The survey

Feedback

•Overwhelmingly, bloggers want feedback, not only from their readers, but from their editors.

•They want:• editing• ideas for improvement• blog post ideas• promotion• statistics to show how many people are reading their blogs

Recruitment

ID blog topic openings

•Audit the blogs you currently offer

•Identify gaps in the topics you think your community would respond to

Recruitment

Sample blog topics

TravelPhotosFashionPetsFinance/businessReal estateShoppingMusic

Crafting/DIYArts/entertainmentTechnologyBooksMoviesReligionCauses (such as cancer, autism, adoption, etc)

Politics (local or national)Health/fitness FoodParentingSchools/educationHumorSports

Recruitment

Look for those bloggers

•Post callouts on your site, social media and in print asking for specific types of bloggers.

“Are you a stay-at-home dad who has lots of great ideas for keeping young ones busy? Blog for us!”

“Fancy yourself an expert on fashion? Blog for us!”

Recruitment


•Vet the responses to pick the best of the bunch.• Ask for writing samples• Ask for blog post ideas• Have they ever written a blog? – read it for quality and note

frequency of posts• Do they respond to you in a timely manner?

•Pick the best of the bunch and let the others off the hook or give them an opportunity to blog about something else.

Recruitment


•You can go one of two ways:• Rather than flood your readers with a ton of these callouts,

spread them out. Once you’ve picked your dad blogger and gotten him going, you can post a callout looking for the fashion blogger, etc.

OR• promote all of the bloggers you need at once and handle the

(hopefully!) barrage of responses.

Recruitment

All hands on deck

•Editors shouldn’t be the only ones looking for bloggers.

•Ask all staff from all departments to actively seek out new bloggers.• Launch one initial push – give a deadline• Follow it up later in the year with a less aggressive push

to bolster ranks

Recruitment

All hands on deck•Tell your staff to consider who they deal with every day. • Who is their go-to person for real estate stories? History?

Education? Who are the local experts?

•Every staffer should submit at least one possible blogger to an assigned point person (e.g. digital editor, managing editor).

•If the editor agrees the person is good, the staffer will approach that person about possibly blogging.

Recruitment

All hands on deck

•The staffer will be the initial contact with the potential blogger because they already have a relationship with the person.

•The staffer will ask the potential blogger if they’re interested, using an intro PDF that explains what would be expected of them and how to start the process.• All materials will be emailed to you after the presentation

and available at ghnewsroom.com.

Recruitment

Recruitment

All hands on deck•If the person agrees, they can contact the designated editor who will get all the info they need to get the blog started (submit a blog form): • Blogger name• Email • Blog name• Blog description• Bio• Headshot• List of blog post ideas

Recruitment

All hands on deck

•The editor will then send the new blogger:• a “congratulations note” • a blogger contract • a welcome packet

RecruitmentSample congratulations note:

RecruitmentSample welcome packet:

Recruitment

Welcome packet

•The 3-page PDF includes:• “Your First 20 Days”• Step-by-step game plan to get started

• Blogging resources• How to attract more readers• How to find time to blog• How to improve your writing• Other blogs to read• How to promote

Recruitment

Welcome packet

•The 3-page PDF includes:• Blog rules & expectations• Posting frequency• Accurate and attractive copy, headlines• Terms of use

•Contract• All community bloggers must sign a contract, which you

keep on file.

RecruitmentBlogger contract

Recruitment

Other platforms

•If someone is already blogging, we can “ingest” their posts on to our sites.• Make it clear that WE get the traffic• But they get more readers

•Fill out a blog form, but indicate that this will be a blog feed.

Retention

Why do bloggers leave?

•Their life gets too busy. They can’t keep up.

•They think they have to write more than they do. The blog is a burden.

•They don’t have very good traffic. This is discouraging.

•They never get feedback – via comments or from us. This is disappointing.

Retention

Their life gets too busy.

•Sometimes there’s nothing we can do about that except thank them for their time, ask them to write a farewell post and remove them from the blog directory.

•But make sure they know:• They only need to post two times a week.• Posts should be short and to the point.• They can delay a post to go up later, so do it the day they have

time and delay it.

Retention

They think they have to write more.•Bloggers are often writers looking for an outlet. But a blog is not a novel.

•In general, online readers want shorter. They’re often consuming the blog on their phone, on the go.

•Remind your bloggers they don’t have to blabber on.

•Maybe they can kill two birds with one stone by breaking up a long post into two posts, one delayed for later in the week.

Retention

They don’t have very good traffic.

•First, they need to know what their traffic is. • You can set up a Google Analytics report to automatically email

the blogger each month (ask your content team manager or digital editor if you don’t know how).

• You can compile the top 5 or 10 blog posts each month and email all your bloggers. This gives them context (compare to other bloggers) and encourages a little healthy competition (“Next month, I’m going to try to get the #1 most read post!”)

By the way, do you have all your bloggers’ email addresses?

Retention

They don’t have very good traffic.•Don’t expect people to find a blog on the directory page.• Although our new

templates are helpful.

•The editor and the blogger should both be mindful of promoting the blog.

Retention


•The blogger should:• … give the editor a heads up when they have something timely,

interesting, catchy. The editor can post a link on social media and can add a homepage taxonomy to that specific post.

• … add a link to their own social media accounts for all posts. (visual blogs should also be on Pinterest and Instagram)

• … include the blog URL in their email signature, in their social media profile/about pages

• … visit other blogs and comment, including a link to their own blog post on the same topic

Retention


•The editor should:• … post a link on social media and add a homepage taxonomy

to good blog posts throughout the week.• … promote bloggers in general by encouraging readers to

check out the directory page and find a topic that interests them.

• … add to an article an internal link to relevant blog posts• e.g. add the weather blogger’s post about an upcoming storm to

your story about the storm

Retention


•The editor should:

• Identify bloggers who have national appeal and recommend they be syndicated across the network (email Lisa Glowinski).

Not only does this attract more traffic, but it rewards solid bloggers. It can be used as a carrot for the more motivated among your bloggers.

Retention


•Help Google find the post• Be sure the blogger is using SEO-friendly headlines, especially

for topical posts (town, name, keyword)• NOT SO GOOD:• Managing Travel Mayhem• The Getaway

• GOOD:• Gregory Campbell is Bruins' tipster• Beers from Boulevard, Victory and the Spencer abbey reviewed

http://waltham.wickedlocal.com/article/20140306/BLOGS/303069973/12176/BLOGS

Retention

They never get feedback.

•To get the commenting ball rolling, especially for new bloggers, newsroom staff should comment on posts. Hopefully this will motivate others to join in the conversation.

Retention


•Encourage your bloggers to post a call to action at the end of their post to get the conversation going.

Retention


•Perhaps more importantly, bloggers would like feedback from us.

•When asked in the survey what the worst thing about blogging for us was, many bloggers cited lack of feedback.

“There is not a lot of

feedback so I never know

if anyone reads my blog

other than my mom. ““Hard to tell if I am being read.”

“I NEVER get any feedback.”

Retention


•Your bloggers consider themselves part of the team and want to be treated as such.

•We need to stop thinking of our bloggers as Inner Circle burdens. • You don’t have to hold their hand through every post, but

occasional contact will be appreciated. Come up with a communication plan.

Retention


•Communication ideas:• Monthly emails per blogger, with an “attaboy” about one of

their posts and that month’s blog stats• One monthly email to all bloggers with the top 10 blogs of the

month and some highlights that the group can learn from• e.g. “Hey guys, not sure if you caught the food blogger’s latest

post. She decided to poll her readers using PollDaddy. Here’s how.”

• Create a Google Group for your bloggers to have a forum to talk to each other. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!creategroup

Retention

Remember that welcome packet?

•Not every blogger was “onboarded” thoroughly. Share the new welcome packet with them, too.

•This is a good way to re-open the lines of communication.

“Hi Sam! Thanks again for blogging with us for the past couple of years. I just wanted to share with you a new welcome packet we created in case anything in there is helpful to you. I also wanted to let you know I’m going to start sending out monthly emails sharing stats and tips. So keep an eye out for that.”

Frequency

Twice a week

•Make sure your bloggers understand WHY we require this.

•By all accounts, frequency matters. Anything less than once a week, and you may as well not blog at all.

•Some believe you should blog daily. We know that is a lot to ask of volunteers. We think twice a week is a reasonable expectation to keep readers coming back.

Frequency

Keep an eye on them•At the end of the first month of each quarter, do a quick audit of your bloggers to be sure they’re posting twice a week.

•Contact them and remind them of the expectation and talk about ways they can hit that goal (shorter posts, delay the post).

Takeaways

• Reinvest yourself in making your community blog offerings a success.

• Recruit bloggers by seeking out specific topics and by asking your editorial staff to identify experts in the community.

• Provide a welcome packet to new and existing bloggers to help them get started.

• Keep the bloggers you have by offering them feedback – through communication and stats.

• Make sure your bloggers are posting at least twice a week.

More information

• If you have questions or suggestions, contact New England Regional Digital Editor Nicole Simmons.• [email protected]• ghnewsroom.com/blogs/nicolesimmons• 508-626-3923• @Digital_Nicole• Instagram: WickedLocalPix

Community Blogs 2.0

GateHouse MediaNews & Interactive

Community Blogs 2.0 GateHouse Media News & Interactive DIAL IN: 888-398-2342 ACCESS CODE:...

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