COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IRL (IN REAL

LIFE)GATEHOUSE NEWS & INTERACTIVE DIVISION

Agenda

• What is community engagement?• Why is engagement a good idea?• Consequences of community engagement• Some quick ideas• Some more time-consuming ideas• A bigger project

What is community engagement?

• Being visible in your community• Being active in your community• Being a presence in your comminty

Why is this a good idea?

“[Community] outreach includes efforts to share ourselves, our expertise and our content with our community. It involves: … Being willing to participate in the community as individuals, building connections and personalizing our brand. Inviting the community to get to know our people and our processes. Enriching our community, sharing our own knowledge and supporting other community enrichment efforts.”

-- Joy Mayer, studied journalism engagement as Reynolds Journalism Institute fellow, associate professor at the Columbia School of Journalism

Why is this a good idea?

We’ve been encouraging increased engagement in social media:

Facebook

Why is this a good idea?

Twitter

Why is this a good idea?

Pinterest

Why is this a good idea?

CoverItLive

Why is this a good idea?

But don’t forget another effective way to advance our mission:

Face-to-face engagementIRL (in real life)

Results of community engagement

Good things happen when we engage with our communities

Results of community engagement

We protect ourselves from competition

Results of community engagement

Community members respond when you ask for tips, photos or stories

Results of community engagement

Circulation could bounce back

Results of community engagement

Page views grow

Results of community engagement

Facebook fans increase, engage

Results of community engagement

Twitter followers increase

Some quick ideas

Engaging with your community doesn’t have be to be time-consuming, hard or expensive. We‘ve got some ideas that are:

• Cheap• Easy• Fun

Some quick ideas

Big, Giant Front Page

“Allows us to engage with readers in a fun way;  reminds them that we have a real, physical presence in town with our newspaper (unlike Patch); generates lots of gallery views and even some reprint sales.”

- Peter Chianca, Editor-in-Chief, GateHouse Media New England North Unit 

Some quick ideas

• How:• Work with the Design House to

get a customized replica of the front page of your newspaper.

• Get it printed at your local printing center (Staples, etc.)

• Bring it with you to your next event, take pix

• Post photos online• Cost:

• Booth fee (some events give free booths in exchange for coverage of event, others may charge, probably less than $100)

• Printing fee (Staples lists a price of $27.99 for printing a large custom poster)

• Result: • Fun, memorable, interaction

with your community• Page views• Photo sales

Some quick ideas

Town Day sign-in board

“It's such a hit that people come to the table every year looking for it.”

- Kathy Cordeiro, Editor-in-Chief, GateHouse Media New England NorthWest Unit 

Some quick ideas

• How:• Glue broad-sheet size, heavy

stock white paper onto a larger black poster board. The white stock includes the salutation and two horizontal holes for photos.

• Bring it with you to your next event, set it up in front of your table, get people to sign it

• Have giveaways to attract people

• Cost:• Booth fee (some events give

free booths in exchange for coverage of event, others may charge, probably less than $100)

• Materials cost (around $10 at Staples)

• Result: • Fun, memorable, interaction

with your community

Some quick ideas

Hold your regular freelancer or community blogger meeting at the local library or coffee shop

Some quick ideas

• How:• Hold your regular meeting with

your bloggers or your freelancers in a local coffee shop, or a larger community room at the library if the group becomes too big.

• Invite your bloggers or your freelancers, and invite your readers if they would like to join you, and become freelancers or bloggers

• Tell folks where you’ll be on Twitter, Facebook. Invite them to stop by and say “Hi!”

• Cost:• A round of coffee and muffins

• Result: • Interaction with freelancers and

bloggers they need and deserve, outreach to community to recruit more

• Visibility in your community

Some quick ideas

Shoot faces, faces and more faces at local events you’re already covering. Print up and hand out business cards.

Some quick ideas

• How:• Shoot as many photos as you

can of people attending an event.

• Shoot close, so people will recognize themselves and their friends online

• Don’t worry about IDs/cutlines• Handout business cards, tell

people where they can see themselves online

• Cost:• Business cards if you don’t

have them already• $15.99 for 250 at Staples

• Result: • Page views• Photo sales

Ideas that are more time-consuming

Here are some ideas that take more time and money, but worth the effort

Ideas that are more time-consuming

Citizen of the Year

“Residents  nominate people for Citizen of the Year, then a selection committee made up of  the editor for that town and other prominent citizens to select the winner. We  then have a ceremony at a local restaurant to honor the recipient. It's very  well received in the communities.”

- Gregory Mathis, Editor-in-Chief, GateHouse Media New England South Unit 

Ideas that are more time-consuming

• How:• Run the ballot in print and online

(as a reader callout) for at least 4 weeks.

• Choose a selection committee. At first, it could simply be newsroom staffers.

• Announce the winner in print, online, on Facebook and Twitter.

• Honor the winner. At first, it could be a simple ceremony connected to another event, like a city council meeting. Later, it could be a larger event sponsored by the paper.

• Cost:• Depending upon the award

presentation, anywhere from the cost of the award ($6.99 for 6-pack of customizable awards, $10.49 for 6-pack of award holders from Staples) to $600-$800 to host a dinner

• Result:• The creation (or resurrection) of a

cherished community tradition, always associated with your news paper.

Ideas that are more time-consuming

Reader advisory boards:• This is a great way to get reader input,

feedback and participation.• Having them tells the rest of the

community you care about what they think

• Reader advisory board members can serve as outreach for you into your community, and help spread the word about things like reader callouts, upcoming projects, finding sources

Ideas that are more time-consuming

• How:• Solicit members in print, online, on Facebook, Twitter. • Ask interested folks to write a graf on why they’re interested.• Once you’ve made your choices, hold your first meeting• Share history of newspaper, set expectations for board. No

more than an hour. Provide coffee and doughnuts. Send out thank you email after.

• Next meetings: roundtable discussions about local issues, introduce staffers, dept heads, group project ideas

• Write columns about advisory board meetings.• Write stories about issues that surface that need attention

• Cost:• Coffee and doughnuts for each meeting

• Result:• A group of engaged community members that provide

feedback for you, kickstart projects and help spread the word about your paper, your website and the great work your staff is doing.

Ideas that are more time-consuming

Speak at a community organization• Rather than sit back and wait to be invited

by local organizations and groups, pick up the phone and get yourself on their agenda for an upcoming meeting.

Ideas that are more time-consuming

How:• Request an invite to speak at the local parent organization, garden

club, church group, historical group, youth sports organization, etc. Think outside the Chamber of Commerce box.

• Bring:- Copies of your paper- Contact Us info- Deadlines- Your most recent reader callout- Examples of a community partner journalism element

• Mention- Your website, web-only features

Cost:• Your time

Result:• Being active about spreading the word about your news

organizations and the ways community members can contribute to your paper and website will enhance awareness of your news org, and will increase the flow of reader-contributed content to your newsroom.

More ideas

• Career days at schools – bring copies of the paper, discuss your job

• Host or moderate a political debate• March in a parade – wear matching T-shirts, throw candy,

hold a banner with the newspaper name on it

A big community project

The Bulletin in Norwich, Conn., came up with a great idea that was a lot of work, but worth the time and effort invested.

A great idea, a lot of work, but worth it

The Bulletin in Norwich, Conn., held a “Conversation with the Governor” on the 1-year anniversary of Gov. Dannel Malloy’s inauguration. Executive Editor Jim Konrad shares the details.

Questions and answers

Questions and answers for our participants:Peter Chianca, Editor-in-Chief, GateHouse Media New England, North UnitKathy Cordeiro, Editor-in-Chief, GateHouse Media New England, NorthWest UnitMary Ford, Editor, Hingham Journal, Cohasset Mariner, GateHouse Media New EnglandJim Konrad, Executive Editor, The Bulletin in Norwich, Conn.

Your ideas

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IRL (IN REAL

LIFE)GATEHOUSE NEWS & INTERACTIVE DIVISION