ONACamp: Branding & Community Engagement

Beyond the Buzzwords Mandy Jenkins @mjenkins, #ONAcamp Community Engagement and Self-Branding

What is community engagement?

What is community engagement?
Online and offline efforts to bring readers into the newsgathering process and closer to those reporting the news.

Why do it?
Build long-lasting relationships with readers and sources
Branding & loyalty-building
Create an eager network of reliable tipsters
Be transparent about how we do our jobs

You may already be doing this....
Using Twitter and/or Facebook
“ Tell us” in the paper, on TV, etc.
In-story polls
Chats
Comments on on-site stories and blogs (*shudder*)

How's that going?

Don't be one-way

Rules of Engagement
Answer all questions
Address criticism (without spats)
Share good responses
Publicly correct yourself
Always acknowledge news tips

Twitter & Facebook Are you really connecting?

Powered by relationships
You follow
They follow

Twitter: Find the right crowd
Find accounts by their areas of interest:
twellow.com
wefollow.com
Find accounts using Twitter lists:
listorious.com
Lists of those you follow

Twitter: Search.twitter.com
Search by keywords, location, time
Reach out for more info
Follow who you reach out to

Twitter: Don't be a news robot
Be personable.
Tweet more than your links
Re-tweet, don't re-write
Openly engage strangers
Most importantly:
Respond to people

FB account vs Pages

Facebook + Journalism Pages
Build a custom feed for work-only
Create a hub around your topic area
Interact with readers & sources separate from your personal contacts

Facebook: Find the right crowd
Search public groups and pages
Reach out with private messages
Don't be a creeper

Search Facebook Statuses
openfacebooksearch.com/
youropenbook.org /

Be Your Own Expert We journalists think we're so smart, so prove it.

Monitor Your Brand
Google Alerts
Tweetbeep

Take conversation to them
Comment on other blogs/stories in your field
Talk with those talking about you

Curate your expertise
Show your research as you go
Save links to read later
Share what you're reading

Tools to try
Diigo
Delicious
Google reader
Furl
Twitter/Facebook

Share curation Bonus! Use a bookmarking site to organize & embed your shared link roundups .

Tools for Engagement New ways to do the same old stuff

Storify: Add readers to your story
Curate tweets, Facebook statuses, Flickr, YouTube
Add documents, story elements
Reaction stories, Twitter fights, a dramatic event through others' words

Suggestion box > Polls
All Our Ideas : "Suggestion box for the digital age"
Example

Google Forms > "Tell Us"
Exists in Google Docs
Embeds on your site
Feeds into a spreadsheet
Can gather info privately or anonymously

Crowdsourced map : Google

Crowdmapping
Free
Lives online
People submit on-site, by Twitter or text
Quick to set up

Conversation > Comments
Engage with readers, manage the conversation

Clear out the riffraff Beat blogs and niche networks

Why get your own site?
Brand yourself as an expert
Connect with those who care about your area of interest
Transparency in your story process
NOT to get page views

Beat Blogs
..a regular flow of reporting, resources and commentary in a focused area.
Can be geographical , topical , activity-based or somewhere in between.
Source: Beatblogging.org

Private networks
Message boards
File/link sharing
Limited access
Tools
Facebook Groups
Google Groups
Yahoo Groups
Socialgo.com

Don't freak out

Connect IRL Seriously!

Remember real life?
Connect with your readers
Have sources meet one another & readers
Get story ideas
Get feedback on your work

Networking & Meetups
ONA
Social media organizations
Organizations and events on your beat
* Have relevant info on your business cards
* Use apps like Bump to connect at events

Hosting Meetups
Meetup.com
Eventbrite.com
Facebook
Twitvite.com
* More: Google Monica Guzman for info on her meetups

"Office Hours"
Unplanned meetups outside the office
Announce it on Twitter, Facebook or in a story
Have it somewhere public
Make yourself available

Experiments in RL Engagement
Newsroom Cafe (Register Citizen)
Newsroom, cafe, citizen journalism classes, computer lab, library

How will you engage?

You're done! Mandy Jenkins @mjenkins zombiejournalism.com slideshare.net/mandyjenkins/

ONACamp: Branding & Community Engagement

by Mandy Jenkins

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