This document summarizes a workshop on digital engagement strategies for newsrooms. It includes introductions, an agenda, and discussions on various engagement topics like social media conversations, contests, crowdsourcing, photo engagement, and time management. Attendees are encouraged to try 1-2 strategies discussed each week and follow up with questions. Slides and links will be posted online after the workshop. The goal is to help newsrooms better engage their audiences and build communities through digital tools.

1. Engagement
Workshop
Denver, CO
May 1, 2013
#DFMengage

2. Introductions
• Name
• Newsroom
• What you do
• Recent engagement success/challenge
• What would make today a success for
you?

3. Plan for the day
• Engagement overview
• ScribbleLive
• Post planning meeting
• Daily engagement
• Engaging w/ bloggers
• Thunderdome
engagement
• Interactive graphics
• Social conversation
• Contests
• Photo engagement
• Time management
• iPad
• Hangout
• Pinterest
• Brainstorming

4. Throughout the day
• Choose 1 or 2 things to try this week
• Choose 1 or 2 things to try next week
• Choose 1 or 2 things to dig in deeper
with us in follow-up
• Write down follow-up questions
• Slides and links on my blog

5. What is engagement?

6. Tools of engagement

7. Ways of engaging
• Community blogs
• Seek community content (words, photos,
videos)
• Curation, aggregation
• Contests
• Don’t forget the newspaper!
• Face to face

8. Dan Petty

9. In the Post meeting
• Crowdsourcing opportunity?
• Curation opportunity?
• Seek videos, photos from community?
• Look for existing videos
• How would you tweet?
• How would you start Facebook
conversation?

10. Finding new bloggers
• Google (blog search w/ community
names)
• Check local blogs’ blogrolls
• Ask the bloggers about others
• Check links of local tweeps
• Help set up people with blogs

11. Host some group blogs
• Community clubs
• Community religious organizations
• Youth sports teams
• Neighborhood groups
• Music (marching bands, church choirs,
garage bands, youth recitals)
• What else?

12. Social media
• Community orgs w/ FB pages
• Community FB groups (if they’re open)
• Community orgs, voices on Twitter
• Community orgs w/ YouTube channels
• Community orgs on Instagram, Flickr
• Community Pinboards

13. Engagement within DFM
Creating and building communities
across the network

14. Sooo… What’s the point?
• Engagement is not only
important to our audience
outside the newsroom, but
also within our newsrooms.
• If we build relationships and
communicate more, we will
get a better understanding
of who our audience is
across the network – which
makes sharing content and
packaging a lot more easy,
streamlined.

15. The first steps
• I created Facebook groups, closed to DFM staffers
only, as a place to share ideas, talk with colleagues,
spotlight great content available for use and share
metrics.

16. Facebook communities
• We want producers,
reporters, editors
(everyone!) to take
advantage of DFM and
partner content. Our hope is
that creating these networks
and communities around
niche topics will encourage
that. Created, so far:
– Health
– Entertainment
– Tech
– Travel

17. What we hope to achieve…
Sharing cool content, starting a
conversation
Promoting Thunderdome or local
content
These are just examples but we have lots of ideas … The Facebook groups aren’t
meant to replace Mission Control as a sharing vehicle, but to encourage conversation
and cross-network collaboration, promote content and act as a water cooler (of sorts).

18. We’re also hanging out
• We also recently launched what will be monthly, super casual
Google Hangouts to chat about news and features.
– Karen Workman (news-side representative) and I meet casually
with a group of staffers filling a variety of newsrooms roles
(generally not high-level editors).
– We want it to be like running into one another in the breakroom.

19. What do we talk about?
• Prior to the hangout we send a tentative agenda that is
completely allowed to change.
• The chat lasts 30 minutes with Karen and I each taking 5
minutes:
– Spotlight a story that was shared to Thunderdome from a local
property
– Spotlight original Thunderdome content
– What’s coming up?
• Then, we ask the folks on the call to share their successes
and talk about upcoming projects – opening the door for
possible collaboration and increased sharing across DFM.
• Following the chat, we send notes with lots and lots of links
to stories discussed.

20. What did we talk about?
• We got feedback to Thunderdome Boston explosions
coverage and heard from the network:
– Mainline Media (PA) has the US Open coming up in May. Andy Stettler says his
team will be live tweeting. Sounds like awesome golf coverage is expected.
– The Morning Sun (MI) had a huge win with their March Madness pet contest —
Lisa Yanick Jonaitis said one of their posts was viewed about 68,000 times, which is
just amazing. Next up at the Morning Sun is a "Can you spell this?" for adults
playing off the upcoming spelling bee.
– In York (PA), Scott Blanchard is spreading the word about coverage of Gettysburg
anniversary. Some stories and columns are available and Blanchard says it'll look at
the “stuff that could make someone's visit there be great or make it suck.”
– The Bay Area News Group(CA) had a rocking reaction in the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame bracket. The bracket had had a grand total of 282,057 page views. It picked
up retweets and Facebook posts from Duran Duran, Depeche Mode and others. It
also had 42,124 Facebook recommends. Ann Tatko-Peterson said “This is the prime
example of how we can use social media to drive traffic back to our websites.”

21. After the first hangout, what’s next?
• The first group included folks from:
– The Register Citizen (CT)
– Bay Area News Group (CA)
– Mainline Media, York Daily Record (PA)
– The Morning Sun, The Oakland Press (MI)
– The Denver Post (CO)
– Thunderdome
• We hope we will have two hangouts a month,
one with a core group and another with a
rotating group to get more voices.

22. Interactive
graphics
Aimee Heckel

23. The Social Media
Conversation

24. Great for promotion, but also …
• Great for reporting
• Find story ideas
• Crowdsource
• Join & spur the conversation (reply,
retweet, ask questions)

25. engagement
Photos engage better than updates

26. engagement

27. engagement
Be conversational (not just promoting content)

28. engagement

30. Why converse w/ no link?
• Question invites conversation
• Engagement w/ question boosts
views/engagement on subsequent links
• Builds brand, gain followers
• Do you enjoy conversation w/ people
always calling attention to themselves?

32. Engagement tips:
• Engage with comments
• Post and/or share from personal pages
(selectively; don’t be a spammer)
• Crowdsource on community pages (not
just yours)
• No AP photos

33. CT Twitter study:
• Newsroom accounts mostly heads & links
• @5thDistrictCT conversational (links to
competition, RTs, replies, great info)
• @5thDistrictCT = 2x to 10x more referrals
per Twitter follower

34. Tips for being conversational:
• Monitor @ mentions & reply (answer
questions, thank for links, address critics)
• Make link posts conversational
• RT competition, community bloggers
• Ask questions

35. Monitor community conversation:
• Save searches for key names, hashtags
• Save location searches for breaking-news
terms (fire, emergency, siren)
• Make lists (HootSuite, TweetDeck
columns) of key community users
• Reply & RT

36. Encourage staff to be conversational:
• Be personable (can do that w/o stating
opinions)
• More than just links
• Listen to community; reply & RT
• Livetweeting events

37. What’s your social-media voice
• All about me?
• Join other conversations?
• Appropriate to content (light, serious)?
• Who would your social-media voice be
(think of a character)?

38. Crowdsourcing tips
• Say what you know, what you need to
know
• Don’t ask for help; invite people to tell
their stories, share their photos
• Reach broader audience (hashtags, ask on
FB pages of groups w/ interests)

39. Engagement
through
contests

40. Why do contests?
 Contests are fun. The audience loves to see
something they did in print.
 Contests drive traffic.
 They encourage the readers to interact with
the newspaper, showing readers that we are
here and a part of this community.
 They drive new readers and build our
audience.
Jessica Benes, Reporter-Herald 2013

41. What kind of contest?
 Contests associated with holidays (Christmas,
Valentine’s, Mother’s Day, Halloween).
 Events (festivals, parades, trivia bowl).
 Weather (snow, first day of summer).
 Biggest fan or school spirit.
 Best community stories (Ghost stories,
Veteran’s stories).
Jessica Benes, Reporter-Herald 2013

42. What types of platforms/social
media?
 Videos
 Photos
 Written stories
 Google forms
 Print newspaper
 Facebook
 Twitter
 Blogs
 Pinterest
 Instagram
 Storify
 Timelines
Jessica Benes, Reporter-Herald 2013

43. How do we handle prizes?
 Arrange prizes with a participating event or
venue (free tickets or passes to an event).
 Use the tantalizing idea of the best photo
making it into print.
 Post the photos in a Facebook album, on
Pinterest and in a slide show on your
website as the prize.
 Occasionally dip into the budget for a
gift card (but that depends on the newspaper
and budget).
Jessica Benes, Reporter-Herald 2013

44. Valentine’s Day Project
 Call-out for “Loveland’s
greatest love stories”
online and in print,
Facebook, Twitter,
Pinterest.
 13 submissions received.
 Timeline of submissions
designed.
 Top five chosen by
Reporter-Herald staff.
Reporter-Herald projects:
Jessica Benes, Reporter-Herald 2013

45. Valentine’s Day cont’d:
Reporter-Herald projects:
Jessica Benes, Reporter-Herald 2013
 Top five put to a vote by the community for one week.
 First place entry interviewed for a Valentine’s Day feature story.

46. Easter
 We asked for egg decorating “egg-sperts” to be part
of a feature.
 We used how-to videos of those submissions to ask
the community to submit their best-decorated eggs for
a Facebook album, slide show, and to run in our News:
By You section.
Reporter-Herald projects:
Jessica Benes, Reporter-Herald 2013

47. Photo curation
 Quick hitters like curating for photos seems to often perform better
than longer contest projects.
 We usually ask for photos and place them in a Facebook album and
slide show on our website. We have a vote for the best shots and
print the top couple in our News: By You section of the paper.
 Halloween
 Snow photos
 Easter eggs
Reporter-Herald projects:
Jessica Benes, Reporter-Herald 2013

48. Our thoughts on what has worked:
 Our community likes to participate when they don’t have to put
in a lot of work.
 Submitting photos.
 Participating in polls.
 Big prizes are noticed, as are the promises of a child’s photo
getting in the paper.
 Contests around big events/topics of the day like snow storms or
summer festivals.
Jessica Benes, Reporter-Herald 2013
And what hasn’t:
 Trivia Bowl: Asked reader to call in with answers to eight trivia
questions for the chance to win a free entry to participate in the Trivia
Bowl. – No calls.
 Might have been too small of an audience.
 Too much work, not a big enough topic.
 Lifetree Film Fest: Asked to submit 3-minute films for a mini film
festival in conjunction with Group Publishing Lifetree Film Fest. We
received three entries.
 Perhaps not enough time (we gave them 2.5 weeks).
 Not a big enough topic.

49. Tips from other newspapers:
 Peeps dioramas are a big hit.
 Reader’s Choice: Unlimited voting or not? You might end up putting
something in the paper that isn’t great but had a lot of friends.
 Sex sells. We didn't get a tons of entries in our tax season Sexy
Accountant contest, but tens of thousands clicked to see what sexy
accountants look like.
 During National Poetry Month a few years ago, we sponsored a
limerick contest; we got lots of entries, but most were badly rhymed
couplets that weren't even limericks.
-- Richard Chin, St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Jessica Benes, Reporter-Herald 2013

50. Tips from other newspapers:
 Better response when we offer less of readers and offer bigger
prizes.
 Giveaways do well like commenting on a post with a favorite beer
or wine to win passes to related events.
 Built up buzz about “Restaurant week,” where people could “like”
the event on Facebook to enter to win. A $400 prize was announced
during a “happy hour event” to kick off the week (advertise-driven).
-- April Trotter, York Daily Record, Pennsylvania.
Jessica Benes, Reporter-Herald 2013

51. Brainstorm
 What has worked for you?
 What are your ideas?
Jessica Benes, Reporter-Herald 2013
Jessica Benes
 Reporter-Herald, 970-669-5050 ext. 530.
 Email: jbenes@reporter-herald.com.
 Twitter: @JessicaBenes
 Facebook, Pinterest: Jessica Benes
 Blog: jessicabenes.com

52. Engagement
time management

53. Engagement saves time
• Find sources quickly using social search
• Find sources quickly by crowdsourcing
• Posts are short (but still require thought)
• Posts can be timed (but be careful)
• Suggest what you should stop doing

54. Quick video
• Surveillance video
• Seek submissions from community
• Vine, Tout
• Search YouTube, Vimeo
• Hangout (live on YouTube)

57. Using the iPad
for reporting
Aimee Heckel

58. Pinterest: Why bother?

59. • It’s a place to collect and organize images by topic.
• Pay attention to popular topics when building boards.
• Generate new interest in content you already have.
• Showcase user-generated images.
• Create an archive. Pins are sticky!
• Build a new audience.
How & why to use Pinterest

60. Pinterest by the numbers
• 25% of U.S. women who use
social media are on
Pinterest.
• Among U.S. women on social
media, Pinterest is second
only to Facebook.
• More women use Pinterest
than instagram (16%),
Twitter (15%) or Tumblr
(6%).
• Women are five times as
likely as men to use
Pinterest.
• 48% of Pinterest users are
18-49 years old and 36%
have attended or graduated
from college.
Graphic: AdWeek | Demographics: Pew Research Center

61. Salt Lake Tribune demographics
Pre-Pinterest Post-Pinterest

62. Get verified
Showcase the diversity of your content

63. Build an archive
Showcase original content
Editorial Cartoons
Archival Photos

64. Local news & events
General roundup boards or dedicated
ones for larger, more impactful events.

65. Don’t take yourself too seriously
Oddities

66. Local food, products & places

67. Animals always work
Local place Local event User content

68. Sports teams
*Mix new &
archive ->

69. It’s all about awareness
• You are putting your content out where your readers spend time,
giving them another view of the brand.
• Showcase content that gets short-shrift elsewhere - particularly
content that is attractive to female readers.
• ROI for direct referrals isn’t much yet, so focus on easily updated
topics and those that can be farmed out to desks.
• Build community engagement by following, repinning, liking and
commenting on other boards.

70. • Kim McDaniel
• Digital Director, Social Media Editor
The Salt Lake Tribune
• kimm@sltrib.com
@sltrib or @tivogirl
pinterest.com/sltrib
Contact

71. Next steps
• What will you try this week?
• What will you try next week?
• What do you need to dig deeper on?
• Who will you follow up with?
• Slides and links on my blog (probably
tonight or tomorrow)