This document provides an overview of a workshop on digital engagement for Northern California newsrooms. It discusses defining engagement and various engagement tools. It offers tips for engaging the community through methods like blogs, crowdsourcing content, contests, and face-to-face interactions. Specific engagement strategies are outlined for social media, photos, liveblogging, and video.

1. Better Journalism
Through Engagement
Northern California Newsrooms
December 2013
#DFMengage

2. Read more about it
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stevebuttry.wordpress.com
slideshare.net/stevebuttry
@stevebuttry
sbuttry@digitalfirstmedia.com

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

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
• 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. Engaging community
voices
Martin Reynolds

9. The Social Media
Conversation

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

11. engagement
Photos engage better than updates

12. engagement

14. 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?

15. 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

16. 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

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

18. 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

19. 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

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

21. 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)

24. Liveblogging

25. Why to liveblog
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Immediacy
News value
Storytelling
Traffic, revenue, sponsorships
Community engagement, loyalty
Interactivity
Saving time

26. Gettysburg engagement
• More than 1,000 uniques daily, peak of
6,462
• 5 days > 2K page views, peak of 7,728
• 5 days > 35K engagement minutes, peak
of 96K+

27. Liveblogging situations
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Breaking story
Meeting
Event (festival, march, concert, trial)
Daylong (Election Day, weather)
Sporting event (can use fans, bloggers,
HS journos)
• Live chat

28. Liveblogging prep
• Get names (confirm spelling), titles in
advance (ask, get program, etc.)
• Set scene, saying what you’re covering &
that you’re live-tweeting
• Describe your circumstances, vantage
point: at event, watching on TV, curating
tweets (Andy Carvin)

29. Tips, techniques
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Short, frequent takes
Space isn’t an issue; engagement is
Liveblog becomes notebook for story
Consider links, polls, photos, audio, video
Tweet & Tout, feeding hashtag
Promote live & replays
OK to step away for question, video, etc.

30. Liveblogging issues
• Accuracy (stress verification, ask
questions, seek links &
documentation, correct quickly and
candidly)
• Rough copy
• Sports credentials, court access
• Multi-tasking
• Learning curve

31. Live-tweeting tips
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Don’t transcribe; observe & report
In sports, mix play-by-play & commentary
Use hashtag (& check & engage)
OK to pause for checking facts, names
Note significant pause (halftime, lunch)
Fun interludes, exchanges, anecdotes
Check facts before you hit “tweet”

32. DFM ScribbleLive Accounts
• “White label” accounts distributed by
cluster & Thunderdome
• Embeddable chats for every site within
the cluster

33. Live Event Options
• Auto-curated or staffed – or both
• Allow readers to ask questions or
comment
• Participants contribute on site, mobile
app or via Twitter
• Add in photos, videos, links, polls, etc.
• Pair with a livestream or Google Hangout

34. More ScribbleLive Training
http://bit.ly/scribblecourses
• How-tos
• Specialized topic sessions for
sports, politics, court reporting & more
• Get ideas for monetization

35. ScribbleLive Support
scribbleadmins@digitalfirstmedia.com
Live Channel Manger for DFM
Chris March -- @marchmcfly
cmarch@digitalfirstmedia.com

36. Video engagement
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Surveillance video
Seek submissions from community
Vine, Tout
Google Voice + still photos
Search YouTube, Vimeo
Hangout (live on YouTube)

37. Video engagement
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POV camera
Live webcam
Post raw video
Live coverage
Video from source, agency