Windy City Times is Chicago's only weekly LGBTQ newspaper. It is currently active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. The document analyzes Windy City Times' current social media presence and provides recommendations. It finds that Windy City Times could benefit from verifying its Twitter account, more heavily utilizing Instagram to reach younger audiences, live streaming events on Facebook, and using TweetDeck to schedule social media posts. Overall, implementing these recommendations could help Windy City Times engage more users and expand its audience.

1. Windy City Times
Kristyn Schwiep
Jasmine Cooper
Kyle Woosley
Genesis Villarreal
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Table of Contents
I. Overview p. 2
II. Current Situation p. 2-3
A. Staff
B. Usage of Social Media
C. Goals
D. Current Audience
III. Current Situation Analysis p. 4-18
A. LGBT / Chicago Demographic Info
B. Funding & Budgeting Info
C. S.W.O.T. Analysis
D. Staff Survey Results
E. Crimson Hexagon Analysis Data
1. Facebook vs. Twitter (Jan. 27 - March 3, 2016)
a) Facebook Activity vs. Twitter Impressions
b) Likes vs. Followers
c) Facebook & Twitter Engagement Sentiment
d) Facebook Word Cloud
e) Twitter Word Cloud
f) Gender Demographic Comparison
2. Twitter (Full Yeah Analysis)
a) Potential Impressions
b) Engagement Sentiment
c) Age Demographics
d) Word Cloud
e) Affinity Comparison
IV. Recommendations p. 20-22
A. Website Update
B. Twitter Verification
C. Instagram
D. Live Video Streaming
E. TweetDeck
1. How to Use TweetDeck

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F. Snapchat
V. Conclusion p. 22
VI. Social Media Cheat Sheet p. 23
Overview
Since 1985, the Windy City Times serves the diverse communication needs of the
LGBTQ community. Windy City Times is Chicago's only weekly LGBTQ newspaper,
as well as written video content online, plus community events and benefits.
Current Situation
Staff
There are 10 full-time staff members, but Tracy Baim, publisher and executive editor
contributes to 99% of social media posting. She is very selective on what news gets shared
or retweeted. One new employee, a sales representative, was added to the staff that will
dedicate approximately one hour of each day towards social media.
Usage of Social
Windy City Times is active on several different social media platforms. You can find links to
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube on the website. WCT also uses Instagram.
Facebook:
- Over 14,000 likes
- 4.4 out 5 stars with mostly positive reviews
- Very active in posting, but does not contain a lot of comments from followers
Twitter: @WindyCityTimes1
- Joined in April 2009
- Over 17,000 followers and following around 13,000
- Tweets/Retweet often, could work on engaging with followers with replies
Instagram: windycitytimes
- Link not included on website
- 1116 followers, 167 posts, following 698
- Managed by publisher and executive editor, Tracy Baim

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- Updates frequently
YouTube
- Broken: Link on website does not take you to YouTube channel
- Found under the name Tracy Baim
- 220 subscribers, videos range in number of views
Goals
Increase Brand Awareness through social media outlets
o Explore more social media outlets
Primary choice: Instagram
→ Build presence by creating an account and generate younger
following
Secondarychoices: Snapchat,FacebookLive
o Promote current YouTube channel which contains a lot of content
Increase employee social media technical skills
o Provide comprehensive training for all employees on social media usage
Website Clean-up
o Make the website more user-friendly. This will include updating design, making sure all links to stories
and social media on the site work, and moving outdated links to an archived site rather than
overwhelming the front page.
Current Audience
Tracy Baim said the primary audience for the Windy City Times were:
● Local audience with no direction
● 10% straight
● 3-4% transgender
● 60% gay
● 40% lesbian
● Age: 30-40 years old

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Current Situation Analysis
Chicago/LGBT demographics
Accordingto CCT.organd the informationcollectedfromthe needsassessmentsurveyin2015
mostpeople identifiedasfemale (51%) ormale (42%),othersindetifiedasgenderqueer(7%) and
transgender(3%). Tenpercentof the participantsselectedmore thanone genderidentity.Manyinthe
assessmentidentifiedasgay(43%) and lesbian(35%).Some identifiedasbisexual(14%),queer(22%)
and questioning(2%).Accordingto CCT.ORG, nearly 22% identified with more than one category
and 2% wrote in that they identified as either straight or heterosexual. (Morten,Farmer-
Smith,Smith,Vega,Kadish, 2012, p. 12-13)
The surveytakerswere raciallydiverse:African-American(18%),Latino(13%),bi/multiracial
(5%),Asian/PacificIslander/Native American(>5%),Caucasian(65%).Alsothe surveyrangedinage from
14-65+ withthe majorityof the surveytakersbeingbetweenthe agesof 25-34 (32%) and the leastaged
14-17 (1%).(Morten,Farmer-Smith,Smith,Vega,Kadish,2012, p.13-14) 1
http://www.cct.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/LGBTCommunityNeedsAssessment.pdf
Funding/Budget
WindyCityTimesisa nonprofitorganization. PublisherandExecutive Editor,TracyBaim, saidas a
nonprofittheyhave asmall budgetforwebandsocial mediadevelopment,butverytrainablepeople.It
spendsaround$15-$20 a weekonFacebookboosts,$5 a dayfor 30 days onTwitterfor promotionsand
are opento seeingif Instagramofferssome type of payforpromotion.
S.W.O.T.
Strengths:
1
Morten, M. F., Farmer-Smith, K., Smith,C., Vega, A., & J. (2012, April).
Chicago LGBT CommunityNeeds Assessment Data Summary.
Retrieved March 03, 2016, from http://www.cct.org/wp-content
uploads/2015/05/LGBTCommunityNeedsAssessment.pdf

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• Windy City Times (WCT) has established Facebook and Twitter accounts that
are updated frequently
• WCT’s website has a lot of information (archives, social links, blogs, stories,
photos)
• WCT recently hired a sales representative, who is also going to learn how to
update social media platforms
• Has trainable staff
• WCT can use social media to promote information and events in the LGBTQ
community
• Free online and print newspapers.
• Has a local audience with no direct competition
Weaknesses:
• Outdated website, which has a lot of content that cannot be removed
• Instagram account not having a huge following (1k)
• Facebook is frustrating as a marketing tool
• Struggling to keep a younger audience
• With volunteers and small staff, WCT might not be able to train every
employee on social media platforms
Opportunities:
• Only LGBTQ newspaper in the Chicago area
• Social media is a fast-growing communications platform
• Gaining a younger audience by being more active on Instagram
• Social media is a great way to reach the LGBTQ community and more
• Updating website so it is easier to navigate, cleaning up social links on
website
Threats:
• Not seeing the value in Instagram, but hoping to gain a younger crowd by
using this platform
• Because the primaryfollowingof WindyCityTimesisover30 yearsold,it can be difficult
to developayoungeraudience

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Windy City Times Staff Survey

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● Other responses included Snapchat, Vine and Periscope

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CRIMSON HEXAGON DATA ANALYSIS - Facebook vs. Twitter: Jan. 27 - March 3
Total Facebook Activity

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Total Twitter Impressions - 47 million total potential impressions (increase of 90 percent)
Total Likes and Followers

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Facebook:
Twitter:
Total Engagement Sentiment

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Facebook:
Twitter:

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Facebook Word Cloud (based on 140 posts)

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Twitter Word Cloud (based on 3,917 posts)

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Gender Demographics
Facebook: Twitter:
Twitter (Full Year) - March 3, 2015 - March 3, 2016
Potential Impressions - 310million potential impressions (increase of 105 percent)

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Total Engagement Sentiment

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Age Demographics

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Word Cloud (based on 30,985 posts)

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Affinities (compared to rest of Twitter)
Community Social Media Survey
Link to WindyCity Times #socialmediasurvey Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSGbswnWtEw

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Recommendations
Website Update
The Windy City Times’ website is full of content, which is essential for a news organization,
but we believe that in order to stand out from other news organizations, an updated
website that has a clean layout will be beneficial. While we understand that there is a
concern with maintaining content, particularly archives dating back to the 1980s, we
suggest making the current site an archival site and creating a new site for current news
and information. We believe this can be accomplished over a longer period of time by using
interns or volunteers. Perhaps, making half of their responsibility strictly focused on web
development. Some useful website developing platforms are:
● Squarespace
● Wordpress
● Wix
We believe the best way to go about this is to create a new website as the primary source
for new content, but maintain the current website for archival materials while the
volunteers or interns gradually move over the archives. It will take some time and
manpower, but in the long run, it will make the website more functional, user-friendly and
visually appealing, which can help wonders when trying to develop a larger audience,
particularly of younger age demographics. In the current state of news media, a website is
an audience’s first impression. And it is the responsibility of the news organization to make
that impression as positive as possible if it hopes to be successful in the digital age.
Social Links on Website
Themajority ofthe linkson thewebsite are outdated. Itcan be confusing ormisleading to visitors,especiallyif they are
hoping to followWindyCityTimes on social networks. Forexample, the Twitterlogo resemblestheTumblrlogo moreso
than the Twitterbird logo weassociatewith thesite. For a more efficient and organized website,itisrecommended to
clean-up thewebsiteto includejustTwitter,Facebook,Instagramand YouTube,asthesearethe fourcurrentlyand most
actively used by the newsorganization.
Twitter Verification
Because theWindy City Times Twitterhandleisnotstrictly thename of theorganization,wesuggestgetting itverified.
Thisallowsyourfollowersto knowthisisthe official Twitterhandleforyourorganization. Verifying yourTwitterhandle
will also cutdown on tweetsto @windycitytimes (unknown user) ratherthan @windycitytimes1(WCT currentTwitter

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handle),and couldpotentiallyincreasefollowersand impressionsbythosehopingto interactwith Windy City Times on
Twitter.
Instagram (sample posts): events, #TBT, Pride Campaign, videos
In addition to the current social media platforms that you engage in, we strongly insist that
you heavily utilize your Instagram account as it will provide you access to a younger
demographic, as opposed to Facebook which tends to draw in an older demographic.
Some ideas for Instagram include:
● Using hashtags strategically such as:
○ #HumpDay on Wednesdays
○ #MCM (Man Crush Monday)
○ #WCW (Woman Crush Wednesday)
○ #TBT (Throwback Thursday) or #ThankfulThursday
○ #HappyFriday, #FridayFeeling or #FBF (Flashback Friday)
○ #SundayFunday
● Utilizing Instagram for Campaigns/Giveaways
○ Having agiveaway oncea month in orderto growafollowingwould beuseful. Giveawayideas can
serve as a passto an event, tickets to a showora redeemablegiftcard.
Live Video Streaming
We believe that the Windy City Times would benefit from live video streaming. Instead of
creating a Snapchat or Periscope account, the “Live” feature from Facebook can be used to
live stream events or information such as:
● Breaking News (live, on site):
● Protests
● Galas/Fundraisers
● Bar Crawls/Parties
● Pride Parade
As a news organization, using the live feature from Facebook is highly advantageous as its
organic reach is high. Once “live,” a notification will be sent to all followers, via mobile
devices, which will let them know you are live. This is advantageous because not many
people use or know about the live feature. It can be beneficial to your organization given its
high organic, and free, reach.

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Scheduling Social Media Posts
We recommend utilizing Tweetdeck to schedule posts in advance. Tweetdeck is essential for
strategic social media planning.
HowTo Use TweetDeck (Courtesy of Twitter)
To start using TweetDeck:
1. Go to http://tweetdeck.twitter.com, or open the desktop* or Chrome app.
2. Sign in with your Twitter account. We recommend that you use a Twitter account
that is not shared with other individuals.
3. Once you're signed in, you can connect multiple Twitter accounts to your TweetDeck
account
To connect multiple Twitter accounts in your TweetDeck:
1. Click Accounts in the navigation bar.
2. Next click Add another Twitter account.
3. Enter your Twitter credentials and then click Authorize.
4. You’re ready to use TweetDeck! Next, just add some columns.
Managing multiple accounts
To remove an account from TweetDeck:
1. Click Accounts in the navigation bar.
2. Expand the account you wish to delete by clicking the down arrow.
3. Click Remove and confirm.
Snapchat
In the near future, we would recommend also using Snapchat. Snapchat is gaining high
momentum. But developing this should be secondary to Instagram. The best way to
implement a successful Snapchat would be to wait until a younger audience has been
developed. Snapchat is incredibly popular among 17-32 year olds. Perhaps after a younger,
more visually based audience has been developed on Instagram, you could encourage
them to follow the organization on Snapchat.

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Conclusion
Windy City Times has an excellent print production. It has a well-defined niche in the
LGBTQ community, quality reporting and a well-designed newspaper. When it comes to
social media, WCT is incredibly active with updates and interactive with its audience. With a
little redesign and clean-up of its website and usage of a few more social media tools, WCT
can continue to provide quality news to its audience, grow in interest and followers, and
more confidently proceed forward by embracing the digital age.

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