Power & Pitfalls of Social Media in News

Toledo Press Club Presentation

Power of One Viral PictureUGC sent by a viewer160k shares, 51 likesSeen by more than 5 million peopleLaunched our TAT to 683kLaunched WTOL posts to 6.3m people in 1 week

How do you harness the power of social media?

Posting content your user wants the way they want it

How do you harness the power of social media?

Post content your user wants they way they want it

Maintain consistent engagement

How do you harness the power of social media?

Post content your user wants they way they want it

Consistent engagement

Have a social strategy

Pitfall: It’s easy to fail!

Social StrategyPosting strategy should involve tone, content

choice, timingNEWS: Breaking news and weather strategy in

placeEngagement/Clarity/Accuracy should be the goalBest Practices need to be in place so expectations

are clearDigital staff needs constant training and feedback,

just like newscasts reporters and producersManagers need to have judgment conversations

about what worked and what didn’t

Successful Posts on FacebookImageVideoText onlyPosts w/Links & Images Video OnlyVideo w/links

Be ready to deliver when it countsImpactful event coverage provideshuge opportunities to prove brand value,create loyalty, buildnew audience

Social Strategy pays offConsistency of posting and engagement are

key to keeping Talking About This number high

The higher the TAT, the more attention and engagement your posts will get

Engagement = REACHREACH = Eyeballs on your

brand

Pitfall: Falling on Empty EarsNo scheduled posting strategy, no consistent

engagement, low TAT = much smaller audience on Facebook

Power: TwitterTwitter can be a breaking news tool

All on-air talent should use Twitter as a breaking news and Recruit to watch tool, especially reporters

Tweetdeck should be employed by managers to monitor activity of talent, competition, station account, and @ mentions/replies

What works on Twitter

Social Media ManagementShoutlet, Buffer, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck are all

good ways to monitor and manage multiple posts at once

Pitfall: The RaceOne of the main pitfalls of social media in

journalism is the race to be first. Because it’s competitive and time-sensitive, many journalists jump the gun and make mistakes. This can run the gamut from a spelling mistake to retweeting an unreliable source to grabbing a Facebook profile picture of a murder victim and having it be the wrong person.

Instead of a race to be first, newsrooms should emphasize the race to be right. Old-fashioned official confirmation and spell-check still go a long way.

Pitfall: The FilterJournalists have to stay unbiased, so reporters

need to be careful when they can and cannot express personal opinions in a public forum

People like to fight on the Internet, and it can be a liability to your credibility as a station. Rule of thumb: Never post what you wouldn’t say out loud

Some selfie addicts blur the line between journalist and personality – and it can be hard for viewers to take talent seriously if they’re not careful about maintaining a professional image online.

Power: Pushes to monetized platformsYou may not get credit for Facebook likes and

retweets but it pays to build a loyal social audience. Posts & tweets that include links to stories/articles, many times with an attached video or slideshow, can be huge drivers to your .com

Planning makes perfectYou can’t harness the power of social media

without a plan. Sure, there’s luck involved in big posts… but it’s mostly good planning.