Effective engagement Steve Buttry Digital First Media webinar October 11, 2012 on
Effective engagement
Steve ButtryDigital First Media webinar
October 11, 2012
on
What’s going on?
2 things that help most• Post photos, not updates
• Start conversations (not headlines)
Best practice: Post photos
Feel-good photos
Breaking news
Breaking news
Breaking news
Odd photos
Seasonal photos
Seasonal photos
Seasonal photos
Non-photo images
Best practice: Ask question
Best practice: Ask question
Best practice: Ask question
Best practice: Ask question
Best practice: Ask question
Best practice: Ask question
Best practice: Ask question
Best practice: Include link
Best practice: full URL
Best practice: Prompts
Best practice: Crowdsource
Best practice: Crowdsource
Best practice: Crowdsource
Best practice: Crowdsource
Best practice: keywords
Photo issues• Post one photo of slideshow, with link• Do you have rights? (Not for AP, Getty)• For user-submitted photos, specify in
terms that you might use on Facebook• Include link in cutline (when appropriate)• Weak photo not likely to engage
Experiment
Other engagement tips• Engage with comments • Post and/or share from personal pages
(selectively; don’t be a spammer)• Post on pages of interested community
groups• Display share buttons prominently on
story pages
Other engagement tips• Tag sources in posts• Ask sources to share your posts on
Facebook• Comment on related posts (interest
groups, other news orgs’ pages) and share your link
What’s the best time?• Early morning is print newspaper time,
not Facebook time (see how it works)• Peak Facebook traffic: 1-3 pm local time• Facebook use goes up in evening (&
weekend) – what can you post then?
Staff Facebook use• Subscriptions probably more effective
than journalist pages (need to be public or decide which posts are public)
• Post your stories on your account/page• Share, like & comment on some
colleagues’ stories• Engage w/ comments on your stories
Broaden your engagement• Step up Twitter engagement• Be sure to post to Google+• Share images on Pinterest, Instagram
Let’s experiment• Try photos, questions• Try different approaches• Try different times of day & evening• Try posting different volumes• Post results on Google doc• Share doc: [email protected]
Follow up• Blog post at stevebuttry.wordpress.com• Google doc to record what works (and
what doesn’t)• I’ll blog about experimentation results• We’re following up w/ Facebook & will
report what they tell us