Social media tools for journalists and journalism in exile
Clare Cook @cecook
SOCIAL MEDIA for exiled media
COMMUNITY + PRODUCTION + DISTRIBUTION = ENGAGEMENT
SOCIAL MEDIA GOLDEN RULES
The social media ecosystem
Journalism as
a processSocial at the heart
Consider which accounts you use for the different parts of the news process. Where are your alerts? Short form? In depth analysis and conversation?
Distribution
Input and output
At every level of the production process the content is distributed allowing more input and interaction
Mobile traffic more than desktop
Be clear how that affects the content production process
Peaks and waves
Scheduling content to fit with short form and immersive needs
Don’t make content mobile, make mobile content.
Consider the way people typically engage with news on their mobile devices: phones oriented vertically, often in public, with or without sound, totally immersed yet easily distracted. Grab their attention and keep it with short videos that suit this context. Tell stories that are personal in tone, don’t require audio, and capture the immediacy and intimacy of mobile viewing. Don’t test that patience. Short - between 30 secs to 2 mins
COLLABORATION
Users and readers are your community
Know your community
Seed your content
You must be at the heart of your social community: who are your best followers? your key influencers? who else can you connect with for reach?
Listen to your community
Journalism is a conversation
Your audience must be able to connect with you and you must respond. Where can they comment? who replies? when? why should they connect?
Write to be shared
A talking point
What was the last thing you shared? There's lots going on but it comes down to: I endorse that, I like that, I believe in that, I want to be known for that...
Resonates with your audience/makes
them want to share
Tells a story
Shows breaking news situation
Shows emotion
Humorous
Appeal for more video
A small tagline
Encourage your readers to supply video/find UGC video
Encourage reporters to follow more people on Facebook
Join Banter groups and other Facebook groups
Set up arrangements with community. Ie, football, drama, history societies,
people with drones etc
Start doing more call outs for video.
Let readers know in the sell that it’s their content to encourage sharing and
more UGC.
Hashtags
#parisattacks
#prayforparis
#porteouverte
Hashtags organise social media. Know them. Follow them. Use them as a thread to the wider web.
Vine live video
A billion loops
Virility is about shared experiences and quality content can be a moment as much as a package
An iconic image
Facebook viral overlay
Jean Jullien was not seeking fame but the world wants to be united in a time of crisis
Hosting communities
The news organisations role
News organisations are increasingly the place to go - the cafe in a crisis
Reflection
In depth videos and follow on
Eagles of death replay the horror of the event
Informed and
in depthInfographics
Maps charts and graphs in multiple form with new perspectives to explain the story visually
A message
Man pens defiant message
A simple video slideshow with message of defiance goes viral - words brought to life
What is the purpose?
Why social media?
Consider what you and your news organisation want to get out of social media?
What is the challenge?
Steps and blocks
What gets in the way of your social media production? What obstacles are there? In what ways are these unique to exile?
What is social?
Social means what to you
Is social interaction or is it communities and people? Is it distribution or is it more?
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Clare Cook @cecook
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Step by step to building and maintaining organic reach
Trends
Find what is trending and ride the wave
Not one tool will tell you everything for free so use them like unthreading a ball of wool:
Buzzsumo: content research (most shared and trending now), influencers (see key people and links they shared, can add direct to list) and monitoring tabs
Topsy (social search and analytics: eg azerbaijan and oil
Social Mention (gives blogs and influencers)
Hashtagify
Google, Twitter, Facebook trends
Whatthetrend - countries
Hashtags.org - prolific users
Tagboard pulls in from Instagram, Twitter and Facebook
Free trial - https://spike.newswhip.com/welcome
Use suggested hashtags on Instagram re volume
Tweetdeck
Twitter on its own is a poor experience
Twitter lists, control engagement levels, track what people are saying about you officially and unofficially, team collaborate, schedule tweets
Know what times are best for your content with http://tweetwhen.com/
Communities of interest
Find where people are talking about your subjects
Deeper search: Yippy
Forums and bloggers: Boardreader Google + forums Google + communities
Geolocated search
Reddit is major traffic driver : links and posts system of up voting (try https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalVideo or communities https://nu.reddit.com/r/Africa/)
Tumblr - major driver retumbling and hashtags
Pinterest - need pin it on your site if possible
Photo communities: Tineye, Flickr.com/search/advanced
Youtube search - filters cc
Facebook - key word then select : videos, groups etc eg azerbaijan oil rig fire + videos
Know who's who
Find out the key influencers and map the space
It is essential to know who are the key influencers so that you can seed content
Twitter analysis of followers - Tweepi and Twitonomy
Followerwonk for bio search and more
Buzzsumo for key influencers
Simplymeasured for free analysis reports including your top users on Facebook
Klout.com for analysis and recommended experts
Twitter lists to manage
Facebook groups
Profiles and pages
Getting all the team on board
Consider using profiles.
Be clear on the difference between groups, profiles and pages on Facebook.
Avoid empty accounts with nothing on.
Make sure profile and 'about' information cross links to other social accounts
PRODUCING FOR SOCIAL MEDIA
Tips and tools: writing for social, visual storytelling and multimedia in the day to day
Clare Cook @cecook
Clickbait
Add intrigue
Write active not nouns. Simple full phrases. Use hashtags. Questions and intrigue = social media headlines
Listicles
Ten best
Write stories as ten best or six things... They are simple and accessible
Calls to action
Make people want to join
Remember what makes people want to share: they approve, they feel belonging, it resonates. Let them join or do something
Embed users
Let the reader in
Storify lets you pull in content from around the social web. Medium is a fantastic network or writers, and you can share drafts to co-edit. Linkedin Pulse is the place for any business/tips stories. They are all platforms where you can include communities easily. https://tldrify.com/ allows you to tag any piece from the web
Mentions
Connect and seed
@mentions @notifications tag cc on Facebook - push your content discretely into other people's feeds
Deep linking
Hyperlinks
There are two variables with links: the words you select and what you link to (always chose an exact URL)
Avoid error 404
Involve the user
Interactivity is key
Polls, questionnaires, co-editing documents are all great ways to encourage users. Surveymonkey or Google forms for more advanced; Twitter polls within tweets; co-editing Google docs
Create a content calendar
News agenda
Use it to keep track of what is working and which posts are coming up: what will your audience be interested in when? offer sneak previews? what's coming up. Write regularly and include the behind the scenes if it's safe
Images
A small tagline
Galleries in wordpress
Slideshows slidely
Image collages as a teaser with Picmonkey
Edited screengrabs with Awesome screenshot
Snapchats
Make Twitter ready images
Adding a hashtag or message onto the picture adds empathy and makes readers more likely to share it
Moving images
A small tagline
Gifs with gifboom or Giphy
Watch them in a beautiful photo essay
Vine
Meipai
Boomerang on Instagram
Headliner
Audio storytelling
Slate is leading the way in podcasting but a break out audio can bring a story to life
Video storytelling
Social video is 20secs - 2mins. It's more informal
Vine
Youtube Capture
Clips and Tempo
Headliner
Instagram video 15 secs
Put subtitles on videos
Live storytelling
Easy tools to make storytelling live and in the moment
Periscope
Coveritlive
Google hangouts on air
Editor takeovers
Twitter chats - weekly
