Want to call-out regularly to your audience but not sure where to start? Here are 5 suggestions to get you ready for June.
🗣️ 5 engaging ideas to get the conversation going with readers ready for World Blood Donor Day (14th June) 🌍🫀
From story sharing, questions answered, to photos & videos. Match these up with some interesting facts and you have an fully engaging story of stories. Here are some suggestions:
Calling all blood donors and receivers! Are you a blood donor / receiver? Please share why you donate or the impact it has had on your life! We might just motivate others to do the same. We want to hear what inspired you and the impact it's had.
Your questions on blood donation, answered.
Share your story and photo of giving blood.
Do you think it should be a requirement to give blood? Let’s discuss.
Send Photos and Stories of Your Blood Donor Hero! This World Blood Donor Day, let's celebrate the incredible people who selflessly donate. How has it changed your life? Who inspires you? Give them a shout-out!
P.S. You could even include a poll and explain their point of view: Would you give blood? Have you given blood?
What to consider to help everything go smoothly:
Barrier to entry: If you ask readers to share photos, they might not have any, keep the option open to share a written response too.
Terms and conditions: Do not forget to include a checkbox, or T&C sign up with the right ‘Terms and Conditions’ which allow you to use the content and process your readers' data.
GDPR (Europe): Make sure you say what you will do with their data and if you can contact them - email for example: ‘This will only be used if the journalists want to follow up to find out more. (Check box: Do you agree to be contacted by a journalist?)’ - If asking for content about someone else, don’t forget to ask if they have permission to share their nominees’ details.
Modelling: No one likes to be the first to share. If you want to increase quality and quantity, seed your gallery with some great examples from your team.
Why would I want to do this?
👂 Inviting readers to share helps them feel heard, respected and builds trust with your news brand.
👯 You might just get some amazing stories you would have never had access to.
🫶 Readers are more loyal when they have been published on a news brands page, and are more likely to share.
✨ When you engage with readers regularly, you build up your teams capacity and this means you can create magic when big news events happen, ie. Another ‘Covid’, breaking news, weather disasters.
♾️ Reader habits are built through regular engagement.
A real example from the Netherlands:
From a hyperlocal newsroom in The Netherlands - Noord Holland Dagblad:
Readers talk about their local doctors for World GP Day - 135 fantastic stories resulting in 5 great articles.
We love that all the content is shared, not just the best, meaning no engagement is lost and all readers feel valued, creating more trust and relevance.