All things Engagement

📣 What motivates journalists to engage with their audience? It might not be what you think!

In this week’s Redefining Engagement series, Francesca speaks with Lars K. Jensen, Audience Lead at Berlingske Media, about the importance of cultural shifts in newsrooms.

Lars asks a powerful question: Are reporters being rewarded for engaging with audiences/readers? 🤔

Are they incentivised for it? Lars challenges us to rethink how we appraise their work.

“We need to know our audience in real time.” Are you pouring hours into content that’s just not landing? You’re not alone 😔

In our latest episode of Redefining Engagement, Francesca spoke with the brilliant Andrew Webb about the crucial link between content creation, data, and achieving a real return on investment. 📈

Andrew hit the nail on the head: “The absence of understanding that data is probably what is creating quite a lot of inefficiency.” 💭

He argues that just like any brand advertising campaign, content creation should be viewed through the lens of ROI. What’s the cost of transforming top-of-funnel engagement into tangible outcomes? 💰

If you’re spending countless hours on content that nobody sees, it’s a drain on resources. The solution? “Leverage technology to understand what resonates with your audience in real-time.” 🕗

ℹ️ Defining Engagement… Media brands – Where is the line between informing the public and “hooking” them into the screen? 👀

Is your definition of “engagement” benefiting your readers or just your short term bottom line?

Juan Carlos Lopez Calvet, Director of Data & AI at Schibsted Media, shares a crucial perspective this week: We don’t want engagement for engagement’s sake – we want informed citizens. He discusses the tension between chasing engagement numbers and providing valuable, meaningful content. 💙

📲Engagement shouldn’t be about keeping users glued to the screen, but about providing valuable information that keeps them coming back. 🫰

Schibsted’s approach? A metric that fits a variety of brands’ with different business models – Focusing on the number of days per week a user visits their platforms.

A metric that is positive and intended to add value for the user. Habit over time spent. 🧲

This week on Redefining Engagement, Francesca sits down with Yunus Emre Oruc to dive deep into audience engagement strategies. Yunus, with his extensive experience at Al Jazeera Turk, TRT World, and Middle East Eye, shared some powerful insights. 🏋️

🔑A key takeaway among many? Yunus emphasises that news organisations need a diverse range of perspectives to truly connect with and understand their audiences. This means prioritising fair salaries to attract talent from all backgrounds, not just those who can afford to work for less! 💰

Exceptional journalism alone won’t cut it anymore.

We must understand the “economic mechanisms” and marketing strategies that drive audience engagement and ultimately, sustainability.

Quality content is King, but the value it brings is Queen (and she wears the pants!) 👑➡️🚀

Cyrille Frank really dropped some serious wisdom on what it takes for media outlets to thrive. 🫡

This week on our Redefining Engagement podcast, Francesca chats with Cyrille Frank (in French 🇫🇷), a veteran journalist, and media consultant with a background in advertising. 💪

One of his key points? “The quality of content is indispensable, but it is not enough for the success of a publication or a media outlet. That content has to bring value.”

📣 Is your team rowing in the same direction? 🚣 This week on Redefining Engagement, Francesca sits down with Martin Vodermair.

Not only has Martin been shortlisted as one of the best editors in chief of Germany for his adaptation and implementation work on Dmitry Shishkin’s user needs model! 🤩

OVB24.de also won an INMA Global Media Award for “Best Innovation in Newsroom Transformation”. 🏆

In our interview, Martin discusses the power of a unified vision in media success. 👓

OVB24.de started as a digital first media house and they have had very successful results with their complete change in strategy.

Audience engagement isn’t just a metric; it’s a mindset. 🧠

Joe Cawthorn, Content Strategist at National World highlighted, “if the journalists and the editors don’t buy into the reason WHY they are doing it, then it will just be a box ticked. ‘I’ve sent that newsletter’ or ‘I’ve sent that message’. The journalists require an understanding of why it’s important.”

It’s not enough to simply check the box and say, “We’ve engaged with the audience today.” It’s about deeply understanding WHY we’re engaging, and ensuring that understanding is shared across the entire team.

We can learn so much about community engagement from Bellingcat’s way of working. 🐈‍⬛

Community engagement is central to their mission, empowering individuals to participate in their investigations.

It is clear that their focus is what is best for their community.

♥️What does putting their community at the heart of their work look like in practice?

For their members this means:

– Joining a mission that is clear, exciting and that they know they can be actively part of.
– Being properly welcomed: They receive clear, personalised onboarding to the network and are matched with subjects that align with their interests
– Growing and learning = Get access to upskilling opportunities / fun challenges embarrassing curiosity
– Contributing at their leisures = They don’t expect more of their time than they are willing to give, they want quality time.
– Embracing the community = Having their achievements showcased and different skills celebrated publicly
– Being challenged = through games and activities

🙋Have you asked yourself these questions lately?

🗞️Have you changed your journalism to try to connect better with your audience? If so, how?
🔍Have you worked with your journalists in your newsrooms to change:
– The way that you present stories?
– How you research stories?
– How you distribute them?
🥷What is your purpose/ mission as a brand? What do you want to be known for?
🧑‍💻 Have you done the work to understand what your user needs model should be?
♥️How do you foster loyalty? How do you build trust with your reader?
🫂How do you build that sense of community around your content so that your reader understands what you’re doing?

Your answers to the above questions might change after watching this week’s episode with Jeremy Clifford, who has 35 years experience working in news and is now a media advisor helping businesses on their digital transformation journey. 💪