All things Engagement

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. 💪

What is important when it comes to audience engagement?

This week’s Redefining Engagement guest, Gwyn Nissen, editor-in-chief of Der Nordschleswiger, a media brand for the German minority in the southern part of Denmark, reminds us that engagement is being close to your audience, understanding their needs and how they can actually benefit from engaging.

Often when we think of engagement, we think about what we can have and not so much what the audience actually gets by contributing and engaging with us.

🔊 Are you looking at audience engagement as clicks, time on page or app downloads?

We forget how our articles can impact the reader. It’s about more than just numbers. 🔢

Sophie Van Oostvoorn, former editor-in-chief of C.Tru, challenges this perception in our latest Redefining Engagement chat. She shares invaluable insights on how newsrooms can move beyond the metrics to create real connections with their audience. 🪴

How do you truly connect with your readers in a meaningful way? We sat down with Johannes Niemeläinen, Data Manager at Keskisuomalainen Group (Finland’s largest regional publisher), to explore this crucial question.

Johannes brings a unique perspective, blending traditional newsroom experience with a data-driven approach.

“Now is the time to really invest in bonding with your audience and trust, because, well, if you can find the answer anywhere without going to the source, maybe loyalty is the only way.”

We speak with Gerson Veenstra, Editor-in-Chief Online Team and Interaction Manager at EenVandaag, a Dutch news show reaching over 800,000 viewers daily.

Gerson’s journey is nothing short of inspiring; transforming their approach to media audience engagement from a small experiment into a fully-fledged interaction team showcasing how embracing a human-centric approach, even on a large scale, can lead to phenomenal results.

“We shouldn’t target everybody with an engagement policy…We should pick the engaged or the possible engaged users.” Bence Arany, Founder of Mindset Pszichológia, drops truth bombs about audience engagement in this episode of Redefining Engagement.

The evolving mission of journalism – “I think to me it’s about expanding what is the usual definition of the mission of journalism that we are used to.”

This week on Redefining Engagement, we had a fascinating conversation with Mattia Peretti, Knight Fellow with ICFJ, about rethinking audience engagement in journalism. Mattia challenges the conventional metrics-driven approach, urging a shift towards a more ethical and impactful model and his approach was truly thought provoking.

He proposes that journalism should not only inform but also empower audiences to take action and participate in shaping their communities.

Our special guest, Jem Collins, Director of Journo Resources, reveals how their unique approach to audience engagement fosters deep connection and sustainable growth. The JournoResource audience divulges that they believe in the brand, who they are and what they stand for.

Discover how they co-create, prioritise user experience, and close the feedback loop to build a loyal community.

Happy Halloween everyone. What is your biggest fear?

Kevin Walsh, Editor-in-Chief of Denmark’s Nordjyske, joins Redefining Engagement this week. In Kevin’s words: “What I fear the most: How far does it go before people actually understand how important journalism is. How far do we need to go? Do a lot of new brands need to die before people actually see that it’s important? Hopefully we can survive by rebranding.”