branding for journalists

Mandy Jenkins @mjenkins Toronto NewsTrain #TORbrands

Journalism, Branding & Social Media

Crafting Your Brand •  Define yourself before others do •  Show off your best work •  Make yourself/your newsroom easy to

contact

Don't Be This Guy

Define Your Persona

8 Rules of Social Journalism

1. Respond to replies, comments and questions (especially questions) everywhere

2. Be transparent in all you do 3. Ask for help when you need it 4. Be thankful

8 Rules of Social Journalism

5. Make corrections quickly and publicly

6. Address criticism without spats

7. Be consistent 8. Don't just push your content out,

share other links too

Questions for News Brands •  Who is my audience?

•  What do they want?

•  When is my audience online?

•  What sort of tone is right for my audience?

Who manages social media?

When do we update?

Twitter for Journalists

Tips for Reporters

•  Post links w/ comment or question, not headline

•  Monitor the people you cover •  Crowdsource stories by asking for info •  Quickly find witnesses, info with search •  Live report from the scene of a news

event •  Show your work

RT News & Photos

Ask For Tips

Target & mention big names

Twitter Chats

Build Twitter Lists

Lists to build: •  Sources •  Others reporting on your

beat •  Coworkers

Make sense of incoming tweets

It's All About Who You Follow

Who you should follow

• Your competitors (& bloggers too) • People in your field of interest/beat • Popular people in your local/topical

Twittersphere • Those who reply to you • Those who re-tweet, share your links

Finding who to follow

• By subject/location: Twellow.com, Wefollow.com

• Muckrack.com (for finding journalists)

• Look at others’ follows/followers • Spy on Twitter lists • Listorious.com

Brands Behaving Badly

Brands Behaving Badly

Journalists on Facebook

Profiles

•  One place to manage everything

•  Control your privacy •  Timeline design with

large image •  Could mix personal/

professional

Pages

•  Completely separate presence from profile

•  Completely public •  Timeline design with

large image •  Detailed analytics to

see who visits

Going Public On Facebook

• Turn on Subscriptions: Anyone can read your public posts

• Set up a vanity url at facebook.com/username

•  Add your job history and a snappy bio to About section (and make it public)

Build Friends Lists facebook.com/bookmarks/lists

Build Interests Lists facebook.com/bookmarks/lists

Target updates

Custom Privacy Settings

Customize Who Sees Photos

Everyone Sees It Differently

Create An Engaging Presence

Take advantage of timeline with photos, milestones and videos

Whatever You 'Like' •  What would you share on Facebook?

•  Ask questions, feature the responses in stories

•  During news, you can't overpost

•  Photos and videos work well

Tell Your Story Here

Tell Your Story Here

Wording Matters • Posed Questions +64% • Call to read or take a closer look +37%

• Personal reflections +25% • Clever, catchy tone +18%

% more feedback over average Source: Facebook

Images Matter

Monitoring Success

Metrics That Matter

•  How many story ideas were inspired by what you read on social media?

•  How many sources did you find on social media?

•  How many times did people share or retweet your message?

•  How many sites/blogs linked to you?

Track Your Followers Over Time

Twittercounter.com

Track Your Performance

Klout.com

Tweet at the Right Time

Crowdbooster.com

Bitly: Measure Click-Thrus

How are readers finding it?

Set up your alerts

google.com/alerts Eliminate results from your company site: "first last" -yoursiteurl.com

Mandy Jenkins

mjenkins@digitalfirstmedia.com @mjenkins

Blog: Zombiejournalism.com These slides & more at

slideshare.net/mandyjenkins

THANKS!

Presentation Element Credits •  Deborah Petersen, @deborapertsen •  Kevin Sablan, @ksablan