Seattle Times Social Media PlanSocial Media Technologies & Implementation Certificate

Social Media in BusinessBill Higbee Laura Williams Hayat Nierenberg Linda Jacobson

June 7, 2011

“The old newspaper model is dying… It’s a collision of two worlds and this new world wants to crack it all open.”

Bruce Hedlam, Media Desk Editor – New York Times

http://www.youtube.com/v/ajfeAXg9fTk

AgendaProject Requirements and Team Challenges Social Media Model – OGSTFacebookMobile Social MediaNext StepsSummary and Parting ThoughtsBack Up & Supporting Documentation

Project RequirementsRecommendations to help with social media efforts - Specific to Traffic

Challenges for Seattle Times: Changing with the industry Maintain Quality - Trustworthy and knowledgeable source of news

information Limited Resources

Challenges for UWSMC Team: Narrow scope of project to deliver tangible benefit to Seattle Times Vast Social Media presence that is currently successful

Total Monthly Traffic = 1.72M* 10% Target = 172k from Social Media Resources*

*Seattle Times –Competitive Analysis

Social Media Model - OGST

Tactics

Facebook: Compare against industry / regional leaders for best practices and innovative activities

Mobile Solutions: Compare against industry / regional leaders for best practices and innovative activities

Strategies

Conduct a comparative score-card against the competition and provide recommendations for improvement

Optimize current social media usage to generate more traffic while not suffering engagement

GoalsObtain 10% of internet presence traffic from Social Media

Objectives

Achieve Seattle Times revenue, profitability, and growth goals while embracing the internet’s impact to the newspaper industry

Facebook IntegrationAnalysis of Newspapers and Their Utilization of Facebook

I love your paper! Now I want to Like you, too… But how?

•Links to Seattle Times social media sites are nearly impossible to find.

•It’s easy to spot how to follow the New York Times on different social media sources.

?

The Bivings Group of the Facebook presence of the 100 newspapers in the US with the largest print circulation.

How well are U.S. Newspapers

Using Facebook?

… And the Seattle Times?6,207 Fans 6 likes per Facebook post* 4.4 average number of

comments per link*Well below the average

*Average of last 10 Seattle Times Facebook posts

Competitors Best PracticesNewspaper Social Fact Highlights Best Practices

Washington Post Top of List – Effective audience engagement

Averages 41 likes and 55 comments for every post on it’s fan page wall

• Two custom tabs (Capital Hill & Stories)• Editors HootSuite to schedule posts

The Chicago Tribune Ranked 9th in the US in terms of circulation, but is #2 for Facebook engagement

• Custom Welcome landing page• Specific FB newspaper sub sections pages• Active Discussion tab

The Arizona Republic

The Arizona republic is ranked 3rd on this list despite having a 40% lower circulation than the first-ranked Washington Post.

• Collaboration with AZcentral.com

San Jose Mercury News

8th in circulation within the US, but 5th on this list due to its consistently active Facebook fans.

• The fan page will feature simple status updates (sans links) • Variety in fan communication (Ask the readers questions or just wish them a good morning)

Newspaper Success Strategies for Facebook

RecommendationsMake it easy to find!

Accessible from Seattle Times homepage – Users shouldn’t have to hunt to find a link!

Provide a listing of all fan pages associated with the Seattle Times Opinion, Sports, Subscription… If we didn’t know they existed, how

is anybody else going to find them?Keep up the current pace of postings

Topics should be discussable; leave breaking news to other Social Media streams

Audit the information on the pageRemove dead links or pages that have not been tended to

Sweepstakes, FBML and Polls/Quizzes lead to… Nothing. Photos & Video lead to minimal content

News Apps for Mobile Phones

Mobile News App Analysis

“Mobile Web users expect you to be there. Empower them with information, and they’ll talk about how great your company is. Don’t, and they’ll tell their friends you don’t have a clue.”

Josh Bernoff & Ted Schader, empowered

The Good NewsConsumption of News via mobile apps, especially local news, is growing.•Nearly half of Americans are using their cellphones and tablet computers to get local news and information•The Millennial age group (born between 1977 and 1994) are particularly strong app users: they are almost twice as likely as the average adult to have read a magazine via an app and 73% more likely to have read a newspaper via an app in the last 30 days.

Brand Building OpportunityMobile News apps and in-depth enterprise or

investigative-reporting packages build the Seattle Times brand by demonstrating innovation, progressiveness and leadership

Apps are a great way to “hook” target audience and cross-promote, drive audience to other Seattle Times ‘destinations’ and connect with Facebook, Twitter, Web site.

News apps meet the needs of a growing segment

Best PracticesExamples of best practices

LA Times Hollywood Star Walk, Festival of BooksNew York Times The Scoop: NYC App for iPhone (A guide to

New York City from the staff of The New York Times featuring their favorite restaurants, bars, events and experiences), The New York Times Crosswords, The New York Times Sudoku, Learning English With The New York Times

The Philadelphia Inquirer Phrequency for iPhone and Android (Philly-centric music, food, art, style, and nightlife)

The Seattle Times Husky Football

RecommendationsPush the envelope, leverage new technology and create

innovative, progressive ways to interact with the news via mobile apps or Web sites (such as News.Me, The Daily)People are using their phone to check weather, sports

scores, to find local restaurants, business, coupons, traffic conditions or public transportation, local community info

Promote your niche apps (such as Husky Football and Husky Basketball)Make them discoverable

Summary & Parting Thoughts

Key Takeaways for Seattle TimesResearch, Resource & Rev Your Engines

Audit your contentDedicate time to develop your plan and goalsBe persistent. Be patient.

It Takes A VillageWatch social and learn from best practicesIt isn’t social without everyone – everyone needs to be part

of the solutionTrain staff and incorporate social into everything you do

Shout it from the rafters! Share your social feeds with the world!

ReferencesBackup and Supporting Documentation

Braun, J., Hand, D., Novack, K., Oxman, A. & Schlesinger, A. (Producers). Rossi, A. (Director). (2011). Page One: Inside the New York Times [motion picture]. United States: Magnolia Pictures & Participant Media

Goldman, Alla. (2010, Dec 17). 2010 Best US Newspaper Facebook Fan Pages. Retrieved from: http://www.bivingsreport.com/2010/2010-best-us-newspaper-facebook-fan-pages/

Forrester Research. (2009, Q4). [Graph illustration of mobile web activities of cellphone/smartphone users]. North American Technographics Empowerment Online Survey. Retrieved from: http://www.forrester.com/empowered/images/figure_5-1.gif

Purcell, K., Rainie, L., Rosentiel, T. & Mitchell, A. (2011, Mar 14). How mobile devices are changing community information environments. Retrieved from: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Local-mobile-news/Part-1/Local-news-apps.aspx

Bernoff, J. & Schadler, T. (2010, Sept 14). Empowered. Harvard, MA: The Harvard Press

Local App Users are not more interested in news but they use technology more avidly