7 Ways Social Media has Made Journalists Internet Marketers

Last week my class met the Social Media Editor for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Sharif Dunhams.  I was interested in learning what his role was in the newsroom and how extensive his online responsibilities were.  Dunhams divided his job into three parts. He described himself as a reporter, director of their social media efforts and as the person that had to "see what's coming."   Coordinating blogs, the @NewsHub Twitter account and Facebook page for the paper would be enough to fill anyone's day.  

While I was taking in all the aspects of his role at the Journal Sentinel, I realized that what he was talking about could be an Internet Marketing job description for any organization - including political campaigns.  Here are the reasons why... 

1. Web Analytics -  Traffic numbers are important, but knowing how visitors are coming to your site, how often they visit and what they are looking for are fundamental.  80% of the traffic to JSOnline.com are returning visitors and the majority are in the Metro Milwaukee area.  With a strong retention rate, a website can increase the revenue they draw from advertisers.  Today's newspapers need to drive online success to perpetuate their print circulation. Journalists need to know how their website is performing.
2. Research - Marketers use research to make a variety of decisions and to understand their target audience. Investigating a story involves the same research.  The Internet can give you insight into a story, a person of interest or an industry.  By using Twitter, the Journal Sentinel staff were able to identify sources for a social media extortion story that was much deeper than they expected.  
3. Content Management - Journalists continually provide content.  Managing content online is a whole different arena.  Once a story is ready for JSOnline it will have to be published on the site, shared on Facebook, Tweeted to followers, listed on the NewsWatch block, updated as needed and reworked for print. Online marketers have been managing these same elements for new products, sales, events and industry news updates.
4. Expanding Reach - By reach, I mean potential audience or customers. Building a following for a news site or a reporter results in greater reach/more readers. Reporters and social media editors need to interact on Twitter and Facebook to get more people linking to their site.  They also need to find niche markets that they may not have reached yet.  Perhaps Pinterest will help JSOnline gain more female readers that would be interested in the paper's Fashion reports. New social media sites allow journalists to market to new audiences.
5. Affiliate Marketing - One method marketers use to drive sales is by partnering with other websites that focus on industry specific interests.  These partners promote their audience to purchase products or follow a brand. Engaging readers and turning them into advocates is the same powerful tool.  By sharing a story from the Journal Sentinel's Facebook page, readers encourage friends to engage with the paper online.  
6. Experts - Reader retention is built by familiarity with a writer's personality. An engaging journalist's body of work establishes them as an expert in their subject area, beyond their role at a specific news organization.  A faithful following of readers give a journalist the authority and respect that people will turn to when they need to know specific information.  Marketers have to establish themselves as brand spokespeople and knowledgeable experts in their industry to help promote their organizations. Oddly enough, they're generally trying to promote  brands to journalists for story opportunities.
7. Leaders - Innovating within their field, online marketers look to scoop their competition by being first to use the latest technology. Journalists need to have a social media presence in order to actively report and be aware of developing stories. New methods of combining these social media tools are at the forefront of online journalism. The Journal Sentinel incorporated Storify to cover a local accident, putting them ahead of the curve in reporting.

The fact that he always had something to do because non-breaking stories should always be in development struck a chord with me.  There really is no such thing as a bad news day.  Many thanks to Sharif Durhams!!