Audience Engagement Archives | Page 7 of 10

Four Growth Strategies Media Companies Are Prioritizing Right Now

Third-party cookies are slowly disappearing from the internet. As a result, media companies are in a race against time to find and execute new strategies to collect user data.

Gathering first-party data, user information that’s collected directly on a website consensually, has become essential for businesses everywhere.

“First-party data is going to be very effective — it already is — in helping marketers target in different ways,” states New York Times’ CEO, Meredith Kopit Levien.

Media companies can use this data to peer into their visitors’ habits and preferences, which is valuable knowledge that can enhance their platforms and content.

This information is key to securing new revenue streams and long-term loyalty from digital community members.

In pursuit of company growth and first-party user data, here’s what media companies across all industries have been focusing on recently.

Enabling Conversation Within Online Communities

Social tools that allow website visitors to participate in discussions carry a series of benefits for businesses. Not only do they encourage human connections to form around a brand, but they also persuade consumers to develop loyal habits.

Together, these qualities can transform ordinary consumers into dedicated brand advocates, who rely on your media brand for entertainment or news.

PinkNews, a publisher focused on producing LGBT+ content, is one of many media companies planning to implement commenting on their platform. The digital publication will be reserving commenting for its members to elevate premium experiences.

Media companies like the Daily Hive and Reach plc have also recently implemented new social tools to enhance user experiences and attract subscribers.

But commenting widgets also have another benefit: they collect precious first-party user data.

By logging in to use a conversation widget, visitors offer up information on their identity and visibility into what they’re engaging with online. These insights can improve your website’s appeal to advertisers and help you better understand and retain community members.

Producing Virtual Events

While the pandemic has accelerated the push to digital, virtual events are proving to be profitable alternatives to in-person ones.

Business Insider, for instance, has already increased the number of events it’s run in 2020 compared to 2019. Plus, the media company has multiplied its events revenue by eight over the past year.

Business Insider credits its growth to the less demanding nature of virtual events — in terms of planning and execution — and the multiple ways in which they can be monetized.

The Financial Times is also prioritizing virtual events as a way to extract information on new audiences.

According to Orson Francescone, managing director of FT Live, “of the 52,000 people we had attending [one of our events], about 75% were completely new to us.”

New audiences like this can be assessed based on their interests and engagements during events and targeted with subscription offers using their behavior data.

Building Stronger Relationships With Consumers

Now that subscription revenue is a primary revenue stream for most media companies, forging resilient relationships with consumers has become central to growth strategies.

Just look at Spanish publisher Eldiario.es.

Eldiario.es continues to strengthen its relationship with readers by taking the time to listen to and serve community members. That’s why the company saw hundreds of consumers volunteer to pay more than they had to for a membership fee to offer support during the pandemic.

María Ramírez, the media company’s head of strategy, explains that “listening to your audience, answering the phone, owning your mistakes, responding to complaints pays in the long run for any newspaper with a reader revenue model.”

One way to listen to your audience is simply to dig into your data to find out what types of content are earning the most amount of engagement. That way, you can refine your company’s editorial plan to better suit your audience’s interests.

Personalizing Consumer Experiences

Many companies that already have effective processes in place to collect user data are now focused on extracting valuable insights on audience interests and habits. After all, insights on user behavior can help personalize consumer experiences to keep digital visitors coming back.

Personalization has particularly become a major focus for media companies covering political election cycles. For instance, NBC News is targeting consumers with content and alerts specific to their location for the U.S. election.

Whether you choose to personalize a visitor’s mobile alerts or their content feed, customization can improve how much consumers care about media brands.

“If you focus on the customer [enough], you find ways of developing something that means something to them,” explains Claire MacLellon, the COO of Future plc.

Ultimately, using first-party data to create meaningful experiences and connections is necessary to grow subscription numbers and retain existing community members.

Moderation in a Time of Unprecedented Change Panel Discussion

On August 20th, Mike Blinder (Owner & Publisher, Editor and Publisher Magazine) was joined in conversation by Leigh Adams (Director of Moderation Services, Viafoura) and Dustin Block (Audience Development Lead, Graham Media) to discuss the importance of moderation in an increasingly online world.

A Changing Landscape

Our three experts shared dialogue and exchanged stories over how the move into a more digital world, where millions of people are working from home and looking online for news has elevated the importance of community engagement and moderation.

“[We’ve] moved into a digital world, Covid brought millions of people home either through unemployment or job loss or through remote work…people are online more than ever before..forcing these important conversations to happen in this digital space” – Leigh Adams, Director Moderation Services, Viafoura.

With hot button issues such as coronavirus, social injustices, and political tension all taking over the zeitgeist, it sets the perfect storm for trolls to spread misinformation and cause unrest.

“It makes a perfect storm for trolls because this is exactly the kind of inflammatory conversations they want to be involved in. They want to prey on the misinformed, they want to prey on people’s insecurities – make them more afraid. And media brands simply can’t afford to walk away from the comments anymore.” – Leigh Adams

Dealing with these digital trolls has become an essential part of any online publication. Media brands can no longer afford to ignore these issues as it isn’t uncommon for advertisers to walk away due to not wanting to be associated with the content found within a comments section. It’s also been shown that having a more welcoming, engaging comment space is more likely to grow your loyal audience. These loyal users are looking for a place to engage with others and are far more likely to return, watch videos, or click on advertisements.

“From an audience development perspective… that loyal audience, these registered users, they vastly outperform our anonymous audience. I spend a lot of time creating features for this registered audience. They watch video more often, they click ads more often, the come back to site the more often…and one of the main features that this group does is comment” – Dustin Block, Audience Development Lead, Graham Media

Making Your Digital Properties Brand Safe

The panel agreed that artificial intelligence moderation can cut a lot of spam and obviously toxic comments down, however, should be supplemented with some human intervention. People are clever and can find ways around scripted filters.

“It’ a marvel at how clever people can be about getting some sort of offensive or off-topic remark to be included” – Dustin Block, Graham Media

Instead, the best practice is to leverage some sort of automation, to cut down the volume of comments, in conjunction with a moderation team who are following externalized guidelines that remove the risk of bias while creating a safe space where anyone would feel comfortable engaging with others.

“If you’ve externalized your brand guidelines, you’ve said this is what we want our comments to be, these are the type of comments that we do want, these are the type of comments we do not want. And you’ve codified them and shared them in a way that’s outside the journalist’s hands, I think that’s going to make for much more effective moderation.” – Leigh Adams, Viafoura

Media companies also shouldn’t fear disciplining their users. For a long time, there’s been a fear that removing comments or banning users would hurt your audience members. The truth however is that someone who leaves hundreds of disruptive, antagonistic comments isn’t going to be a valuable member of your community and is more likely to turn others away from engaging themselves. There’s no freedom of speech within the private sphere, and that includes web forums. Those who aren’t following your brand’s community guidelines should be swiftly dealt with.

That being said, it is important to not penalize the misinformed. Let natural conversations happen, a healthy discussion or debate in the comments section can help expose people to new information. The healthiest online communities are the ones where loyal users respond to the potential trolls and challenge their claims with facts and an open dialogue.

“I work with our Trust Index which is a team that works on misinformation. Responding with links to articles to galvanize the community to counter bad information. – Dustin, Graham Media

One of the challenges of human moderation that the panel discussed was constantly learning new language. It’s important to know what people are talking about, the common terms being used, and what each acronym means.

“We’re applying [these learnings] across all of our clients and we’re making sure that’s [being shared out] not just the brand we’re noticing it on but all of our teams” -Leigh

Moderators should be trained not only on language but also on elevating the positive rather than just removing the negative. Viafoura’s “Editor’s Picks” tool of highlighting particularly excellent comments was mentioned as an example of how to reward positive contributions from your community. It’s also important that moderators and journalists who are responding to comments know the boundaries of their community guidelines and can keep an informative tone and avoid sarcasm or dismissive language while responding.

Making Journalism Better With User Generated Content

Part of the public service job of journalism is to educate people, and community moderation fits into that bubble as well. While it can at times feel exhausting reading hate speech in the comments section, it was pointed out that most moderators realise they’re making the digital world better for others with this work. If a moderator has to read a hateful comment so that hundreds of others don’t, it helps protect marginalized people from being hurt further and find comfort in a safer online space.

Lastly, the panel was eager to point out how good moderation can grow your community and ultimately help journalists find better stories. One excellent example was given of a commenter who pointed out that the cars involved in a road accident were actually $250,000 luxury vehicles which put a whole new spin on the story.

“I love comments for many reasons one: it’s just a place to talk to your audience. And they’ll share so much through those comments…you can make your reporting better, and you can better inform your audience just by engaging.” Dustin Block, Graham Media

In general, there’s a higher quality of discussion to be found on your own website over social platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Companies should look to stop relying on these larger platforms for engagement and instead look to bring users into their own community and give them a positive experience where they’re more likely to subscribe, click ads, and interact with others.

Engagement is the future of journalism. Gone are the days of reporters simply talking at their audience, and now an open dialogue between the organization and its community is the expected norm. In this unprecedented shift into an increasingly online landscape, quality moderation is essential for those looking to grow their communities and become a landing spot for those looking to discuss, analyze, and share online.

How Advertising Is Changing for Media Brands

Throughout the past few months, the media industry has faced a number of advertising-related challenges. As advertisers slashed marketing budgets and started blocking important keywords during the pandemic, businesses watched their ad revenue drop.

But advertising is still alive and well and, as long as brands can make a few simple changes, it will continue to be a part of the future for media companies.

“[Advertising] is an industry that is constantly talking about wanting to transform itself, but that is also constantly sticking to very traditional approaches,” explains Marcelo Pascao, the marketing VP for Coors beer. “Old habits die hard, but people are being forced out of necessity to adapt faster.”

To maintain revenue earnings and brand integrity as we venture through the new normal, the relationship between media brands and advertising is evolving. Here’s how:

Consumer Engagement Has Become Mandatory

There’s more to a digital community than just the number of clicks and views on a page.

The level of consumer engagement around a brand’s content now plays a significant role in producing a high-value environment for advertisers.

According to Chris Waiting, CEO of The Conversation, “today advertising value is measured by engagement so if publishers want to improve their ad offering, they must devise a successful engagement strategy first.”

Condé Nast also created a new metric in partnership with Deloitte that measures consumer engagement, brand influence, content quality and overall trust levels. A Condé Nast representative explained how these details could showcase the appeal of running ads on a highly engaging and trusted platform.

By hosting ads within engaging digital spaces, media companies can ultimately assure advertisers that active audience members will see their content.

Positive News Is Pulling Advertisers Back In

Many media companies have been covering major news stories related to the pandemic and social justice regularly — two topics that advertisers are wary of.

So how can businesses stop advertisers from pulling their ads while keeping consumers informed on these critical issues?

Some publishers are creating content that takes on a positive or encouraging angle to rope advertisers back in. For example, TIME focused some of its content on individuals who were recovering from COVID-19 and earned a significant amount of related sponsorship revenue.

“There’s neutral and positive-sentiment news around coronavirus that’s a perfectly reasonable place to advertise,” says Joe Barone, brand safety manager for media marketing firm GroupM.

Social Media Is Becoming Less of a Focus

Social media has triggered a series of hurdles for advertisers: misinformation, trolls and an overall lack of control over their content.

To top it all off, advertisers are noticing that social media platforms value profit over brand safety. Facebook in particular has introduced ad spots for in-stream videos, which could theoretically run alongside misinformation and offensive content.

“They’re prioritizing maximizing inventory at the expense of making it brand-safe,” states Erica Patrick, MediaHub’s VP of paid social. “You shouldn’t have to make a giant investment to get into brand-safe content.”

Media companies have already started pulling ad dollars out of Facebook, and will likely continue the trend as little has been done to rectify these issues. As a result, companies are now prioritizing their own digital properties to run advertisements.

Diversifying Revenue Streams Is Essential

Although advertising powered the media industry in the past, it is no longer stable or strong enough to sustain an entire media company.

Businesses have started looking at a wide variety of revenue sources to maximize their profits. This involves stepping beyond the boundaries of advertising to monetize membership programs, user data and events.

For instance, Future plc has managed to thrive amid the volatile economy by expanding its revenue streams. The media group predicts that it will finish the year off with an impressive $110 million in profit.

“The shift towards subscriptions and other diverse revenue sources is only set to grow, accelerated in part by the pandemic,” says Richard Reeves, managing director for the Association of Publishers. “The publishers that adapt to this change will be the ones that have the most to gain when the storm passes.”

The dependency on advertising revenue is certainly shrinking throughout the media industry. But having a healthy flow of ad revenue is still important.

By embracing change, media companies are re-establishing themselves as reliable — yet self-sustaining — partners in advertising.

Announcing Viafoura’s New Performance-Based Pricing Plan — No License Fees. No Overage Fees. No-Brainer.

Interested in joining a growing list of publishers — like Reach PLC, Tribune Publishing, Postmedia and Media News Group — who are leveraging Viafoura’s new performance-based pricing plan to scale their community engagement strategies?

Good news for publishers and media companies everywhere: Viafoura is now offering its entire audience engagement and community-building platform free of charge through an ad-supported pricing model.

“Media companies are quickly realizing that the key to sustainability is creating a highly engaged, loyal community,” says Jesse Moeinifar, Founder and CEO of Viafoura.

Unfortunately, many available community-building solutions are either expensive, require huge amounts of internal effort or are low quality. But now you can have the best of all worlds.

“Our ad-supported revenue model offers all media companies equal access to the tools and services they need to build a profitable community, regardless of their financial resources,” Moeinifar adds.

This means that companies are now able to build and monetize an active community online by hosting ads and subscription offers within Viafoura’s widgets.

Rather than having to pay a recurring license fee, our new pricing model is powered by revenue earned through ads and offers running on Viafoura’s tools. Companies can then reap the rewards of their engaged communities — including more subscriptions, long-term loyalty and new incremental revenue.

Customers using our platform saw a 44% increase in comments, 34% increase in average session length and 38% increase in total on-site engagement.

And that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Explore how Viafoura’s ad-supported pricing plan can benefit your business below.

Flexible Advertising

With advertisers gradually increasing their budgets as restrictions around the pandemic ease up, it’s the perfect time to optimize your ad spaces for engagement.

Viafoura offers a wide range of flexible advertising opportunities to satisfy all of your ad-related needs.

For example, you can choose which of our widgets run advertisements, select ad positions and set ad frequency:

We also give you the option to work with our brand-safe, premium advertising partners to maximize CPM/eCPM rates. Alternatively, you can use your own ad-serving platform.

Finally, you have the freedom to define your blacklists and run any of your in-house or third-party ads and offers.

Maximize Engagement With Your Ads

Research has proven that digital social spaces attract active community members.

Since we embed advertisements right into social spaces, media companies like yours can expect a high level of engagement with their ads. Companies that have implemented our ad-supported model have seen a 3-5x increase in click-through rates (CTRs), over 80% viewability of ads and significant gains in overall ad performance.

“It’s a way to isolate your most engaged audience and put ads in front of them,” says Dan Seaman, VP of product at Viafoura.

Take your community’s experience with your business to the next level using first-party data from our engagement tools. Simply gather insights from your community’s engagement data to target ads and content to consumers based on their behavior and interests.

Ultimately, our ad-supported revenue model is a way for you to build and monetize a thriving community of loyal brand advocates… all without straining your budget.

Interested in joining a growing list of publishers — like Reach PLC, Tribune Publishing, Postmedia and Media News Group — who are leveraging Viafoura’s new performance-based model to scale their community engagement strategies?

Get in touch with us here to find out if our ad-supported pricing plan is right for your business.

Publishers Have Power to Amplify Voices in the Black Lives Matter Movement

Racism has existed for centuries, and it’ll take the combined forces of thousands to scrub society of its ignorance and prejudices. But change won’t happen unless we all make an effort to take action.

For media companies, this means paying attention to minority community members and helping to educate audiences on social justice and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.

It’s also in your company’s best interest to lend your support to black people. After all, there’s a clear connection between satisfying your digital community and long-term success.

“At the core of a successful news business is listening and serving your community of readers — especially those whose voices are often underrepresented in the mainstream conversation,” says Anika Anand, programming director at the Local Independent Online News Publishers association.

Media companies can better serve black community members by helping to amplify their voices. To get started, here are a few creative ways that will help you turn your brand into a supportive resource for black people in the battle against racism.

Invite Your Community Into the Conversation

You can prompt meaningful discussions from your company’s audience around fighting racism through organized live chats. Not only can these live conversations help media companies educate fellow community members on racism, but they also encourage those who have experienced racism to cut through their silence and speak up.

“The system of this [racist] web that surrounds all of us is reinforced by silence,” Beverly Tatum, a psychologist, tells CTV News. “So you have to speak up against it in the places where you are.”

Incorporating live chat into your company’s website or app will give visitors the ability to have a voice as users encourage each other to share their views.

In some cases, you may wish to leverage the help of role models in the black community and even your journalists to drive discussions within your community.

Feature Content Written By Black People

Just because objectivity is valued in the media doesn’t mean your company can’t showcase the experiences of marginalized communities and encourage social change.

Some media companies are taking steps to present personal experience articles, written by black individuals.

People, for example, ran a series of personal essays from black perspectives on racism right on its website.

Since these pieces were written by people who have experienced racism directly, they’re all the more powerful in promoting equality.

Showcase Powerful Communications Between Visitors

As reliable content sources with hundreds and thousands of followers, there’s value in offering visibility into the raw, unedited voices of black people.

One simple way to achieve this is by offering up your digital properties to comments from your audience members. That way, any content you produce relevant to the BLM movement will allow consumers to share their own opinions and experiences with racism right on your properties.

You can then collect groups of user-generated comments that address similar issues, and showcase them in an article.

In a recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, 74% of respondents suggest that “bringing people of different racial backgrounds together to talk about race… [is an] effective [tactic] for groups and organizations that work to help black people achieve equality.”

Be cautious of trolls, though. Keep offensive and racist commenters off of your platform to encourage a constant stream of civil conversation in your community. You can ward off trolls by ensuring your community guidelines are up to date and that you have a proper moderation solution running.

Share Protest Updates in Real Time

It’s been several weeks since George Floyd was killed by a police officer, and protests advocating for equality continue to take place.

With 83% of young adults following this news, there’s a clear appetite for information about the ongoing protests against racism. However, so much of this news gets twisted on social media by trolls, public figures and individuals who are simply misinformed.

Now, publishers have the chance to host live blogs on their websites to create trusted hubs of information around the protests. These pages can be used to feature accurate updates, interviews with protesters, and related thoughts from black role models.

Black lives matter — so highlight the black voices that you have access to right on your digital properties. That way, your media company can become a center for anti-racism that supports and is supported by the many voices of its community.

The Importance of Engaging Sports Fans Online in a World Without In-Person Audiences

In a world where people can no longer attend in-person games, the value of online engagement is growing for sports fans.

The world is slowly but surely crawling out of its isolation from the pandemic. While some countries are easing lockdowns faster than others, one thing’s for certain: sports competitions are finally returning… just not in the way most people are used to.

In most cases, fans won’t be allowed to watch any games in person. It’s for our safety, of course. But this leaves sports media companies in a strange place. They’ll be able to share sports events and related news online; however, driving loyalty and excitement among fans may continue to be a struggle.

For this reason, Reach PLC — a U.K.-based media company — has chosen to use Viafoura’s live community chat tool to engage their loyal football fan base. In lieu of live football, they have pivoted to using the tool to engage their audience in past events and anticipation of the season rebeginning. Once the season begins, it will provide a great avenue for fans to interact with each other with the absence of in-person audiences.

“We are delighted to be in partnership with Viafoura in order to enter this brand — and brave — new world of building deeper relationships with our readers,” says the head of audience engagement for football at Reach, Kristian Walsh.

In a world where people can no longer attend in-person games, the value of online engagement is growing. Here’s why Reach is using our live chat tool to hook sports fans and build a community of loyal supporters around its brands.

Fans Crave Engagement Around Sports

As professionals in the sports media industry, you’ve probably seen how starved of engagement sports fans are right now.

“There is no bigger gateway to a passionate, opinionated audience than sport,” states Walsh.

The Chicago Bears American football team even came across a fan who claimed they would start a hunger strike if football was still banned by the fall. Thankfully, football is now on track to resume in certain countries in the coming weeks.

So what does all this mean for sports media companies?

“Sports are coming back, and audiences are going to want to participate more than ever because they’re so hungry for sports,” says Alex Lea, Senior Account Executive at Viafoura. “Our community chat tool allows them to have a forum to communicate even if they can’t interact live in arenas.”

By giving fans an outlet to interact together online, companies can help satisfy their need to engage with the sports world and build strong connections to others with similar interests.

Reaching the Community Through Live Chat

Before partnering with Viafoura, Reach had a large number of anonymous and loyal readers that would visit their sports brands over 20 times a month. But there wasn’t an effective way for the publisher to convert this traffic to registered users.

Viafoura’s community chat tool offered Reach’s sports brands a solution: Fans can register to interact with others in real time around special online events. As a result, Reach can collect critical details on its most active audience members and continue to build up their loyalty.

“It allows us to chat with those who have been so loyal to us for years,” Walsh explains. “We have always listened to them via audience data, but now we can interact with them one-on-one on this platform.”

Media companies have an opportunity now to engage audience members through live chat tools and drive registrations on their websites or apps. These registration details can be used to send content offers to highly active audience members and boost subscriptions.

Discussing Milestones, Industry Updates and Players

Two of Reach’s brands have already used our community chat tool to host interactive events on major sports milestones and events within their digital properties.

Liverpool Echo, for instance, ran a live Q&A for registrants with a Liverpool Football Club correspondent.

Audience members had the chance to discuss their memories and questions from a monumental game where Liverpool defeated Barcelona four to zero:

Another Reach media brand known as The Chronicle also ran a live Q&A powered by our community chat tool, giving football fans the chance to debate the possible takeover of an English football club by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.

Both chat-based events successfully encouraged community members to participate in the sports world and connect over topics they all shared a common interest in. Now, Reach is in a planning phase to leverage this functionality with other brands as well.

“With the current ongoing crisis, it is more important than ever to ensure people feel important and engaged with, which is what our community chats will do with football fans across the world,” Walsh highlights. “I’m excited to see where else we can go, and what else we can do, with Viafoura in the future.”

New Data Showcases the Public’s Appetite for Online Engagement

At this time, media companies are facing some of the most pressing challenges they’ve encountered so far: shrinking advertising dollars, a strain on resources, endless misinformation and a shift to remote work. Brands are slowly realizing that the only way to survive in this climate — and keep individuals informed with trusted information — is to build highly engaged communities of consumers.

So here’s the big question: How much does the public genuinely want to engage with media brands… especially during a pandemic?

Viafoura’s data experts combed through millions of engagement data points based on the performance of our solutions across client platforms. And the results were jaw-dropping: the desire for audience engagement solutions online has never been as prominent as it is now.

We’ve summarized the main takeaways from our report below to help you make sense of your consumers and how you can build a loyal community.

Consumers’ Interest to Engage Online Has Grown by 53%

According to our data, the number of unique users interacting with engagement tools grew by 53% in March compared to February. This means that being able to interact on digital media properties is becoming more important to consumers during the pandemic.

After surveying over 2,500 people, Unruly, a video advertising platform, confirmed that individuals are in fact craving more engagement through content, brands and ads.

“The pandemic has resulted in rapid, unprecedented changes in consumer behaviors and their preferences,” explains Unruly’s VP of Insight Terence Scroope.

Scroope goes on to state that brands must now refocus their priorities “to maintain and grow connections with consumers, provide support and minimize disruption to performance.”

By satisfying the need for entertainment and social interaction, media companies have the power to support the public and build loyal communities through engagement tools.

Conversation Readers Have Increased by 50%

Some media organizations may find the endless selection of audience engagement solutions overwhelming. But with a growing number of people seeking out and reading conversations on media sites and apps, the value of conversation-based engagement tools is rising.

This growing interest in online conversations shouldn’t come as a surprise though. As physical distancing standards leave people socially disconnected, major global organizations like the CDC are encouraging individuals to forge meaningful connections with one another in other ways.

Consumers are now turning to media organizations with conversation-based engagement tools (such as moderated commenting, live blog or chat tools) to feed their desire for human connection. And since comment readers represent the most active and valuable portion of your digital community, everybody wins.

Building Interest Around Your Content

Engagement tools — such as content recommendation and conversation widgets — increased our clients’ page views by 24% between January 2020 and the end of March.

In other words, engagement tools can help to amplify interest in content. This is because offering consumers the opportunity to interact with brands encourages them to spend more time engaging with content.

“As the dust settles at the end of this period, people will remember how [organizations] have responded and that is the challenge,” writes Steve Impey, a SportsPro journalist. “How do you drive value in your community in this particular situation?”

Media companies without engagement tools may miss the opportunity to enhance their content and add value to the overall consumer experience.

How Engagement Tools are Being Leveraged During the Pandemic

To activate their communities, news and lifestyle publishers alike are working to improve the consumer experience through engagement tools.

While some publishers are running online chats and conversations alongside live-streamed shows or old sports games, others are relying on instant blogging tools for the majority of their COVID-19 news coverage.

Media companies are also using discussion-based audience engagement solutions to run online webinars and events. The Financial Times, for instance, hosted an interactive webinar with thousands of people who took part in live polls and Q&As.

At the end of the day, engagement tools are being used as a way to bring people together even though they’re physically apart.

Publishers are no longer just content distributors; they’re facilitators of social connections in an incredibly isolating and challenging crisis. By providing audience members with engagement tools online, media companies can make social isolation a little more tolerable for both consumers and brands.

5 Best Practices Media Companies Can Learn from European Publishers

This article first appeared in Publishing Executive

With more people living in Europe than in the U.S. and Canada combined, there’s a massive knowledge pool among European media companies that many North American publishers have yet to access.

But the digital world stretches far beyond Earth’s physical borders. In fact, publishers in North America face many of the same challenges that European media companies deal with and, in some cases, have already overcome.

So if you’re interested in maintaining a successful media business, we simply need to look to our fellow neighbors across the world for answers and inspiration.

We’ve rounded up the top takeaways from extremely successful European publishers below — because a handful of European publishers are clearly doing something right.

Establish a Relationship with Readers

While consumers can drive up your company’s revenue, they can also come and go without hesitation. Friends, on the other hand, tend to be eternally loyal as long as they’re engaged continuously.

German news publisher Die Zeit has developed a program based on this sentiment that grows a base of loyal friends who actively support the brand. This program allows consumers to participate in live conversations with the company’s staff, and even suggest stories they’d like to see covered.

As a result, its audience is highly invested in the published content.

“The loyalty of our subscribers is what makes our journalism here at Die Zeit possible,” Lennart Schneider, who runs their Friends of Die Zeit program, explains in an INMA webinar.

After all, building meaningful relationships with consumers is an effective way to make media companies stand out from competitors.

Understand What Kind of Content Converts

At the 2020 INMA Media Subscriptions Summit in New York, Norwegian news publisher Aftenposten reported that its subscription revenue has climbed by 80% since restructuring its business model. One of the major changes that contributed to this growth was the company’s approach to content.

Aftenposten’s successful business strategy prioritizes the types of content that converts users, and locks it behind a paywall. To accomplish this, the publisher has minimized the barriers between its data experts and editorial team.

“The whole purpose is to democratise our data and give it to the journalists,” says Aftenposten’s brand manager. “For us, that’s been the key to driving change and to feel like everyone is working toward the same goals.”

Structure Your Paywall around Data

Aftenposten isn’t the only publisher whose paywall and data strategies are intertwined. Many European media companies use their first-party data to inform their paywall strategies so registration messages appear when audience members are most engaged.

Take Sweden’s MittMedia, for instance. Based on its audience data, the publisher found that the majority of its page views occur 60 minutes after content has been published.

As a result, the publisher has seen success by adjusting its paywall to only lock content after those first 60 minutes.

Automate Time-Consuming Newsroom Tasks

Newsrooms around Europe are rapidly adopting intelligent automation. For example, The Guardian created its own tool to create articles automatically and Schibsted has implemented an AI-based tool to improve content recommendations and personalize user experiences.

In both cases, the publishers end up saving editorial resources.

“Our time is limited, our resources are limited,” explains the editor-in-chief of the London Evening Standard in an INMA webinar. “I suggest you look at your audience and your core values and then look at some of the tools that are out there and try them.”

Explore New Ways to Engage Audiences

One French publisher, Le Monde, is growing at a steady pace of 14,000 new online subscribers each month. Most recently, the publisher has been testing investigative podcast series to expand breadth of reporting and boost their subscriptions.

“Podcasts are a way to connect with new audiences,” the deputy editor of Le Monde told Digiday. “For audiences who may not come by themselves to Le Monde, this can be a contribution to driving our long-term strategy of digital subscriptions.”

However, engaging new audiences doesn’t need to be limited to podcasting. The more opportunities you can give consumers to engage with your brand, the more likely they are to convert. In fact, there are a whole slew of engagement tools your media company can implement on its digital properties.

From community-building tactics to automated newsroom strategies, European publishers offer a whole range of insights that can be leveraged to improve your own company.

Five Simple and Subtle Ways to Recommend Content to Your Audience

When it comes to the media industry, content recommendation goes far beyond newsletters. Companies are beginning to recognize that, when done strategically, recommending content to audiences can amplify consumer interest and enhance their overall experience with brands.

But here’s the big question: what recommendation methods are most effective?

Last year, Gartner, an international research firm, revealed that 78% of consumers crave custom experiences. The report goes on to explain that while consumers want an effortless and relevant experience, they don’t want their personal information to be abused.

This means that it’s important to recommend content from your platform in a subtle and data-secure way. Otherwise, you risk appearing self-serving or annoying to your audience. Just think of how much trust Facebook lost thanks to its history of abusing user data.

Send the right content to consumers without overstepping boundaries by relying on a mix of personalized and automated tools and techniques. We’ve rounded up some simple ways to get started, which will keep consumers on your digital properties for longer — without sacrificing any part of their experience.

Push Notifications

If you’re on the hunt for a way to boost time spent on your digital property, push notifications may be the solution your organization needs. You can allow users to customize their own experience by limiting notifications to their favourite topics and verticals that they’ve opted into.

Research from the Columbia Journalism Review found that consumers are generally comfortable with receiving push notifications. As a result, companies are successfully leveraging this technology to keep audiences interested in content.

New York Magazine, for instance, has seen a 7% click-through rate on mobile push notifications for its shopping vertical, and plans to increase notification frequency around other verticals. Viafoura clients have also seen click-through rates of up to 27.6% on push notifications.

Overall, push notifications are a quick and effective way to connect directly with your audience members for urgent or new content.

Ratings and Reviews

Have you ever wondered how you can best flag top content to consumers without ever lifting a finger? Rating and review tools allow audience members to publish their own authentic feelings about your content.

These community-made recommendations are often perceived by consumers to be significantly trustworthy.

In fact, “92% of consumers trust peer recommendations,” says a marketing expert on G2.

These tools also give consumers an additional avenue to engage with your platform, flagging top content as they generate conversation.

Data-Driven Recommendation Widgets

If you’ve ever subscribed to a video-streaming platform, you’ve probably noticed the recommended content that changes as you watch new videos.

Content-recommendation widgets run algorithms that analyze user data and automatically choose what media consumers see. In most cases, these tools help companies provide a highly relevant experience to consumers.

“Data-driven personalisation… ensures customers get what they want,” reads an article on SportsPro.

These personalization tools aren’t limited to the OTT space, and can be leveraged by any media company that hosts content on their digital properties.

As a matter of fact, all types of companies that buy into personalization tech are surpassing their competitors by 30% in sales.

Trending Conversations

Comment readers earn up to six times the engagement than ordinary consumers.

For this reason, you may want to consider putting a tool in place to keep these extremely valuable community members interested in your platform.

Certain tools are actually able to highlight trending conversations across your properties, allowing you to keep your most active audience members reading your most engaging content.

Personalized Messages

Gartner explains how “brands find themselves balancing the need for personalized marketing messages while consumers are increasingly concerned about privacy and data usage.”

To keep consumers engaged and satisfied on digital properties, companies are now relying on their first-party data to understand consumer behaviors. With these resulting insights, companies are able to send relevant, personalized messages to subscribers. Custom messages can be used to suggest a curated list of must-read content based on the particular interests of each consumer.

Many companies send out these types of personalized messages to users who are becoming inactive, allowing them to re-engaging audience members and prevent churn.

No matter how abundant or great your content is, the right people aren’t necessarily finding it. Maximize the time users spend on your digital properties by giving them a gentle push in the right direction.