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These Three Actions Will Save Staff Time and Effort in the Newsroom

For many newsrooms, the past few months have been a battlefield as resources strained under the pressure of tightened budgets and significant global events.

News organizations that have survived until now have adapted their processes to overcome the hurdles of working remotely, a higher demand for news and reduced staff. Moving forward, newsrooms will need to continue to embrace time-saving strategies to boost workplace efficiency.

“There’s been a lot of conversation about what a return to normal looks like,” says Jon Laurence, the supervising executive producer at AJ+. “And actually just as I don’t think that society is going to return to the old normal, I think that’s true of the press as well… the workflow changes that we’ve made… are just more efficient in some cases.”

Media companies can greatly reduce the time and effort they invest in various everyday tasks to focus on higher-value work. To accomplish this, all they need to do is put a few simple strategies into action.

Explore three ways media companies can save their newsrooms time and energy below.

Automating Comment Moderation

Perhaps one of the largest lessons media companies have discovered this year is that audience engagement is everything when it comes to building sustainable reader revenue. And commenting tools that are properly moderated are key to developing engaged, loyal community members.

However, effective comment moderation often requires a massive amount of attention, time and training from staff.

That’s where machine-based automation comes in.

Newsrooms can enlist the help of moderation engines, equipped with artificial intelligence and machine learning qualities, to manage toxic comments. Instead of relying on staff to manually skim comment threads, automatic moderation systems can instantly identify and block incivility from the moment a user tries to publish a comment.

This means that machine automation in the newsroom, like automated comment moderation, has the power to free up time for journalists and editors.

Just be sure to select a moderation system that can detect all 6.5 million variations of each toxic word, understand local language and support your community guidelines.

Concerned that automating comment moderation will threaten employee jobs?

Rather than eliminating the need for staff, Francesco Marconi, a journalism professor at Columbia University, explains that machines “will in fact reorient editors and journalists towards value-added content.”

Outsourcing Moderation on Your Social Spaces

Although machines are capable of detecting most forms of toxicity in social spaces, humans are still needed to train any intelligent algorithm and manage trolls. Together, the combination of automatic and human moderation can keep your community protected from spam and offensive content.

But that doesn’t mean you have to overwhelm your staff with moderation responsibilities. You can transfer the burden of human moderation to a highly trained third-party provider. As a result, newsroom staff will have more time to establish strong connections with digital visitors.

“[Outsourcing moderation can save] yourself time and resources that can be better spent engaging directly with your users,“ explains Leigh Adams, director of moderation at Viafoura, in a recent webinar. “Making sure that you’re highlighting [your most active users’] content [and] featuring their comments… allows your readership to feel like they’re part of the ecosystem and feel valued.”

Consider making the most of third-party moderation by outsourcing the heavy lifting for your owned and operated properties as well as your social media accounts.

Pulling Content Ideas Directly From the Community

Journalists and editors understand that pitching content ideas is an art form. Coming up with original, relevant ideas that resonate with audience members time and time again can be a painstaking process for newsroom staff.

To take some of the guesswork out of the content-creation process, news companies are finding content inspiration directly from their communities. More specifically, media organizations have started to produce high-performing content by asking community members about their information needs.

Not only can leveraging content ideas from the community save staff time researching topics to pitch, but it can also help to secure strong relationships with readers.

Anna Nirmala, vice president of the American Journalism Project, emphasizes that, in the coming months, “[it] will be understood that having a relevant and trusted brand is linked to building relationships and engaging with the community.”

Ultimately, asking your readers what they’re interested in reading about — whether that be through social tools, surveys or another method of communication — will save staff time and energy while paving the way for highly trusted and engaging content.

By reducing time-consuming tasks in the newsroom, staff can spend more time creating positive user experiences that matter to visitors.

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.

You’ve Got A Paid Subscriber, Now What?

Well done on earning another subscriber for your media company! But contrary to popular belief, it isn’t time to pop open that bottle of Champagne quite yet. In fact, whether you’ve gained one, ten or hundreds of new subscribers for your organization, the journey to long-term success is far from over.

“People are, on average, likely to pay for one news subscription and up to three entertainment subscriptions,” says Lucinda Southern, a reporter at Digiday. This means that “the pool for acquiring new readers quickly dwindles.”

Even so, you don’t need to miss out on that profitable, sustainable business you’ve probably always dreamed of. The solution to that shrinking pool of consumers lies with your existing subscribers. If you’re aiming to be a competitive player in the media industry, the subscription experience your company offers must be second to none.

Make your subscribers want to remain active, paying members of your digital community by engaging them continuously. After all, a sustainable business model doesn’t just acquire subscribers — it retains them as well.

Here’s how to keep your subscribers from, well, unsubscribing.

Build a Community for Subscribers

While your content offering may have convinced a visitor to subscribe to your brand, it likely won’t be enough to keep them interested for long. Especially with countless other media organizations fighting for your subscribers’ attention.

But rather than fretting over your loyal subscribers losing interest, take action.

One of the best ways to keep subscribers loyal to your platform in the long run is to delight them with continuous social interaction. This can be accomplished by maximizing the opportunity for them to build meaningful bonds: to both your brand and to other loyal users within your audience. Think live commenting or chat tools.

“An organization able to build relationships with members — as opposed to plain customers — has… a powerful competitive edge,” says Robbie Baxter, author of The Membership Economy.

Humans are creatures of habit who instinctively crave social interaction. Use this to your advantage and form a sustainable business by offering ongoing social experiences to your audience.

Monitor Subscriber Behavior to Enhance Their Experience

“To truly engage customers and clients, to broaden customer bases or nurture relationships that fuel engagement and growth, data is where it begins,” states a managing director at Deloitte Digital.

In other words, the audience engagement data you have access to on your platform is key to strengthening subscriber loyalty.

This is your chance to dig into the numbers, gather insights into your audience’s behavior, and in turn, use those insights to improve your user’s experience.

Take sports media, for instance. More and more sports organizations are beginning to use their first-party data to offer up a premium experience to their subscribers. And oftentimes, a premium experience means personalization, where brands cater to the unique needs and appetites of the individual.

Consider personalizing your subscriber’s experience by sending them recommended content and experiences based on their data.

Prevent Churn Before It Ever Happens

Sustainable businesses in the media industry have already realized that preventing churn — the loss of subscribers — should be a priority. Even The Economist pours 70% of its marketing resources into retaining its subscribers.

At the end of the day, “acquiring a new customer is up to 25% more expensive than retaining an existing one,” says the International News Media Association (INMA).

So how does one exactly stop churn from taking place and extend the lifetime value of each subscriber?

The answer lies in your engagement tool and paywall strategy. When implemented properly, your engagement tool provider should be able to identify dips in user activity, and notify your paywall provider when churn is on the horizon. Then, your paywall provider can send special subscription discounts and content offers for the subscriber in question before churn ever happens.

Alternatively, you can use your first-party data to send out personalized emails directly to your inactive subscribers with content that would appeal to their interests.

When it comes to paywalls and engagement tools, you can’t just set them and forget them. It is absolutely essential to check on your audience, and enhance their experience time and time again. The fate of your business depends on it.