Publish content from your media on the networks and build user engagement

Digital citizens

Hello! What's going on?

Now that we have passed this year's MWC, it is even clearer and more definitive that the immediate future is 5G and the user is the center of this whole universe of hyper-speed data transmission. The new ways of understanding communication, thanks to different supports and media, have definitely changed the way of understanding the Internet and information and communication technologies.

The habits of the consumers of this information have also changed and building reader loyalty is not only a question of delivering news faster than your competitors, but also of how you do it. Social networks are the ideal channel to achieve this in a personalized and participative way, encouraging the critical spirit with the creation of content and not just consuming it on a one-off basis.

For digital content publishers, this presents a unique opportunity to get information closer to consumers and to obtain first-hand and almost real-time feedback on the interests of a segment and/or with respect to a certain type of content, serving information on demand to obtain the maximum possible return for your media.

The new generations of digital consumers of information use the walls and their profiles on social networks to share experiences and also to obtain and share information. Each user becomes a potential ambassador of your media and every time they hit the magic "share" button they are making your project more viral. Achieving this gesture in a natural and uninduced way is a task that requires a good strategy and planning.

Social networks and digital media

Currently, digital media have found a unique framework to change the way of understanding journalism, listen to the audience and have the possibility to reach more audiences, with ways of understanding and living different from the more traditional public, but that is what progress has or renew or lose opportunities.

In this scenario that questions the classic forms of empathy with the audience, all digital media should take into account that certain social networks, such as Instagram and Facebook with its Stories, have turned around the issue of how to explain the news thanks to interaction. They are reaching younger audiences, building loyalty and brand awareness and taking advantage to expand.

A successful case that shows how the simplicity of the content and the clarity of the message are key factors to connect with the public, is the campaign on Instagram of the British newspaper The Guardian, where a headline is highlighted and the user is asked to contrast whether the news is real or false on different topics: fake news, gender equality, the refugee crisis, climate change. In short, this is a sample of how to provoke the interaction of followers and achieve the most precious asset for any media: to be credible and increase the empathy of the reader, so that he/she is loyal to the brand and shares the content with his/her social graph or social environment in networks.

Another great media that has managed to engage its younger audience on Instagram is The Economist. With a visual storytelling of the news with graphics, images and videos and using this social network to generate more conversations with users and promote initiatives such as asking them for their opinion on the news and their engagement about the topics they address. At all times they are monitoring interactions and receiving thousands of reactions to each publication. They place their subscription link in their biography profile, which is currently the only available place to add one on Instagram.

Content for loyalty

Surely you have heard of consumer engagement with the brand, because this is the way in which users transmit their connection with a given medium. The most verifiable and analytical way to make sure of this are the clicks, likes, retweets and comments they can make on the content. Of all the possible interaction samples, this is the one that provides the most value, because it is a direct way to obtain first-hand information that will let you know if it is the type of content that the user was looking for and if the format was the most appropriate.

Each social network offers a different world of possibilities, but they all have one thing in common and that is that the content has to be visually attractive. They have to be served at the maximum possible speed and they have to follow a logic and structure with Mobile First in mind.

There are formats that have been created specifically to be distributed and consumed on social networks from mobile devices, such as FIAs, Facebook Instant Articles. They are displayed like any other publication and allow you to include a call to action within the content itself, to achieve interaction with readers.

Whenever you can, use videos to improve engagement and write content that includes a question or a suggestive title. You know that there is nothing we like more than being asked a question, as long as the topic is not really compromising. Don't forget the Facebook Live streaming video tool for mobile devices, as it allows you to make live broadcasts from your company page with no time or audience limit.

Twitter does not have a specific format apart from Twitter Cards, which are a rich format for tweets. It allows you to display your news information sorted by title, summary, author and image. However, there are some common denominators that your content must have to be viralized. As you know, a picture is worth a thousand words and videos even more. However, keep them short or they will lose effectiveness. Visual content doubles the number of interactions.

It is worth mentioning Periscope, which is the tool that Twitter bought to make video streaming and allows you to make your videos live, while people who receive this content can leave comments on what they are seeing in real time and share the live with other followers, a fact that viralizes your content and allows you to differentiate yourself from your competition.

If you can, add attractive images and/or infographics, they always reinforce an argument and provoke retweets. Whenever you can, publish short polls that make your followers participate with the healthy intention of collecting opinions and improving your content, thinking first of the user who is the one who has to consume it. Work on real-time marketing and take advantage of the most popular tags every day. Invite participation with clear calls to action that will finally determine the degree of commitment of users with your media.

Instagram is the network that may interest you the most to explore new ways of communicating and interacting with your readers. The Stories format is ideal for the media, photographs or videos that disappear 24 hours after publication and lose their validity, in the same way that happens with the news and what happened yesterday, today is no longer of interest to "almost" anyone. It is a very practical format because it does not saturate your publication history and so in the Stories you can add links and generate more creative and varied content enriched with video, image, text, stickers or music.

You have to get to know your readers better and generate content tailored to their interests. If you ask, listen and anticipate, you will be able to publish what they expect from your media. You have to interact with your followers and participate naturally in conversations. Respond whether it is good or bad what they write in the comments field.

You will make your followers feel important, you will humanize your brand and of course from time to time you can "like" their posts to give them back what they give you. Finally, remember to tag with the hashtags that generate the most traffic in your sector and editorial line.

How to plan your publications

When to publish and at what time is a recurring question you will always ask yourself, but it will always depend on the habits of your target audience and the metrics you can monitor. Try it yourself and you will see when is the best time to publish based on your audience and the level of participation.

It is clear that if you publish content at the time that you receive the best percentage of interaction from your followers, you will achieve greater engagement with your medium. You adapt to them and not they to you. Think that there are networks like Instagram that are used from mobile devices and this means that the highest use is in the afternoon, at night and on weekends.

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have very useful tools to monitor the statistics of popularity and interactions with your publications, but the key factor in this sense is the periodicity to maintain a good ratio in your statistics and of course for the algorithms to consider you as a content contributor to take into account.

To increase traffic and visits to your digital media is important the fact that you can plan and schedule publications and in this sense we want to talk about Comitium, our CMS specialized in digital newspapers: it has a practical planner for publications in social networks so you can impact with your content at the most appropriate time.

Improvisation does not work in social networks and if your digital media needs to improve the positioning of content and drive traffic do not hesitate to contact us and request information from our content planner in networks.

Request network planner information

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