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Social media tools to improve your storytelling Mallary Jean Tenore / Managing editor / @ MallaryTenore. Social media’s evolution. Because that’s where our audience is. Facebook : 1.1 billion users. Twitter: 200+ million active users. Pinterest : 25.3 million unique visitors. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Social media tools to improve your storytellingMallary Jean Tenore / Managing editor / @MallaryTenore
Social media’s evolution
Why use social media?Because that’s where our audience is.
• Facebook: 1.1 billion users.• Twitter: 200+ million active users.• Pinterest: 25.3 million unique visitors.• Instagram: 90 million ppl access it monthly
Mallary Tenore, Managing editor
How can you make your social media efforts more effective?
• Hint: Make it a shared responsibility.
How do you build an audience on these sites?
• Make it easy for people to find you on these sites
Building followers, fans
Building followers, fans
Think of publishing as the start of a process of sharing.
iStock photo
• Tweet links to stories (make it a habit so you can build it into your workflow)
• Look at @ mentions • React and reward • Schedule tweets• Create lists, searches• Utilize HootSuite or TweetDeck
Twitter• Give people a behind-the-scenes look at the reporting
process.
“If I am watching an accident on our chopper feed and
it’s hard to look at, I’ll tweet that. If I get starstruck by someone who is in our studio, I’ll let my followers know. … If I’m covering a story, then they’re going to get information on that story, but it’ll be through my eyes and emotions.” ~KIRO-TV traffic anchor Jenni Hogan
• Find and capture reaction.
Twitter• Illustrate a point, offer an example
• A good starting point for finding sources, information and ideas.
iStock photo
Twitter• Find local sources by using Twitter’s search
function: https://twitter.com/search
Find local sources by using the advanced search function.
• Use Topsy.com to dig up the past.
Avoiding social media errors• “Gabby Giffords is dead.” –NPR, CNN, Fox, NY
Times• “Joe Paterno has died.” –Onward State, CBS
Sports, lots of other news orgs/journalists.• “Bombing suspect has been arrested.”
• Build your credibility.• If you haven’t verified information, tweet
something along the lines of: “We’re aware of the reports circulating, but haven’t been able to confirm them yet.” Or send a couple of tweets saying: “We are working on this story and will tweet updates as soon as we have them. Here’s what we do know.”
• Refer to social media strategies.
Facebook • Figure out which posts get the most attention:
– Posts that include a question or call to action– Personal analysis– Post at night and on weekends– Photos/images
“Photos received 50% more likes than non-photo posts, and journalists who shared links that included a thumbnail image in the link preview received 65% more likes and 50% more comments than posts that did not include images.” ~Facebook study
IStock photo
Facebook• Ask for help with stories, find sources.
“People who’ve liked us on Facebook have grown accustomed to us posting frequently, so it’s not unusual to see familiar names among those commenting on any given story.” ~Andy Carvin
Facebook • NPR’s Andy Carvin: Facebook lets us empower those who love
us, listen to those who don’t. (NPR has 2.5 million fans)
“We see our fans as a community of smart, funny, Internet-savvy people who love what we do and want to support us. For some people, this support translates into sharing our stories and introducing new people to our content. For others, it’s about helping us with our reporting, including finding sources.” ~Carvin
Pinterest• What works well:
– Recipes – Fashion– Weddings – Crafts-- (And news!)
“Pin” photos from your site and link the photo to your site’s content. Sync it to your Facebook or Twitter account.
Pinterest• Respond to what’s popular.
• Post photos that highlight local attractions.
• Showcase high school and college sports.
Pinterest• Highlight graphics, interactives.
• Create contests, make it easy for people to understand
• Highlight photos from contests.
Every year, the York Daily Record in Pennsylvania has a Peeps diorama contest. It features the submissions on its Pinterest page.
Pinterest• Highlight images from local news events.
• “As photos poured in and flooded social media sites, I tried to think of a way that we could gather and present them quickly and with a powerful visual impact. Slideshows, I think, lose some oomph by only displaying one image at a time … It’s got to be a subject I’m really interested in before I’ll click through a slideshow of, say, 40 or 50 photos. Pinterest seemed like a natural solution.” ~Bruce Tomaso, Dallas Morning News online editor
Pinterest• Highlight your work.
• “After I signed up for Pinterest, people told me it was a site for cupcakes and wedding bouquets. I didn’t know that beforehand, and I don’t think that kind of reputation needs to stand. Social media is a tool, like many others in our trade; it can be as good and as useful as we force it to be.” ~New York Times reporter C.J. Chivers
• “The feedback has been strong and positive, and it has reminded me of my deeper motivation. I don’t see the various sites I use as social media for social media’s sake. Used poorly, they’d be just as much as a time suck on work and on life as the rest of the Internet can be. I see the sites and pages I maintain, rather, as a means to bring more attention to issues that are important to me – arms and the arms trade, and the means by which the tools for organized violence move around the world.” ~C.J. Chivers
• Share and find photos using hashtags.
Instagram/Beizmindi)
During Hurricane #Sandy, Instagram users posted 10 pictures every second.
Instagram• NBC News used it to highlight photos from a
tornado in Texas.
Instagram• Create your own hashtags, then cross-
promote them to generate interest.
• Highlight local happenings.
The Fayetteville Flyer in North Carolina frequently posts Instagram photos of people, places and things around town.
Instagram• Use Instagram to build a new audience, grow
your existing one.
From Anthony Quintano, NBC’s community manager
Storify
• Create stories by pulling together social media elements, adding context.
Storify
• The five types of stories that make for good Storifies:– Social movements– Breaking news– Internet humor, memes– Reaction stories, highlighting conversations– Weather
Storify
• Mother Jones used it during the Occupy Wall Street protests.
Storify
• Mother Jones also used it to capture tweets from the #OccupySesameStreet meme.
Storify
• Use it to collect answers to questions.
Storify• Use it to show how news spreads.
Other social media tools
• RebelMouse – a social media curator • Vine – Six-second videos• Reddit – breaking news curator• Tumblr – microblogging site• ScribbleLive & Cover it Live – live blogging
sites• Google+ -- Great for video chats
RebelMouse.com
How do you measure the impact of all these tools?
• Track your number of fans and followers.• Track real-time analytics.• Track interaction/engagement on these sites.• Figure out which tool is best for a given task.
Next steps
Next steps• At least sign up for sites, lurk, then start
posting• Set reasonable goals• Don’t be afraid to ask your staff for help, seek
outside training.• Organize a training session.• Experiment, experiment!
Questions?
• Mallary Jean Tenore• Email: [email protected]• Twitter: @MallaryTenore• Stories: www.poynter.org/mallary
Thank you!
Thank you! Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you!
