Getting Ink... and Pixels! Hometown news for higher ed marketing

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Getting Ink... and Pixels!Media relations tactics to make news

about your students in print and on the web

Amy MengelreadMedia

July 27, 2010 | eduWebconference


Where do you get your news?

News consumers have lots of options for where they get global or national news:

•92% of Americans use multiple platforms each day to get news.

•46% percent get news from 4-6 media platforms on a typical day.

•28% percent of internet users have customized a home page to include news from sources and on content that particularly interests them.


What about local news?

News consumers have far fewer options for sources of local and especially hyperlocal news content.

What’s happening where I live, to people I know?

Local: What’s on the 6 p.m. newscast Hyperlocal: What’s on the community bulletin board


Hyperlocal news movement

“As newspapers keep cutting back on staff and printing skimpier editions, journalists, entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens have responded by creating websites to cover the local news they feel is going underreported.”

-- Time magazine, July 22, 2010

“The community weekly has ONE huge advantage over daily papers – localized, hometown feature coverage. It is why community weeklies are surviving and in many cases thriving in an economic atmosphere that is threatening dailies. We publish news of family and neighbors that won’t be found anywhere else.”

--Weekly newspaper editor, March 2010


Where is hyperlocal news?

Many organizations are trying to crack the hyperlocal nut:

•Aol & Patch•MSNBC.com & EveryBlock•CNN & Outside.In•Independent local blogs

A lot of hyperlocal news doesn’t live on the web!


Where is hyperlocal news?

Metro daily newspapers doubling down on hyperlocal content•Neighborhood pages and portals


Hometown news is hyperlocal

Colleges have been making hyperlocal news for years!•80% of schools generate and distribute hometown news

Schools are a reliable source of positive, quality news content about individuals:•Dean’s list and graduation news most common


Newspapers love hometowners

Survey of 1,000 weekly/daily newspaper editors & publishers:

“The focus of our paper is people, and students are of interest to parents, neighbors and former classmates.”

-Thomas Beeler, Granite State News

“Parents call wondering why their kids’ achievements aren’t in the paper. We publish EVERY notice colleges send us!”

-Stu Nielson, Town Crier

“News items about hometown students doing great things at college are popular with our readers.”

-Jeremy Boyer, The Citizen


Newspapers love hometowners

But you’ve got to do it right!

•Get it to editors in an easy-to-use format so they can repackage:• 88% of editors do not prefer to

receive hometown news via snail mail or fax

•Many will not accept hometown news if it doesn’t come from directly from the school

•A lot of hometown news appears in print editions only – some papers have no web presence!


Hometowners for web 2.0

Combine hometown news outreach to local print media

with optimization for new media:

Get hometown news published to the web where it can be shared with social networks, linked to,

and emailed!


Developing hyperlocal stories

Generic stories don’t work: they’re not relevant!

WHO CARES?

•No personal connection•No geographic connection•Anonymous and generic•Not relevant to local media•Not compelling to local audiences

News Release

54 Connecticut College students to complete summer

internships

NEW LONDON, CT. 7/22/10: Fifty-four rising seniors from Connecticut College will be interning at various companies around the country this summer. They are being funded by the college’s four-year internship program that combines academic classes with real-world experience and career advice from counselors.

#


Personalization of news

Turn one bland story into 100+ relevant, hyperlocal stories:

Single overall story, but personalized with details about each student’s internship and delivered to the hometown media outlet that cares!

“Hey, I know that kid!”



Next-generation hometown news stories are personalized, published online, optimized for SEO, and easily shared:



Content pilot program with Hearst:

Direct syndication of ZIP-code specific hometown news stories to neighborhood news pages -- with no editorial intervention


Engaging hyperlocal content

Hearst content pilot program: 250% growth in clickthroughs


Engaging hyperlocal content

Hearst content pilot program: 180% growth in unique visits


Sharing hometown news

Don’t just send hometown news announcements to newspapers – send them to students and parents, too!

People love to share this kind of positive news with their social networks.

Make sure your school’s name, branding, and links are what’s being shared!


Sharing hometown news

Facebook drives more traffic to readMedia news stories than Google news.

Hometown news stories shared to Facebook see an average of 6.2 additional page views.


But why do all of this?


It’s key to enrollment marketing

Hometown news plays a part in recruitment:

“My old babysitter is at XYZ College? Wow, I didn’t know they had a marine biology program there. I should check it out.”

“Cool! Our neighbor’s son is spending the summer in DC interning on Capitol Hill. He must be doing well at XYZ College.”

“XYZ College just sent a press release announcing that I am enrolling this fall! I’ll have to share this on Facebook.


It’s marketing people trust

Hometown news is basic, grassroots, word-of-mouth marketing.

Each story is an endorsement of your school from trusted community members.


It’s where people find local news

Hometown news in print connects with local communities:

Suburban newspapers

Metro Newspapers

TV Internet Radio

Community/neighborhood news 66% 20% 18% 22% 9%

Local youth/high school sports 64% 18% 7% 14% 3%

Local business news 55% 39% 11% 26% 7%

Local shopping/advertising 53% 40% 7% 22% 4%

Local entertainment 53% 35% 9% 34% 7%

State/regional news 35% 47% 41% 36% 18%

National/international news 15% 34% 51% 50% 22%


It’s the power of the network

Hometown news not only showcases the success of your students, but also the variety of programs you offer.

Several hundred personalized stories in local media outlets in the towns where you recruit students can be more effective than one mention in a big national outlet.


Go beyond the dean’s list

Possibilities for hometown news stories are endless.Develop hometown news about students who:

•Publish research•Win a scholarship•Participate in study abroad•Break an athletic record•Star in a play•Land an internship•Perform volunteer work•Submit a senior honors thesis•Are inducted into honor societies


Student’s activities become news in their

hometowns.Stories are auto-

published on their local newspaper.

Readers view the full-story.

Stories bounce around social

networks.

Drives traffic to college websites.

Which leads to more students....and

more....


Local news is big news

For newspapers: because it’s their bread and butter content

For online media: because it helps them get ad dollars

For students & parents: because it’s the kind of news they celebrate

and share

For schools: because it provides a one-on-one marketing

opportunity


Making it work for you

1. Create a lot of hometown news

2. Get it to the right newspapers in the formats they prefer

3. Get individual, personal stories published on the web

4. Give people the tools to share news in social networks

5. Get hometowners to the next generation of local media


Questions?

Amy Mengel [email protected] 518-429-2780

@amymengel amymengel.com @readmedia readmedia.com/schools

Contact info:

More information:

Newspaper Attitudes Toward Hometown News: http://bit.ly/9P8BF6The SNA Suburban Market Study: http://bit.ly/cMwyhhPew Research Center: http://journalism.org

Education

Getting Ink... and Pixels! Hometown news for higher ed marketing