content management - 10,000 Words

You Tell Us: What Are Social Media’s Limitations In Your Newsroom?

Ben LaMothe — Tue, 08 May 2012 15:21:24 +0000

Much is made about how social media has changed newsrooms, and I’m one of those people who talks a lot about it.

But for all of that talk, there comes a point where you need to decide what action to take, if any.

Newsrooms today are bombarded with lists of best practice, how-to’s and draconian Do This Or You Will Perish blogs and articles.

Do you go with the herd, or do you hold your own and keep moving forward the best way you know how?

I’d really like to hear from some of our readers who are “on the ground” as a part of, or observing, their newsroom’s transformation and/or adoption of social media and online communities.

Not everyone is going to have an easy time of it, but there is certainly opportunity to learn from each other’s experiences.

If you have something to share, please chime in with a comment below about the horror stories, or the tales of greatness at the news organization you work at.

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Social Media Roundup: Reaching New Audiences, Creating Social Content and More

Ben LaMothe — Fri, 04 May 2012 11:42:30 +0000

Every Friday I post links to a few of the blog posts that I read during the week that I found interesting and insightful.

Included in this week’s round-up is discussion about researching how to reach new audiences; why Per Active Member is an important metric; and best practice for socially-created content.

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3 Reasons Your Editor Should Let You Write For Other Blogs

Ben LaMothe — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:46:44 +0000

Allowing a reporter to write for another publication or media outlet generally ranks pretty high on an editor’s list of Things Reporters Aren’t Allowed To Do.

While their reasoning is well-intended, I think it’s time to take another look at what those reasons are, and whether opportunities exist to capitalize on the new media landscape to benefit the news organization.

Here are three reasons why allowing reporters to write for other blogs may end up being beneficial:

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Does Your Newsroom Need a Facebook Ad Budget?

Ben LaMothe — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 13:31:11 +0000

For news organizations that have taken the plunge into Facebook and have made Facebook a part of their daily communications, there is something else that they should consider.

Like businesses, news organizations can use Facebook advertising as a way to attract new readers and listeners.

If the news organization posts stories and photos to its page, there’s a significant opportunity to get traction out of those posts, in the form of Facebook advertising. Facebook enables advertisers to create ads out of photos and text that they’ve posted to their wall.

Every story is going to have a different target demographic likely to be interested in it.

By having the organizational flexibility to run ads based on varying demographic targeting, news organizations have an opportunity to get exposure with different audiences every day.

Many news organizations are fighting for the budget they can get, often with little or nothing left over. So finding money for advertising will be challenging. But for those who are able to do some experimenting, it could yield positive outcomes.

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Social Media Roundup: Advocacy, Corporate Social Strategists, and Social Media Campaigns

Ben LaMothe — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 13:39:30 +0000

Every Friday I post links to a few of the blog posts that I read during the week that I found interesting and insightful.

Included in this week’s round-up is discussion about the shift from influence to advocacy in the development of online communities; the changing future of today’s corporate social media strategists; and best practice for growing an online community through a series of campaigns.

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Should Reporters Create Online Communities For Their Beats?

Ben LaMothe — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 09:35:31 +0000

In the last few years social media has become about more than Facebook and Twitter.

Other sites have been created that deal with a specific topic. Their membership numbers are small in number, but the topics discussed often garner a lot of activity because the people on the site are passionate about the subject.

When I think about subject-matter expertise in a newsroom, I think of a beat writer/reporter. In the newsroom, they are the subject-matter experts for the beat that they are assigned to cover.

They have a first-hand knowledge of the topic and the issues at hand and they have relationships with the people who are impacted or make decisions about the topic.

In the world of social media and online communities, they would be ideal community managers.

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Social Media Roundup: The Connected Customer, Social Media Crisis Comms, Timeline for Power Users, and more

Ben LaMothe — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:09:11 +0000

Every Friday I post links to a few of the blog posts that I read during the week that I found interesting and insightful.

Included in this week’s round-up is discussion about the connected customer and what that means for brands and media; why it’s good to use social media as part of crisis communications; Timeline tips for power users; how Facebook “likes” are similar to e-mail opt-in; and why you should pay social media interns.

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Social Media Roundup: Social Media Insights, Successful Social Media Promotions and More

Ben LaMothe — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 11:48:23 +0000

Every Friday I post links to a few of the blog posts that I read during the week that I found interesting and insightful.

Included in this week’s round-up is discussion about actionable social media insights; the maturing of community management; advice for making a successful social media promotion; and culture change as a barrier to social media adoption.

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How To Get Social Media Experience While In School

Ben LaMothe — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:11:03 +0000

In my last two posts here, I drew from experiences I had as a guest speaker to journalism, mass media and public relations classes at Central Michigan University.

This post will touch again on those experiences, but will look at a common question I was asked by students in many of the classes I spoke to.

In every class I spoke to, there was one student who always asked the same question: How can I get a job in social media?

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Social Media Roundup: Lies about social media ROI, investing in your community and more

Ben LaMothe — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 13:57:48 +0000

Every Friday I post links to a few of the blog posts that I read during the week that I found interesting and insightful.

Included in this week’s round-up is discussion about why you should invest in your community; existing passion in online communities; big lies of social media ROI; and how to start building an online community.

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Is Social Media a Fad? Students Are Beginning to Wonder

Ben LaMothe — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 10:57:50 +0000

This week I’ve been speaking to classes at Central Michigan University about social media and how it relates to mass communications and journalism.

At the end of my lecture, I took questions from the audience.

A recurring theme among the students has been a level of skepticism that social media is here to stay, or if it will fade out and be replaced with something else.

Their skepticism surprised me because they were the last group of people I expected to hear something like that from.

Students asked if there’s something new on the horizon that will off-set Facebook, Twitter and so on.

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Social Media Roundup: Reinforcing Content, Being a First Responder, Negative Postings and More

Ben LaMothe — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:24:37 +0000

Every Friday I post links to a few of the blog posts that I read during the week that I found interesting and insightful.

Included in this week’s round-up is discussion about how to reinforce your social media content; best practice for responding to negative postings on social media sites; why atmosphere matters when building an online community; and blogging’s revival.

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Social Media Roundup: Facebook Timeline, Geography in Social Media, Social Media Assessments and Community Management Risk

Ben LaMothe — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 13:25:34 +0000

Every Friday I post links to a few of the blog posts that I read during the week that I found interesting and insightful.

Included in this week’s round-up is discussion about ways businesses can make effective use of the new Facebook Timeline; whether geography should play a role in social media strategy; how to know when it’s time for a social media assessment; and the risks involved with not having community management.

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Why Liveblogging Should Be Taught in J-School

Ben LaMothe — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 13:13:21 +0000

Today the latest incarnation of the iPad will be unveiled to the public in a big event in California.

There are many people who are interested in learning about what this new iPad will feature. Will there be 4G? Will it have a retina display? Those questions and more will be answered today.

But since there won’t be a live video feed of the event, how will people find out?

The news will be delivered by people who are liveblogging the event.

Saying that you’re going to live blog an event, and actually live blogging an event are two different things.

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Social Media Roundup: Communities of Practice, Content Strategy, Localism and Social Media Churn Rate

Ben LaMothe — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 14:09:52 +0000

Every Friday I post links to a few of the blog posts that I read during the week that I found interesting and insightful.

Included in this week’s round-up is discussion about why communities of practices are important; 4 focuses of content strategy; why local is becoming more important; and why you should monitor social media churn rate.

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