November 18, 2008 - Issue #11
Planting New Ideas: How to Grow Your Readership
MPA staff has been publishing Planting New Ideas for some time now and we'd like to find out from our members how it's working.
Please e-mail us at readership@michiganpress.org and let us know what you think. What were some of the good ideas? What ideas could you have lived without?
We are also looking for other ideas to help newspapers all over the state grow their readership. If you've seen anything interesting in your travels, or have been doing something innovative at your paper forward the idea to us and we'll get the word out.
Don't forget to visit our Web site MichiganPress.org to find out what's new at Michigan's newspapers.
In this issue of the Readership Newsletter:
• Newspapers that Twitter
• Finding a niche for your community
• Finding a niche for your community
• AP appeals to iPhone users
• Michigan Ideas
Newspapers that Twitter
Most
reporters, editors, etc., who use Twitter have discovered it can be a
great reporting tool. Anchors at CNN are finding that to be true too: @ricksanchezcnn
joined Twitter in August. He began to promote social networking when he
was on the air, also including Facebook and MySpace. He now has more
than 6,000 followers on Twitter, and is following more than 4,500
people. He often mentions and shows Twitter and Facebook posts on the
air, and answers questions that followers ask. (Sanchez also says a
“Twitter show” will debut Monday.) His colleague @donlemoncnn
joined Twitter on Sept. 3, and within a couple of hours has more than
400 followers and is following more than 300 people. Other cable news
anchors and reporters are sure to follow. (Dear @andersoncooper: Stop using Twitterfeed and actually post things, and your numbers will skyrocket, too.)
But
TV—especially 24-hour TV— allows for a more immediate reaction than
newspapers can provide, right? Wrong. Evidently you’re not following @coloneltribune (Chicago Tribune) and @statesman (Austin American-Statesman). @coloneltribune
recently picked up a tip from a Twitter follower about a bomb threat,
and was able to share information through Twitter and the Tribune’s Web
site.
When Hurricane Gustav was heading toward New Orleans, the @gustavreporter (Chicago Tribune) and @trackinggustav
(Statesman) were on top of it. With hurricane-specific accounts and
reports from Louisiana. (Notice a trend? Those papers get it.)
Statesman Internet editor Robert Quigley said @trackinggustav received 6,500@ page views directly related to his Twitter posts.
All of this re-affirms four things:
1. Newspapers can and should participate in social media.
2. Participating means not just throwing headlines at your readers, but following them and listening to what’s going on.
3. With Twitter, newspapers can make and break news just as quick — if not quicker — as the competition.
4. Twitter can drive traffic to your site.
From GraphicDesignr.net
Finding a niche for your community
Are you in the middle of a political hot bed? Is your community made up of a lot of college students? Are you in an affluent area? The answer to this question could help you create a dynamic new niche product to pull in new readers.
As newspapers everywhere search for ways to increase readership and revenue, they have discovered one of the most successful vehicles for reaching new readers and advertisers: niche products.
This is certainly true at McClatchy, where niche products are part of the second-fastest growing area of revenue—direct marketing. These publications help reach a new audience, one that is often much more targeted, and to fill a need for an often different set of advertising clients as readers.
The Fresno Bee uses Imagine Magazine to lure upscale readers in their community. This format has worked well for them in several communities and serves a certain reader as well as a different kind of advertiser. They include upscale home decorating ideas, recipes and profiles of important people in the community. To see a copy of this publication to: Adserver1.harvestadsdepot.com/fresnob/ss/imagine.
The Centre Daily Times woos college kids at Penn State with their niche publication Blue Weekly. Content includes a mix of news, entertainment, sports and “Cheap Eats” and “Beer Geek” columns written by about 20 freelancers under the direction of editor Kelli Brown. Topics range outside of what’s covered in the core newspaper to appeal to younger readers and keep them in the newspaper market. There is also an online component of the publication which can be viewed at: centredaily.com.
The Capitol Alert is an electronic niche product launched by the Sacramento Bee that focuses on politics and policy in California. Content includes original columns “insider stuff,” a daily summary of political news, a legislator search engine, a daily Capitol calendar, early access to the next day’s political content from the print edition of the newspaper and breaking news via e-mail alerts. This publication can be found at: sacbee.com/static/weblogs/capitolalertlatest.
All of the above products are great examples of targeting an audience and showing them the advantages of newspaper readership. Looking at the demographics of your community and developing products to draw in a different audience is a great way for you to pull in new readers.
Excerpts from McClatchy.com
Finding a niche for your community
Are you in the middle of a political hot bed? Is your community made up of a lot of college students? Are you in an affluent area? The answer to this question could help you create a dynamic new niche product to pull in new readers.
As newspapers everywhere search for ways to increase readership and revenue, they have discovered one of the most successful vehicles for reaching new readers and advertisers: niche products.
This is certainly true at McClatchy, where niche products are part of the second-fastest growing area of revenue—direct marketing. These publications help reach a new audience, one that is often much more targeted, and to fill a need for an often different set of advertising clients as readers.
The Fresno Bee uses Imagine Magazine to lure upscale readers in their community. This format has worked well for them in several communities and serves a certain reader as well as a different kind of advertiser. They include upscale home decorating ideas, recipes and profiles of important people in the community. To see a copy of this publication to: Adserver1.harvestadsdepot.com/fresnob/ss/imagine.
The Centre Daily Times woos college kids at Penn State with their niche publication Blue Weekly. Content includes a mix of news, entertainment, sports and “Cheap Eats” and “Beer Geek” columns written by about 20 freelancers under the direction of editor Kelli Brown. Topics range outside of what’s covered in the core newspaper to appeal to younger readers and keep them in the newspaper market. There is also an online component of the publication which can be viewed at: centredaily.com.
The Capitol Alert is an electronic niche product launched by the Sacramento Bee that focuses on politics and policy in California. Content includes original columns “insider stuff,” a daily summary of political news, a legislator search engine, a daily Capitol calendar, early access to the next day’s political content from the print edition of the newspaper and breaking news via e-mail alerts. This publication can be found at: sacbee.com/static/weblogs/capitolalertlatest.
All of the above products are great examples of targeting an audience and showing them the advantages of newspaper readership. Looking at the demographics of your community and developing products to draw in a different audience is a great way for you to pull in new readers.
Excerpts from McClatchy.com
AP appeals to iPhone users
The Associated Press has created a news aggregation Web application called the Mobile News Network for the Apple iPhone.
The new mobile Web site is targeted at people who want access to international, national, and local news all the time. It aggregates news from more than 100 news publishers and offers text plus multimedia coverage including, photo galleries of sports events, and video coverage of the presidential campaign. The Web application is currently optimized for the iPhone, but the news service plans to add support for other smartphones in the future.
It can be accessed directly on the AP news Web site or via the iPhone Web application pages at iphone.com/webapps.
“With a new generation of mobile devices on the market, like the iPhone, the time is right for AP to introduce a product that brings together our members’ local news brands with AP’s unrivaled coverage of international and national events,” Jane Seagrave, AP’s senior vice president of global product development said in a statement.
From cnet.news.com
Michigan Ideas
Interested in reporting how the military recruiting rates in your market compare to those around the state or across the country?
The St. Louis Post Dispatch reviewed DOD date for every active duty, Reserve and National Guard recruit in the country and placed results on a searchable database, according to The Rural Blog. To check the database, searchable by state, then county, go to stltoday.com/recruits.
Editorial page editors from across the country showcase “connecting with readers” best practices. Read more: ojr.org/ojr/stories/080306wayne.
Michigan Press Association Central Office Staff
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The Bulletin, Free Member Exchange, MPA Web site
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Lisa McGraw
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organizing media & marketing services
MPA Legal/Libel and Employment Law Hotline
1-800-334-5390
Dawn Phillips Hertz
hertz@butzel.com
General Counsel
Michigan Press Association 2008 Officers
Lonnie Peppler-Moyer
lonnie@monroenews.com
President
Monroe Evening News
Karl Ziomek
kziomek@heritage.com
President-Elect
News-Herald Newspapers, Southgate
Ron Dzwonkowski
dzwonk@freepress.com
Treasurer
Detroit Free Press
Dave Sharp
dsharp@flintjournal.com
Vice-President
Flint Journal
Michigan Press Association 2008 Board of Directors
Jenny Anderson
janderson@hearstnp.com
Midland Daily News
Alan Blanchard
alan@claresentinel.net
Clare Sentinel
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pbedient@grandhaventribune.com
Grand Haven Tribune
Mickey Hirten
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Lansing State Journal
Chris Huckle
huckle@cadillacnews.com
Cadillac News
Sam Logan
logan@michronicle.com
Michigan Chronicle
Willie Peterson
munisingnews@jamadots.com
Munising News
Bill Speer
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The Alpena News
Dan Tollefson
tollefson@sturgisjournal.com
Sturgis Journal
Jim Young
jim@oceanaheraldjournal.com
Oceana's Herald Journal
Michigan Newspapers, Inc. 2008 Officers
Chris Huckle
huckle@cadillacnews.com
President
The Cadillac News
Kevin Dykema
kdykema@bc-times.com
President-Elect
Bay City Times
Michael Flores
michaelf@chartermi.net
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Independend Advisor, Owosso
Dirk Milliman
dirkmill@aol.com
Immediate Past-President
Milliman Communications
Mike MacLaren
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Secretary/Treasurer
MPA Executive Director
Michigan Newspapers, Inc. Board of Directors
Terry Roby
retailsales@advancenewspapers.com
Advance Newspapers, Jenison
Tom MacDonald
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Gratiot County Herald, Ithaca
Jenny Anderson
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Midland Daily News
Marcia Loader
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Blissfield Advance
