Embrace platforms: Assessing the gaps in your newsroom
Take this quiz for a quick read on where your efforts stand vis a vis this Table Stake.
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Publish on the platforms used by your targeted audiences
Subscribe to Updates Go to your audiences rather than expecting them to come to you. Take responsibility for publishing and promoting on the platforms used by each of your chosen target audiences. Do so in ways that serve their needs and interests in using each platform and take best advantage of the particular features and dynamics of the platforms themselves. In other words: Be platform optimal, not platform agnostic.Big Picture A primer on why news organizations must publish on the platforms used by their target audiences
The target audience has gone elsewhere and other platforms increasingly control distribution, which means it’s now the responsibility of the newsroom to drive discoverability, reach and engagement.
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Start Here
Plan Understand the gaps in your news organization and how to close them
Embrace platforms: Why these gaps exist
In order to overcome them, first understand the barriers to success at publishing on the platforms used by your target audiences.
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Embrace platforms: What success looks and feels like
Publishing on the platforms that your target audiences use requires your newsroom to know how best to use each platform and how to manage your portfolio of platforms. The net effect is a publishing platform plan, action and performance that are strategically crafted, effectively managed, resilient to external changes and robust in growing your share of audience.
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Embrace platforms: Measures of success and tracking progress in closing the gaps
There’s a wide variety of data to monitor platform performance. Avoid unnecessary complexity and also choose and monitor indicators that are not addressable by data – such as user experience, revenue and costs.
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Do Actions to close the gap
How UNC-TV transformed itself from a public TV network into a digital media company
Here’s an idea to steal and adapt: As a statewide public media TV network, University of North Carolina TV, or UNC-TV, is building a new and larger audience by producing digital content while staying committed to its traditional broadcast audience.
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Use a strategic view of the distribution landscape
New platforms emerge regularly, different audiences gravitate to them, anxiety about “being on” them ensue, and then this cycle repeats until the next platform emerges. Avoid this by taking a strategic view of developing and effectively managing the portfolio of platforms used by your audiences.
8
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Pick your platforms intentionally based on agreed purposes and criteria
Consider different purposes for platforms, use criteria tailored to those purposes, and use a management process for selecting platforms.
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Put together a publishing plan by platform
Publishing plans for each platform begin with the audience in mind, not the platform.
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Designate platform owners
You need to name specific platform “owners” — who operates as a GM or publisher — taking responsibility for all aspects of platform performance, including strategy, operations, customers, costs and revenues.
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Experiment with platforms where your audience may be going or want to be
Experimentation is essential because existing digital platforms evolve; new ones emerge; and, how to use digital platforms to publish content and build loyal audiences demands continuous improvement and innovation.
6
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