SOCIAL MEDIA OPTIMIZATION ENGAGE YOUR READERS AND DRIVE TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE GATEHOUSE NEWS & INTERACTIVE DIVISION
The agenda What is SMO? Why should we care? How do we do it?
What is SMO? Social Media Optimization Use social media sites and tools to engage your readers, share your content and drive traffic to your website. SEO vs. SMO: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) makes your content findable by search engines to drive traffic to your website. SMO engages your readers to drive traffic to your website.
Why should we care? Using social media to engage your audience and share your content creates a relationship with your community. This encourages users to send content, tips, suggestions for stories. Users share content.
Why should we care? 75 percent of online news consumers in the United States get news forwarded through e-mail and posts on social sites. 52 percent share links to news stories via social media.
Why should we care? Google and Bing recently confirmed that referrals from Facebook and Twitter help a website rank higher in search results. Facebook & Twitter now have authority, which is important for page rank.
Why should we care? Social networking links are becoming a bigger share of every news site's traffic; as one of my Slate colleagues pointed out, in the Twitter age, optimizing for Google results is a little like going out and buying the best VCR on the market. Farhad Manjoo, Slate Feb. 8, 2011
Why should we care? Facebook referred 15.4 million page views to GateHouse sites in 2010, jumping from 2.7 million in Q1 to 5.5 million in Q4.
Why Facebook? Weekly market share surpassed Google
Why Facebook? Facebook continues to dominate online.
How do we do it? Facebook best practices Manually post a couple of stories a day with a comment. Have a voice, a conversational tone. Interact with fans be a part of your community on Facebook. Use them as sources, respond to comments, questions, criticism.
How do we do it? Facebook content: What to choose Callouts Polls (link poll to a story on your site, then link to that story) Quirky stories Newsy stories with a human hook Upcoming event, and ask if people are going
How do we do it? Don't put every story you produce on Facebook. Don't even put some of it. Look for a limited number of items that will attract interaction -- a controversial or weird issue people will comment on or repost to their own page. Don't overload your Facebook page with links. People only have a tolerance for a few a day before they'll un-fan you. Jason Piscia SJ-R online editor
How do we do it? Pose a question to go with an opinion piece or controversial story. Highlight the salient point of a story. Pull a great quote from a story to draw readers to click on your link.
How do we do it? When appropriate, find a voice that is more conversational, even amusing.
How do we do it? Use fans on Facebook as sources for stories. Respond to comments, questions, criticism.
How do we do it? Facebook vs. Twitter Twitter is more about sharing information than Facebook. Many news organizations use Twitter to cover something live: big sports event, controversial meeting, etc.
How do we do it? Twitter Find targeted followers who are more likely to share your content. Use hashtags (#) to make your tweets more visible and more likely to be shared. Use a topic hashtag (#MayorJones) and a town hashtag (#brookline).
How do we do it? Twitter Keep tweets short! Limit to 100 words in case someone wants to retweet with an @
How do we do it? Twitter Write a bio that tells potential followers who you are
Other social media sharing sites Digg, Fark, Reddit Social news, sharing, discovering, bookmarking and rating information websites. Users share stories, community members vote the story up or down,
Other social media sharing sites Big news stories. Strange news. Be selective. Can be a traffic driver.
Social media tools Interactive Google maps Good places to go sledding in town. Favorite places to walk your dog. Good place to watch the sunset. Favorite landmark. Favorite pizza place. Where should the new train station go?
Social media tools SeeClickFix Work with the community and government to report problems and get them fixed. - Unplowed streets - Downed power lines - Downed trees - Potholes - Dead streetlights - Dangerous intersections
Social media tools CoverItLive Live coverage and conversation surrounding a breaking news event: - Championship game - Political debate - Blizzard - Press conference - Controversial meeting - Trial
Summary Why is SMO a good idea? It allows us to connect with our community in the places they are engaging with each other, making us a part of our communities, increasing loyalty, encouraging participation and driving traffic to our websites.
SOCIAL MEDIA OPTIMIZATION ENGAGE YOUR READERS AND DRIVE TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE GATEHOUSE NEWS & INTERACTIVE DIVISION