A weekly newspaper group south of Boston has been doing some outstanding work with reader callouts in print and online. Many editors in the group, which is headed by editor-in-chief Gregory Mathis, have made reader callouts a priority and continue to build on their success.
We asked Alice Coyle, a managing editor in the group, a few questions about reader involvement in the group she leads.
First, a little background about yourself and your publications:
I'm a managing editor in GHMNE's South Unit, in the Raynham, Mass., office. We publish nine weekly newspapers (Bridgewater Independent, Canton Journal, Easton Journal, Lakeville Call, Mansfield News, Norton Mirror, Randolph Herald, Raynham Call and Stoughton Journal) and maintain 14 Wicked Local Websites (add WL Avon, WL East Bridgewater, WL West Bridgewater, WL Hanson and WL Whitman to the nine newspaper titles' sites) out of the Raynham office.
I've been in the business for 17 years and am amazed at how greatly our jobs in the newsroom and roles in the media and our communities have evolved. It's a very exciting and challenging time; challenging, in that we must be open to change continually and inspire and motivate our staff to try new things and take on additional responsibilities. It's exciting because as we forge new paths, we have an opportunity to be pioneers in our industry and ensure its successful future.
What are three keys to running a successful reader involvement program?
Patience and persistence come to mind first. To do a successful reader call out you need to promote the heck out of it both in print and online. I take a regional approach, posting call outs to all 14 of our WL websites using syndication domains. They appear in the features carousel - rotating in and out to accomodate local news stories and features. They also go into all news now and lifestyle sections. In print, the call outs go on page 2 in all nine papers. You sort of need to hit people over the head with it and put it right in their face. Once I have a handful of submissions, I post a photo gallery in the "Your Photos" section on all of my WL sites homepages.
The duration of the call out is also critical. For weekly publications I've found I need to give readers 3-4 weeks for each callout. It takes a while for them to respond. When they do, making constant updates to the callout -- adding submitted photos to the story, creating and attaching galleries and using their photos in the print call out is vital. If they take the time to submit, you need to get those photos posted and printed ASAP. This helps spur more submissions as other readers see the submitted photos online and in the paper and creates frequent call out contributors.
A weekly newspaper group south of Boston has been doing some outstanding work with reader callouts in print and online. Many editors in the group, which is headed by editor-in-chief Gregory Mathis, have made reader callouts a priority and continue to build on their success.
We asked Alice Coyle, a managing editor in the group, a few questions about reader involvement in the group she leads.
First, a little background about yourself and your publications:
I'm a managing editor in GHMNE's South Unit, in the Raynham, Mass., office. We publish nine weekly newspapers (Bridgewater Independent, Canton Journal, Easton Journal, Lakeville Call, Mansfield News, Norton Mirror, Randolph Herald, Raynham Call and Stoughton Journal) and maintain 14 Wicked Local Websites (add WL Avon, WL East Bridgewater, WL West Bridgewater, WL Hanson and WL Whitman to the nine newspaper titles' sites) out of the Raynham office.
I've been in the business for 17 years and am amazed at how greatly our jobs in the newsroom and roles in the media and our communities have evolved. It's a very exciting and challenging time; challenging, in that we must be open to change continually and inspire and motivate our staff to try new things and take on additional responsibilities. It's exciting because as we forge new paths, we have an opportunity to be pioneers in our industry and ensure its successful future.
What are three keys to running a successful reader involvement program?
Patience and persistence come to mind first. To do a successful reader call out you need to promote the heck out of it both in print and online. I take a regional approach, posting call outs to all 14 of our WL websites using syndication domains. They appear in the features carousel - rotating in and out to accomodate local news stories and features. They also go into all news now and lifestyle sections. In print, the call outs go on page 2 in all nine papers. You sort of need to hit people over the head with it and put it right in their face. Once I have a handful of submissions, I post a photo gallery in the "Your Photos" section on all of my WL sites homepages.
The duration of the call out is also critical. For weekly publications I've found I need to give readers 3-4 weeks for each callout. It takes a while for them to respond. When they do, making constant updates to the callout -- adding submitted photos to the story, creating and attaching galleries and using their photos in the print call out is vital. If they take the time to submit, you need to get those photos posted and printed ASAP. This helps spur more submissions as other readers see the submitted photos online and in the paper and creates frequent call out contributors.
What have been a few of the successes, and why do you think they worked?
Our most successful call out was the Cute Pet Picture contest - we had more than 75 submitted photos of dogs, cats, hamsters, a rat and even a ferret from Italy! Readers loved this. We had calls and emails from animal shelter directors thanking us for doing it! We ran a one-page, color spread of about 22 of the cutest pet pictures in the paper. We narrowed that field to six and then put it to a vote using an attached poll. The readers chose the cutest pet picture and the winner got a $25 gift card to PETCO. It was the first time we offered a prize in a call out, but based on the response, we probably didn't need to do so. The final vote lead to a feature on the winning dog - Remi, an adopted/rescued greyhound. That feature ran on all of our WL sites and in all the newspapers. Sadly, less than a month later, Remi died while on a charity walk with his owner. We had another feature on his passing in print and online.
The summer vacation call out we just finished was also a big success. Again, like pets, people take pictures of their vacations so once you get them to start sending photos in, others follow and the submissions really start flowing. We are running a twp-page color spread featuring the best of the summer vacation call out photo submissions in paper in the Sept. 8-10 editions.
What advice do you have for an editor or newsroom where reader involvement has yet to take off?
Keep at it -- and apply this regionally, rather than expecting great results from just one community. Choose topics that you yourself would find interesting or for which you might find compelled to contribute. For instance if it's a photo call out, choose something people usually take pictures of ... their pets, vacations, proms all are good topics, and things people have photos ready to submit.
Some topics are duds. Deal with the disappointment and move on and try something else. When we asked for holiday decoration photos last year we barely got enough for a photo gallery. Other people did their own thing and sent in photos of kids sitting on Santa's lap at the mall. So we used them, and I added a shot of my own decked halls and put up a small gallery. This year, we'll just ask for pictures of kids on Santa's lap at the mall, since that's something people obviously take pictures of.
How do you and your newsroom brainstorm reader involvement ideas?
At our staff meetings, I ask the Raynham crew to offer up ideas for call outs. GateHouse has a schedule of suggested call outs which are also helpful. While one call out is under way, we begin planning the next one and start teasing it at the end of the current call out story. For instance, when the summer vacation call out was winding down, I updated the post with a sentence that said "Next up, we're looking for your back-to-school photos." As we gear up for our breast cancer awareness campaign (the PINK editions) we're planning a call out asking breast cancer survivors to share their personal stories.
Why do you think an emphasis on reader involvement is so important today?
We're constantly trying to have our readers more "connected" to our newspapers and websites. We want them to feel a sense of ownership, and by allowing and encouraging them to contribute, we're making them part of these community newspapers and online communities (Wicked Local sites in Massachusetts). From their contributions/submissions we often find a steady stream of news and feature tips that we can pursue. It's a win-win situation and one that promises to help keep and captivate our audience.
