Five things that media brands can do on social to boost their perception (and readership)

In my last post, I wrote about how, as a journalist, I am constantly looking at how media corporations use social media to push their content. I talked about how newspapers, television networks and radio stations can not only boost website or channel traffic by using social media effectively, but they can also simultaneously boost their reputation.

As someone who is constantly consuming news through social media and also examining how that news is presented, here are five things that I believe (in talking with others within the industry) media corporations can do to boost traffic and their perceptions on social media:

1. When posting a story, always attach a picture or some form of media to the post.

While this is easy on Facebook because the link will always produce a thumbnail, which will usually contain the picture attached to the story, many media brands slip behind on Twitter by not attaching any form of media to the tweet (on Twitter, some links produce thumbnails and some don't).

No matter how well-crafted the tweet is or how big the story is, if there is no image attached to the tweet, it will automatically attract less readership. People scroll through their timelines quickly, and one of the main things that makes people stop and read a tweet is an image or video. Attaching one to every tweet will drive far more traffic through social than if the posts don't have one.

Besides, a tweet without an image or video simply appears bland and uninteresting. Make people want to read your story, and do so by attaching an image.

2. Make the language in the post compelling.

As I said before, your job is to make people want to read your story. A key component in this is by writing a creative, compelling post. This post should be as effective as the story's hook, or lede -- it should draw the reader in and make them want to buy what you're selling.

If done effectively, this can be a key component to how a media corporation brands their tweets. By starting to tell the story on social, people will follow (and click). However, creating enticing and creative posts takes time and effort, and with fewer people working in newsrooms than ever before, some simply do not have the staffing or time to write compelling posts all day long.

This is why this duty sometimes falls on the individual reporter, as they can accomplish this when they tweet about their story. Plus, that reporter will know best how to write the hook, so it will likely be a more thoughtful post than if it was written by someone who works exclusively on the social end of things for that company.

3. Make reporters get an account and incorporate them into the overall company gameplan.

At the end of the day, readers will follow certain reporters based on stories of theirs that they've read in the past. A big part of being a reporter, in any community, is building a relationship with that community's readers. This helps the reporter establish credibility and trust, and will lead to not only tips, but also more readership.

That being said, social is a great place for the company's brand to attach themselves to their reporters. By making each reporter get a personal social media account and creatively tagging and crediting their work to them in posts, that company will drive more traffic to their website through their posts.

Over time, certain reporters can reach quite an esteemed status within the community they serve. It would be foolish for their own company not to take advantage of that.

4. Tag people.

This sounds simple, but so many media organizations fail to utilize the power of tagging not only the reporter who wrote the story, but also the subject of the story itself. Tagging the people, company or entity that the story is about is a great way to promote the story itself.

If a reporter writes a story about how a local children's hospital is building a new wing to better accommodate handicapped patients, that hospital will likely want the public to be aware of this news. By tagging the hospital in the post about the story, the hospital will likely share the story with its followers and the readership will multiply.

At the end of the day, people love seeing their name in the news. If those people share the news with the people who care about them, and it continues to be shared, think of how many more readers that story will now attract.

5. Engage intelligently with readers.

Like Keith Quesenberry says in Social Media Strategy, interaction on social media is vital for a company's branding in today's world. In the media industry, this means that corporations will need to interact intelligently with their readers.

They can do so by having staffers prepared to respond to comments on stories, and also have them prepared for how to handle tips that may come in via direct messaging. If there is an error in the story, readers could be the first people to find out. The severity of the error will determine how the company should respond, but by doing so with a sense of appreciation (media needs readers now more than ever) and timeliness could potentially increase the reputation of that company.

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These are just five basic things that media brands can do to boost their perception, and readership, by using social media effectively. As someone who runs the Twitter accounts for two media entities on campus (the Northern Review and SportsBeat 94.9 FM), I am constantly trying to implement these strategies to grow our brands on campus.