By: Elizabeth Coffey, Marketing G2 Digital Marketing Specialist

Finding new ways to increase revenue and drive readership has never been more difficult. With the dawn of social media, people are less likely to engage with publishers themselves outside of the many different social platforms that are out there.

Below you’ll find important tips and tricks that you can use to advertise your news stories on social media and drive reader revenue and engagement.

Do:

• Create visual graphics and videos to convey information at a glance and tease your story rather than writing a long-winded post on social media. Remember, social media is largely a visual medium.


• Know who you’re talking to (your reader demographics) and create posts that relate your stories to them, their lives, and their unique interests.


• Establish a consistent posting schedule (post daily or at regular, predictable intervals).


• Always choose quality over quantity. You want to be your readers' online news resource, not a spammer.


• Keep an eye on the competition with social. Are other news publications offering something you’re not?


• Build a safe, online community around your news brand. Engage with commenters and remove abusive comments that don’t serve the discussion and get in the way of a good public discourse.


• Talk directly to your readers using the word ‘you’ whenever appropriate.


• Diversify your content on each platform catering to that platform’s strengths and giving readers a reason to follow you across all of your social media properties.

Don't:

• Hard-sell readers on signing up for a subscription; make them want to naturally connect with you further rather than demanding it of them.


• Get involved with online disagreements or differences of opinion (flame wars).


• Overuse hashtags. Make sure the hashtags you use are appropriate for the story you’re posting.


• Delete negative feedback about your news organization or journalism style. Instead, handle your reader’s concerns gracefully, replying in a timely manner.

What do you think has been the most difficult part of the dawn of social media for news publishers?