2. HELLO.
I’m @tarakutz
Today we will be discussing:
• Social Media for Publications
• Platforms
• Building an Audience
• Best Practices + Pro Tips
• Resources & Evaluation
• Q&A

3. SOCIAL MEDIA FOR PUBLICATIONS
 Why social?
 Publication structure
 Tools for managing social media
 Visibility

4. WHY SOCIAL?
“There is an innate feeling in all of us to achieve progress, to advance, to solve problems.
Emerging technologies have changed how we communicate and how we engage with
the world around us. One voice can now ripple to millions and we can now share our
passions openly and across cultural and geographic boundaries.
Change is happening everywhere. Startups are disrupting entire industries and scaling
their businesses globally. Tyranny, injustice and unethical behavior are being exposed
around the world. Groups are self organizing to take positive action. Transparency,
accountability, information sharing, and collaboration are accelerating progress to levels
never before seen.” - Social Media Week
Social media, for publications, is about meeting people where they’re at…and
people are online. It’s about getting your content in front of the right pair of eyes,
and sharing your ideas and values across an increasingly engaged population of
readers and citizens.

5. WHY SOCIAL?
Source: Mediabistro

6. PUBLICATION STRUCTURE
1. Are you primarily a(n)…
- Online publication
- Print publication
- Both
2. How often do you publish?
- Daily
- Weekly
- Monthly
- Quarterly
- Bi-annually

7. PUBLICATION STRUCTURE
3. Which social media platforms are you currently using (for your
publication)?
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Tumblr
- Google +
- Pinterest
- Instagram
- Other

8. PUBLICATION STRUCTURE
4. How often do you (aka your publication) post on social media?
- Several times a day
- Once a day
- Few times a week
- Once a week
- Couple times a month
- Once a month
- Never?

9. PUBLICATION STRUCTURE
5. Do you have a designated social media editor/manager?
If no, why not?

10. TOOLS FOR MANAGING SOCIAL MEDIA
TweetDeck HootSuite Buffer

11. VISIBILITY
Consider these…
 Is your publication easy to find online?
 Can you easily share content from your site?
 Are your handles consistent with your brand and easy to
find on social media sites?

13. SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS
Twitter
Tumblr
Facebook
Google +
Storify
Pinterest, Instagram, Reddit

14. TWITTER
Twitter is a MUST for journalists in 2013.
If you have any questions regarding the validity of this statement, we can
talk later.
“Twitter, when used properly, is like being in a room with
hundreds of the smartest and most influential people you
care to be around, and not only do you get to listen in on all
the clever conversations at once, without small talk, you can
butt in without being considered rude AND THEY MIGHT
ACTUALLY TALK TO YOU!”
- Emily Crockett, Contributing Editor for Campus Progress
2/1/2013

15. FACEBOOK
• Despite the Facebook haters out there, Facebook is still king
• Capitalize on the amount of time your audience is spending
online
• Facebook Pages have great Insights
• Facebook + Journalists
• GOOD EXAMPLE:
• Daily Kos
• NPR

16. TUMBLR
• Personal, behind-the-scenes feel
• Curate your content
• Works seamlessly with other platforms
• Follow publications, persons, journos and more
• Multimedia features (GIFs!)
• GOOD EXAMPLES:
• TIME Magazine
• Campus Progress 
See also: #realtalk from your editor

17. GOOGLE +
• Rumor has it: Having a presence on Google+ boosts your
search engine performance
• Also: Google Authorship--bloggers can link their Google Plus
profile to the content they create.
• Circles are awesome
• Examples:
• New York Times
READ: Plus-One This: Proof that Google Plus Will
Prevail

18. STORIFY
• Curate social media content to tell a social story
• Pull content from YouTube, Flickr, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter,
and more
• Great for live-coverage of events
• Good tool for engagement because you can notify people whose
content you include in your story
• GOOD EXAMPLES:
• Hip-Hop Video Model „Kat Stacks‟ Sheds Persona, Supports
the DREAM Act
• Election News, Millennials Choose– A Web Roundup

19. PINTEREST
• Great for curating and bookmarking visual content
• Infographics, typography, design concepts
• Perfect for photojournalists looking to share their work
• GOOD EXAMPLES:
• Think Progress
READ: 5 Ways Journalists Can Use
Pinterest

20. INSTAGRAM
• Focus on the visual
• Great for live event reporting
• Seamless integration with other platforms
• Where the people are!
• EXAMPLES:
• NBC News
• Slate
See also: The Most Popular and Active News Brands on Instagr

21. REDDIT
• “The front page of the Internet”
• Popular content gets voted up, goes viral
• Community-driven
From DVWLR:
Why Visit Reddit?
Answer: interaction or entertainment, or both. It‟s like YouTube or Twitter in
that sense: you don‟t have to create content to enjoy the content.
Entertainment: read the stuff other people have created, posted, and voted
on.
Interaction: create content, vote on content, and talk to other people.

22. BUILDING AN AUDIENCE: RESEARCH
• Research
• Find out who‟s talking about your issues or covering similar beats
• Build lists of relevant pubs, journos, experts and hashtags
• Monitor
• Know what‟s going on and use it to inform your reporting and
editorial schedule

23. BUILDING AN AUDIENCE: SEO
• Create content for PEOPLE, not search engines.
• Search engines like Google actually penalize sites for being “over
optimized”
See also: SEO & Social Media

24. BUILDING AN AUDIENCE: ENGAGE
• Utilize your research!
• Include relevant hashtags and target @ people for the majority
of what you post (twitter) and try to tag people or organizations
when possible for Facebook posts
• Be relevant + not selfish
• Engage with your sources and subjects
• Chris Lewis & @NickKristof
• Live tweet events

25. BEST PRACTICES + PRO TIPS
• Post content on a daily basis
• Use link-shortening service like bit.ly
• Use your voice when appropriate
• Engage with your sources and subjects
• Tag your posts — on all platforms
• Engage with comments* and conversations on social media and blogs
*Remember to be respectful and professional in comments and include links where possible
• Prepare a cheat sheet (aka “tweet sheet”) when live-tweeting an event
• Utilize the gchat status
• Be sure to use some sort of punctuation before tagging someone in a
tweet, otherwise only people who follow both of you will see it in their
feed
• Try to leave at least 10 characters at the end of your tweet so people
can RT you
• It’s totally ok to use the button, but try to use the mention when
space allows

26. EVALUATE
• Decide what’s right for you and
your publication
• Use all your tools to evaluate
your social media impact
• Where does it make the most
sense to spend your
time/resources?
• Report: make the case for social
media through metrics
READ: 5 Social Media Metrics You Should Be
Monitoring

27. TOOLS & RESOURCES
• If This Then That
• TweetReach
• MuckRack
• Klout
• Visual.ly
• Facebook+Journalists

28. THANK YOU!
Questions?