5 Ways Newspapers can make the best use of social media

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One of the goldmines, in the industry left untapped (still) in my opinion are the Newspapers. Some years ago, when social media came in as the new thing buzz word, the first to get a frown on their face were News agencies. Pundits predicted that social media will take over news agencies as popular news sources, and most of that already happened withing this short span of time. Iran happened, President’s election, and all those social media cover stories in between and its believed that Newspapers have lost their charm. Newspapers are boring and suddenly social media is cool enough to forget them.

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I kinda disagree. Or let me put it this way – Newspapers cannot be forgotten, they are out there like the lan phones we use today, while still loving mobilephones. They are still reliable sources of news. But things have definitely changed, people’s perceptions have changed, our behaviors and technology have evolved in to more sophisticated levels. And here’s the thing. Newspapers haven’t.

Newspapers are still stuck more or less to the old style of dealing with things. They are still brooding over how to make money with scoops and scandals, while they forgot to have fun and enjoy what they do. And while social media is a tangible example that stands right in front of them, saying “this is what you guys missed, now fix it”, the picture is bigger beneath.

What’s wrong with Newspapers these days.

Well, nothing is wrong to be honest. They can still work ahead the way they are and make money. But they aren’t competitive enough to meet the current market demand. And they’re not picking up the new tools lying around because they have an old machinery they’re stuck to. However, the bigger picture I mentioned is the core underlying problem. Let’s dig deeper.

The Mindset problem

Dealing with newspapers is no easy business. The so called social media gurus who came up living with internet and technology cannot probably easily understand how much effort goes into publishing a newspaper because things have been really really easy for us. But newspapers have this mindset of smelling the print for its flavor. They work to thin deadlines, work their ass off getting scoops and exclusives and on the top of it all, there’s the management that decides if the story is “fit for print” or not. There is a long process, and when social media comes in, we need things quick. We don’t want no editing done, we don’t even like to know who got the news, we just devour what ever that comes across to us. And newspapers got to break out of this old style mentality. They need to know what audiences are like today, do they really care if where the news come from ? Do they need an editor to chop off “unfit” parts ? Those are all part of the big question.

The Heirarchy problem

There’s always a management that always likes to make sure the story is “fit for all”. They edit and prune the story. In socialmedia there is hardly any editing. The story comes live from the source and with editing and chopping off, you’re wasting your time and giving your competitor a chance to out do you. That’s what newspapers need to understand.

The Latency problem

Haven’t you seen in movies where reporters fight to go live with their stories first ? Its a mad scramble out there. But even then, since there are processes and bullet points in place, news is always delayed. They may come out first compared to your competitor but when you’re racing with social media, you’re racing against time.

So, while the core underlying problem of newspapers not being able to go social are the above, there is hope of light. Here are a few things that I think can lead to bigger discussions in the area.

How can Newspapers go social media ?

1. Open up to discussions, and show that you’re listening to your readers.

One thing I found interesting in many newspapers is that they fear to open up. They fear that comments can be offending and may come off as a turn off rather than something productive. And they close up. This is a big mistake. If you got to go social you better open up, in form of comments or discussions or chat. The options are many but the idea is to use the technology to moderate these user generated areas, as they pose the risk, just like any user generated content. Use the right technology and you’ll get a healthy mix of discussions and brand loyal participants, and that comes free of cost, mind you.

2. Your brand is not out there on the logo, its with the readers. Make it personal for them.

Why do you think a reader prefers another brand to your’s when you have a better story ? Its natural, they like the brand and feel inclined to it. May be because of previous experience or something personal. So even if you brought out better stories, unless you make it personal for the user, you’re not going to win him. And by making it personal I don’t mean coming up with a stupid new brand “Yourbrand – me” or something like that. That’s again yet another brand. What you got to do is come down from the stairs and talk to people. Ask them questions, get them to participate in debates, appreciate them for being a reader, and what do you get in return ? They talk about you, they feel that “mine” feeling with your brand. Now, how many Newspapers do that today ?

3. Don’t be a preacher, get pro-active. Be a host to the show.

No, I didn’t mean to start a talk show, but the idea is similar. What most Newspapers do is this:

- Write stuff – Your staff and office believe that its the best story – Shout it out and sit mum – Hope that people will love you for it.

That’s so wrong. Even if you have the best story, the best exclusive, understand that a news is only worth a day or lesser. If you got to leverage on it, you got to make them love you not always your news. And the best method to do it is to invite people to discuss with you. While people get into discussions, at their back of the mind, its your brand that gets recognized, its you and not your news that gets the mileage. So be the host, invite your readers for discussions, don’t just stop at delivering a story and hoping the best would happen. Go beyond, do that extra bit, and people will remember you for it.

4. Forget brand ambassadors, make everyone your ambassadors.

Brand ambassador’s are okay. But I don’t think they help get anything other than brand association. But that’s so volatile a thing, your core values aren’t with the brand ambassador, he probably is a face to your brand, that’s it. He doesn’t help you gain readers. Instead, a better idea will be to make every reader your brand ambassador. And what better way to it than social media ?

5. Don’t forget to have fun.

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about newspapers. Boring print, black and white, and all those stuff right ? Newspapers can actually be fun. No I didn’t mean papparazzi or colour print. I meant the attitude. A warm, nice and friendly attitude wouldn’t hurt your brand, would it ? I can understand if you weren’t able to be that earlier, becuase you didn’t have the tools. But today you have all the tools in the world, social media to create that attitude, to create a friendly image of a host, of a discussion starter of a genuine, authentic news source more than anything.

And its not going to cost you the sun and moon to incorporate social media, got it ? (Oh ! No, not those array of social bookmarking icons, please…)

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