Social media madness: Bridging online, print worlds at a community level

By Joe Rutland on Aug 13, 2010 in Basics, Best Practices, Featured, Social Media

Let me review my social media journalist checklist here.

Become my own videographer? Check. ✓

Photo from Beliefnet

Blog often? Check. ✓

“Tweet” 5-6 headlines per day? Check. ✓

Give Laredo’s business community a chance to interact through online channels? Check. ✓

So I followed my list. Then everyone in the business world will want to get involved, right? Not so fast.

I believe social media channels make it easier for instant contact with readers. Having local businesses involved with the Laredo Morning Times’ editorial business department proved challenging.

Reaching out to the public

A decision was made to revamp the paper’s online presence in 2009. I led a “task force” that focused on attracting new readers for the weekly LMT Business Journal print product and social media presence. So I moved in that direction. Remember: This was all part of being a one-man shop while keeping the “print beast” fed.

How did it turn out?

I routinely uploaded videos through YouTube. Check out the LMTbusinessjournal channel on YouTube and you’ll see a number of different styles.
Blogging falls into a mix of short news/opinion pieces at “Coffee Talk Live” .
Then there’s Twitter. For the LMT editorial business department, the Twitter home is @LMTbiz.

Measured results and tips for the road

Of course, a big question was would this work. Looking back, I believe I did my best to provide social media content.

Again, it gets back to results. I know things take time and some communities may not be ready to fully embrace social media for local journalism.

With all that I’ve written, here are a few suggestions for juggling social and print media demands:

Get advice from other journalists. Reach out to the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State University.
Talk with your paper’s Online Editor.
Prioritize what social media channels are most effective and use them.
Don’t forget journalism basics. They do not change when switching between social and print media.

Next week, we’ll take a look at producing weekly center piece stories and how making them timely is not as easy as it sounds.

About the Author

Joe Rutland recently was Business Editor with the Laredo Morning Times, a community newspaper in Laredo, TX. Rutland has 25-plus years in the communications and media industry, working for metro and community newspapers in Texas as well as expanding his reach into social media, too. You can follow Rutland on Twitter: @JoeRutland