J-Lab report w/Chicago focus released today: Engaging Audiences: Measuring Interactions, Engagement and Conversions
Erin Polgreen
Hello, HHChi!
For the past several months, I've been working with J-Lab and the McCormick Foundation to document how regional news organizations are tackling audience engagement strategy.
Engaging Audiences: Measuring Interactions, Engagement and Conversions includes lots of interesting data, findings, and recommendations for news organizations that want to turbo-charge their engagement strategies. I'm a report co-author and wrote a pop-out section specifically focused on the engagement needs of Chicago's media outlets.
A press release for the report, plus additional links, is below. Please share widely!
Online News Startups Need More Data to Convert Users into Supporters
Washington, D.C. – The rise of social media tools has empowered online news startups to distribute their content, market their sites and monitor users. However, most small news sites say they cannot lasso data to track whether they are turning users into supporters who will help their sites survive, a new J-Lab study reports today.
Nearly eight in 10 respondents to a national online survey said they could not measure whether their audience-engagement strategies were also converting readers into advertisers, donors, content contributors or volunteers.
“Such an effort is beyond our capacity,” said one respondent. “We need help,” said another.
These are among key findings of a new report, funded by the McCormick Foundation, focusing on how “digital- first” news sites are engaging their audiences and measuring that engagement.
“These small sites can measure interaction with their content, but they don’t have good tools to measure meaningful engagement. This affects both the future of their operations and the impact they can have in their communities.”
News release:
http://www.j-lab.org/about/press-releases/engaging-audiences-report-released/
Download PDF:
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