The techniques I show on this page have proved why engaging with the audience helps a brand grow. Social media is a huge tool in reaching out to a bunch of people at the same time. However, a big tool that is also useful is first impressions, which is something that ultimately engages audiences over time. These meaningful relationships with people have expanded wlhsNOW.com into a bigger brand. I also go into other social media techniques I’ve used with my personal photography instagram account, and how quick event coverage has become a staple of wlhsNOW.com. Check out the work below.
Quick coverage on social media and wlhsNOW.com
Having quick coverage helps any publication because that is when events are most relevant, and most likely, people are more likely to repost content because that event is probably still fresh in their minds. This is something wlhsNOW takes advantage of because we want shares, followers, and likes so they can read our posts and get familiar with our journalism, therefore getting more involved with the community.
After not having any quick coverage in my sophomore and junior year, I strived to make quick coverage a relevant thing in our publication. Making this happen starts with creating a system, which starts with the event calendar. My goal with the event calendar was to be a communication device between staffers so people know where the content is at and also keeping people accountable. Everyone can see the spreadsheet so everyone knows where each person is at, if done correctly.
The goal is to have a post up in no more than 40 hours, however sooner the better is heavily encouraged. The social media editor, Molly Lundstrom, takes care of the physical posting but the person who goes and reports on the event is responsible for writing the caption. This makes sense because the staffer knows what happened specifically, therefore creating a more quality and descriptive caption in theory. When I was at a womens basketball game, I took photos and made an Instagram post for Molly to post. This content can be seen on the right.
In some cases, we also assign stories for the staff to complete along with the caption. Sometimes, an event needs a little more depth than just an Instagram post. These stories are quick hits, which aim to be very short and concise bits of information on the website that really don’t take that much time. For example, one of the staffers, Claire Lenarduzzi, went to a womens basketball game, and this time, this game was a top ten state matchup. After making the Instagram post, she made a story about the game and we quickly got that up on the web the next day.
I think this audience engagement strategy is crucial. Having quick content out has allowed relevant coverage and we have been able to be more involved with the community. Being at various school events helps create more relationships with people, which helps lead to more engagement to wlhsNOW. For the future, this is what I expect. Right now, these relationships are building and with the event calendar, they will grow.
Getting the Audience Engagement badge
To get SNO Distinguished Site, our staff had to get the Audience Engagement Badge. I played a big part in this part of the project because I was focused on meeting the requirements and making sure we were projecting analytics correctly so that we could meet our SNO Distinguished Site goal, which was getting it before the 2023 fall NSPA/JEA National Convention. Here are some things we did to get the Audience Engagement Badge as well as things I learned.
- Making sure there was a post every day. Molly and I kept tabs on making sure there was a post every day. Molly was on it and it didn’t hurt that I was there to double-check either. When making sure there was a post a day, it was also my job that a story happened every day so Molly could advertise it on social media, at the bare minimum.
- Self-coverage posts got a lot of reposts. With our Journalist of the Week posts and things of that nature, we got more audience engagement than usual because those were things that could easily be reposted since perhaps the viewer is their friend. These results encouraged us to do more Journalist of the Week-type posts.
- Meeting 1000 unique visitors. Making sure we had diverse coverage helped on having 1000 unique visitors in the four-week period. Our staff used the strategies I described on my “Commitment to Diversity” page to make this requirement was completed.
- Getting 5000 page views. This one took a bit more time than the other requirements. However, this one was eventually reached pretty quickly because due the consistency at which we were publishing, wlhsNOW’s page view rate was growing exponentially. With this requirement, I learned how consistency really does affect audience engagement.
- People are important with audience engagement. When making Instagram posts and making those featured images, I learned that it is very important to feature people’s faces on the photo. I say this because people are more likely to repost, since perhaps the face that is showing is their friend or family member. Through that, more people get their hands on the story and due to our staff writing and news gathering techniques, they will find how interesting the story is. This is something I’ll go into more detail in the next portfolio entry.
How sports media days enhance audience engagement
Sports media days is a huge event for the wlhsNOW brand, and something I am grateful for leading. By interviewing players, writing up profiles, getting pictures in a studio and having fun icebreakers, wlhsNOW creates a worthwhile experience for any team. This is something we pride on because we want to create a safe environment where players can be themselves and share out freely about experiences as a player. By doing this, wlhsNOW and I are mindful about engaging our audience, which starts with the experience first.
Afterwards, Molly and I make sure to give updates to the community about the project. Molly and Kaelyn Jones, the Multimedia Editor, collected clips from the soccer team, and they found a clip useful for Instagram. This is something wlhsNOW and I strive for because we want to engage our audience through updates and being more in-touch with our audience.
The 2023 mens soccer team media day was a hit. Immediately, we garnered views the day it was published and eventually, the media day long-form got up to 3648 views. With the anticipation from our Instagram post, I think that’s one of the reasons why it was a hit straight away. Also, by making profiles of each player, I’m sure the long-form reached a lot of people that were connected to just one of the players. By highlighting people and making profiles, publications are able to tap into that person’s community because it’s natural for that person to share something that they were a part of while also. This is something I wanted to happen because with all that work, I wanted to make it worth it.
However, my biggest take away with sports media day’s effect on audience engagement shows how big first impressions really are. I remember leading that mens soccer media day and seeing all those laughs and good times in the photo studio because we made an effort in boosting the fun environment. We even had Preston (one of our staff mates) be a music DJ (he is really into music). I really think that has a lasting impact. Creating those kinds of relationships with people pays dividends through word-of-mouth because those players will say how fun the media day was, thus leaving an impression on how cool wlhsNOW is. Then those athletes want a media day (I did get several DM’s from other students about doing another media day for other teams). This is what brands are made of. Creating those relationships are huge and sports media days is one of the biggest ways to create engagement in all of media.
Using other social media techniques
Though I have learned a lot with the wlhsNOW social media, I have also learned a lot with my personal Instagram. In the very top right, you can press the icon to my photography Instagram account, @jmurphyshots. This is an account I dedicate a lot of my time to, as I put together photo posts and I use various techniques, some of which I’ve learned and have applied to wlhsNOW.
- Decorative and themed posts. I post my best work only, and usually these posts feature people because I photograph mainly sports. I also like doing some themed posts, like “monochrome monday”, where all the photos are black and white. Also, on the right, you can see a themed post for a particular player. I like having a change of pace in my posts to keep the audiences engaged with different kinds of content. This is something that also translates to wlhsNOW’s journalist of the week posts.
- Instagram collaboration. Having multiple communities be able to access your content in a convenient way is a win for all parties. For the post on the right, collaborated with the athlete and his team. I was able to access his audience through sharing posts, an audience I have never met before. This is a strategy that can help garner more reach, therefore views.
- Engaging with my community. On my Instagram, I always like to respond to the comments to have some interaction with the people that follow me. For whatever compliments I do get, I like to say at least something. Impressions like this matter, which can be explained with the wlhsNOW sports media days, and these impressions can be long-lasting.
- Story highlights. I do repost on my story a lot, so naturally I built up hefty story highlights. I think story highlights aren’t necessarily useful for garnering more views, but it does add another factor to my account because the highlights add extra aesthetic.
Joseph Murphy's Portfolio 