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‘Don’t Guess What Members Want’; Association Panel Addresses Content Management Strategies

This article was written by special assignment writer Ruth E. Thaler-Carter

We’ve all heard the saying that “content is king (or queen),” but it isn’t enough to create content. Association publishers have to make the best use of their content, and that means knowing “What Not to Do: Setting Content Priorities,” as recently discussed in an Associations Council Lunch & Learn session in October.

Figuring out what not to do in creating and generating association content requires “setting priorities,” said moderator Elena Loveland (pictured), editor-in-chief, Directorship magazine, National Association of Corporate Directors. The panelists—Kelsey Casselbury, content director, School Nutrition Association; Margaret Mitchell, editor-in-chief, Civil Engineering magazine, American Society of Civil Engineers; and Hilary Marsh, chief strategist, Content Company, Inc.—agreed.

Content is everything in a publication and also encompasses every product, project, and offering, Marsh noted.

First and foremost, “don’t try to do it on your own,” Casselbury said of creating and sharing content. “It has to be association-wide. It has to start with leadership.”

SNA is undertaking a survey of where everyone is spending time, she noted, to see the return on investment of various projects and what isn’t working. “Revenue seems to be the most important thing to us, but it isn’t always important to our members.” That leads to her next tip: “Don’t always base content on revenue-generating.”

Casselbury recommended trying to prioritize interdepartmental activities and working with various centers from the beginning of a content campaign or effort to make dissemination more effective and efficient. “There can be resistance to change, especially if you’re trying to limit the number of e-blasts to members,” she warned. “Aim to have meaningful conversations. Explain the ‘why.’”

There’s another popular saying about when you assume. Casselbury’s take is, “Don’t assume you know what members want.” She suggested looking at analytics to figure that out: “Colleagues couldn’t argue with data.”

A related tip was, “Don’t guess what members want.” Find out by looking at what members are discussing and reacting to in social media, Casselbury suggested.

“Don’t waste old materials or keep them if there’s no way to use them,” she added, even if that means reusing non-electronic items in this electronic age. Her staff recently found a stash of promotional cards that could be brought back to life in members’ hands.

Casselbury wrapped up with a reminder of that association publishers are well-challenged: “Don’t give sponsors or advertisers control,” she said. “Never forget the division between church and state — for us, between editorial versus advertising.”

Maintaining control over content volume can be a challenge, especially in a large association. “You don’t have to talk to everyone,” Mitchell said. If a content strategy is to discontinue a publication or combine existing ones into a new one, though, “you do have to check on current commitments, such as library subscriptions.”

If cutting down on the number of publications is key to a content strategy, “don’t get rid of your print magazine,” Mitchell said. “If you do go all-digital, you might reduce the number of pages.

In making any changes—whether launching new digital publications, reducing or discarding print publications, or other approaches to content management—“don’t overlook the difference between writing for print vs. online,” Mitchell advised. “It’s a different mindset.”

Marsh outlined a number of tips, starting with not forgetting to think about what your audiences are looking for. “Make it easy for them to find what they need, and connect your publication content with every other department. Think about planning processes,” she said. “Don’t keep doing what members are least interested in.”

Here are more tips from the excellent panel:

Don’t plan in silos—keep everyone in the association informed about what is coming up that might be worth developing content about.

Don’t try to work without goals—“Look at why you’re providing information and how members will use that content.”

Don’t focus on page views as a goal.

Don’t push for new content without knowing what members want—look at what the association already has and remind people of that resource. “Curate past information as reruns; people like reruns.”

Don’t forget to add an association take on daily news to make content unique.

To do more with your content, “don’t forget to repurpose material,” Marsh said.

In wrapping up the session, Loveland offered a key strategy in making the most of association content that relates to all of the presenters’ don’ts: “Don’t forget to do readers surveys before making changes—especially if you kill off a magazine—so you have data before making such decisions.”

And for generating content and feedback: “Don’t forget to use email” to communicate both internally and externally.

Award-winning freelance writer/editor Ruth E. Thaler-Carter is a long-time AM&P associate member and contributor to AM&P and member publications. She can be reached at Ruth@writerruth.com.

nealwinner

Three Neal Award Winners for Best Package Show How Variety Is Spice of Presentation

The three 2022 Neal Award winners for Best Subject Related Package—Winsight, MLR Media and Crain Communications—demonstrate the creativity and expertise with which topics can be covered and conveyed these days. Video, podcasts, photos, charts, infographics, intuitive copy and challenging topics give an audience lots of reasons to engage.

For its Neal Award-winning presentation of The Impact of the $15 Wage, Winsight’s Restaurant Business deployed a creative spread of infographics, photos, video and well-written and researched content to show what can be done with a topic in these digital-dominant days.

Like the other two winners in this category, Winsight makes simple grey text a relic of the past. The package starts with a bold declaration: “The $15 wage is increasingly common throughout the U.S., either as a government mandate or a market reality. Its impact touches the entire restaurant industry, its employees and its operators.” This statement mirrors the growing discussions I’ve seen in online forums and communities, particularly those centered around 도박사이트 추천. Just as the $15 wage impacts every level of the restaurant industry, the rise of these offshore gambling sites influences a wide range of players, from casual bettors to those deeply entrenched in the gambling world. Both situations highlight how external changes—whether in wages or in gaming platforms—can ripple through entire industries, affecting everyone involved.

To emulate this success in your own presentations, consider adopting a similarly creative and multimedia-rich approach. As you delve into the digital-dominant era, learn how to wrap up a presentation in style by leaving a lasting impression. Conclude with a concise and impactful summary that reinforces key takeaways, engages your audience, and prompts further discussion. By embracing diverse presentation tools and techniques, you can captivate your audience and ensure your message resonates long after the presentation concludes.

Then come the following whistles and bells:

A vertical timeline with How It Started pasted onto a photo showing a protest at a big McDonalds. Then it’s on to how Mom and Pops restaurants were the first to reach $15—illustrating with a photo of an independent brewery owner. Every small headline links to a “Premium” story they’ve written.

A map of the United States—“States on the way to a $15 minimum wage.” By hovering over the states they’ve selected, you can see the progress—or lack of it—being made. Then come charts of Chains That Are Raising Wages and “how much are you currently paying newly hired employees who don’t directly earn tips?” Again, hovering over a section to see what it says adds more room for description and makes it interactive (and fun).

A video of a robot “working” in a restaurant. “Robots hone their muscles. Miso Robotics is still tweaking its automated kitchen bot, Flippy, as it fields strong interest from restaurants.” The timeline continues with &pizza paying its workers at least $15 by 2022 and McDonalds informing the National Restaurant Association—which acquired Winsight in 2021—that it will stop fighting against increases.

A bar chart on where restaurants weigh in on the $15 wage. Lastly, there’s an article on the survey results. “A survey of operators found nearly 30% already pay $15 an hour, but most are skeptical that the business can function at that pay level.” It’s all quite a package.

Another winner in this category was also the Grand Neal recipient: Reckoning: Family Businesses Confront Race, Racism and Inclusion by Barbara Spector of MLR Media. In an Editorial Council meeting we conducted with her earlier this year, Spector offered six takeaways from her experience with the story:

1. Get the support of top management.

2. “When tackling a big project, you need enough time to get it right, including a lot of time for a major rewrite if needed… If possible, wait until the editing is far along before committing to publish it on a specific date.”

3. It’s important to be known to your readers “as a trusted resource that is sensitive to audiences concerns. It will be easier to find sources and get them to open up to you.”

4. “Back up your assertions with quotes, facts [and] statistics from trusted sources. This is especially true for controversial topics.”

5. “If you have a complex story to tell, break it up into parts and make ample use of subheads, pull quotes, illustrations and sidebars to avoid the old wall of text. Link to sources where readers can go to research and learn more.”

6. “Everyone needs an editor, and you also need a talented creative director and web designer for projects like this.”

The third winner in this category was EV1: A Legacy in a New Light from Crain Communications’ Automotive News. This is also an amazingly versatile package featuring video, podcasts, eight chapters, an epilogue, and more stories such as Filmmaker Chris Paine on Who Killed the EV1, and Cultivated. Then Crushed—about a “topsy turvy” car-saving attempt.

The package begins dramatically: “25 years ago, GM rolled out the EV1, a triumph of electrification that ended in a crushing blow. But the car planted the seed for the industry embrace of EVs now.”

In the podcast’s first episode, reporters Pete Bigelow and Hannah Lutz “tell listeners how they tracked down more than 30 key players to weave together the story of GM’s EV1r.” The episode tells of General Motors’ flashy launch of the EV1—at a Sylvester Stallone film premiere.

Everything takes place on the Automotive News website with many links to more content. “On the Automotive News Special Reports podcast, we’ll take you beyond our weekly print edition. Subscribe for periodic episodes.” The videos are also impressive, appearing on Automotive News TV. Podcasts and videos are also great opportunities to push your publications’ personalities forward; let your audience get to know them better.

 

Ronn Graphics

‘They’re Getting Insights From The Data’; Helping Editorial Focus More on Metrics

“The fact that audience metrics don’t reflect the quality of a piece or necessarily capture its full impact isn’t a weakness,” Chris Moran, head of editorial innovation at Guardian News & Media, wrote. “… Instead, metrics tell us things we absolutely don’t, or can’t, know from gut instinct. Metrics, at their core, are simply measurements. And as journalists, we should never argue that ignorance is bliss.”

Last year, Dan Fink, managing director of Money-Media, a division of Financial Times, told us that they “are working to develop a formula that combines page views, time-on-page and other user actions (print, save, share, etc.) into a single metric. My plan is to shift our internal focus on this new engagement metric, since it is more valid than one-dimensional page views.”

This week, Fink reported on how the transition is proceeding and what it is telling them. Meanwhile, a key question is how much help should journalists get to incorporate metrics and analytics into their day-to-day? Some organizations have made it a process. In talking to Fink last week in preparation for Thursday, metrics are simply now part of the culture at Money-Media.

“Journalists are not analysts,” wrote Elisabeth Gamperl, managing editor, digital storytelling unit, Süddeutsche Zeitung in Munich, last year in a Reuters Institute report titled Overcoming Metrics Anxiety: New Guidelines for Content Data in Newsrooms. “Most of them became journalists because they care about words and stories… It is important to provide the newsroom with data it really gets value from.”

Ultimately, wrote Gamperl, data and metrics analysts should be seen as vital members of the newsroom. Here are some keys to incorporating metrics into your culture:

Don’t overwhelm – find your key metrics. In an article on The Fix, David Tvrdon said that putting too many metrics on your journalists’ plates could be risky. “With every added metric the chance of more people not getting it simply rises exponentially. I would rather use a simplified metric and tweak it in time than risking colleagues in the newsroom having different goals.” The Financial Times used RFV (recency, frequency, volume) to help hit one million digital subscribers. Later, they pledged allegiance to a more consumption-based Quality Reads.

Set out a specific time. “One of the best practices that we’ve embedded is an analytics meeting for our editors, so that they can really see their work and how it ends up performing out in the world,” said Lucy Swedberg, executive editor and senior editorial director at Harvard Business Publishing. “You start to hear them thinking and observing, ‘Oh, this thing did really well—let’s do more of those.’ I love when I hear they’re getting insights from the data. Because, at the end of the day, that’s what will keep us going and [allow us to] make an impact.”

Educate your editorial staff. At Industry Dive, the audience and marketing team creates actionable dashboards for the editorial team. “This not only helps us measure more of the things that matter to our audience, but it makes it really easy for our editorial team to get actionable insights and make [informed] decisions,” said editor-in-chief Davide Savenije. A data and analytics team works closely with the newsroom. For instance, they recently analyzed trends in UK non Gamstop casinos to understand how these platforms attract players seeking alternatives to regulated domestic options, providing the editorial team with key insights for their coverage. A central analytics hub for the newsroom has a repository with all the reports. During onboarding, a training session walks new people through those reports. “We are trying to build a culture of data analytics in our newsroom, and we want to bring a balance to that culture. Data is powerful. And it can tell us a lot, but as there are also limits and blind spots in the data, so context is always critical to knowing what data really tells you.”

Be positive and concise. One analytics team developed a list of questions they work through before submitting data to the newsroom. Leaders also advise to be careful in sending around individual rankings or standings. Instead, promote information on screens that is helpful to the newsroom. For example, “Did you know that most people read us between 6 and 8 am?” And be concise. “If you provide too much, it has a counterintuitive effect of making people less engaged with it because people don’t know where to focus. It becomes a little bit overwhelming and disengaging to just see reams and reams of data,” said Jörn Rose, director, strategic growth, HuffPost & BuzzFeed News.

Don’t look at metrics as static and immovable. It should be an ongoing process to work with—a positive feedback loop. The question should not be: What is the number? But rather: What can you do in response to this number? Also articles may not be getting the same play. To solve this, The Times of London “developed a score that compares articles only with equivalent articles promoted in the same spot.”

 

Impact awards

SIIA Honors Outstanding Emerging Talent and DEI Champions

Inaugural class of SIIA IMPACT Awards’ Emerging Talent and Equity Winners Announced

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Suzy Wagner, Brand & Buzz 

Washington, DC (October 20, 2022)  The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) announces winners of the inaugural SIIA IMPACT Awards, a new program honoring outstanding leadership in the publishing industry, specifically championing Emerging Talent and Equity. 

The SIIA IMPACT Awards are an extension of SIIA’s continuing commitment to support members in achieving better outcomes in diversity, equity and inclusion and to spotlight and develop outstanding young professionals across the publishing industry. Ten awards will be presented across seven categories, honoring emerging talent as well as individual and teams championing DEI in the publishing industry.  A celebratory winners luncheon will take place on November 15 in Washington, DC.

The 2022 class of SIIA IMPACT winners includes:


Emerging Talent recognizes those aged 35 and under who have 3+ years of service to the industry and have demonstrated outstanding success and leadership potential.  The winners are:

  • Matt Ausloos, American Health Law Association
  • Martha Porado, EnsembleIQ
  • Sarah Gaydos, GRAPHEK
  • Alayna Hyler, Questex

Equity Awards recognize individuals and teams demonstrating significant progress and identifiable achievement toward efforts related to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion.  The winners are: 

  • Outstanding Employee Resource Group (ERG): American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
  • Individual Contribution: Travis Wolfe, GovExec
  • Team Award: Less than 50 employees: American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians
  • Team Award: 51 – 99 employees: American Physiological Society
  • Team Award: 100 – 149 employees: Money-Media, A Financial Times Company
  • Team Award: 150+ employees: American Chemical Society

“The IMPACT Awards recognize not only emerging talent, but organizations who have embraced the importance of diversity. We are in awe of the accomplishments of every IMPACT winner as well as the talented nominees,” said SIIA President Chris Mohr, “Diversity is integral in everything our member companies do. These awards not only elevate the phenomenal work being done, but amplify our deep belief that it is our differences which makes us stronger. Congratulations to all of the winners.  We also extend our sincere appreciation to the IMPACT committee, judges and to the sponsors who made this program possible: Association Vision, Cristaux (the official IMPACT award manufacturer), and PrintCinch.” 

In addition to the IMPACT Awards, SIIA is the owner and producer of a suite of premiere awards programs:

About SIIA:
SIIA represents more than 500 large and small technology companies, associations and related interests across the diverse information industry. Our members provide the critical data, content, and information that drives financial networks, connects learners and educators and drives the global economy.

ElizGreen

How Many Can You Answer Correctly? A BIMS 2023 Quiz Offers Glimpse of an Incredible Speaker Lineup

Thornton Wilder, author of Our Town, said: “Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every day.” To make that happen, for two days at least, we have just the thing: our Business Information & Media Summit (BIMS), Feb. 23-24 at the Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek. Here are 6 speaker-related questions.

Our Business Information & Media Summit—or much more famously known in the publishing industry as BIMS—will take place Feb. 23-24, 2023, in Orlando, just minutes from Disney World! It will be BIMS’ first in-person edition since 2019. While the event may be no Aladdin or The Lion King, it should still be music to the ears of anyone closely involved in the B2B, media organization, niche publisher or association field.

Given the lofty heights that previous BIMS events have achieved, you will definitely want to be in-person in the Rooms Where It Happens. (See the full agenda here and register here while you can still get the best price!)

Meanwhile, here’s a quiz to highlight a little of the great work and speakers you will encounter there.

1. At our AMPLIFY June Conference in Washington, D.C., Elizabeth Green, CEO of Brief Media, told the audience that “our purpose is to care for veterinarians.” While Green has made making a difference a core principle—most specifically through a partnership with Mission Rabies—she added that it is also important at some point to take a step back and do what?
a. go back to school
b. assess your social media status
c. look at the overall impact your commitment is having—on staff, company growth, retention, recruitment.
d. travel

At BIMS, Green will appear on an esteemed panel of CEOs to offer an industry outlook for 2023.

2. According to Axios, Workweek CEO Becca Sherman said this in starting her company last November: “Traditionally, a great creator at a media company increases brand value, user growth, revenue per user, and many other KPIs across the business. However, content teams have historically been one of the lowest-budgeted departments. This mismatch in value, paired with the wave of new tools and services for independent creators, has driven the creator economy boom—and, in turn, has created a ____________ problem for media companies.”
a. recruitment
b. salary
c. diversity
d. retention

At BIMS, Sherman will speak on Here’s a Content-Centric Digital Native Who Wants to Remake B2B.

3. In May of last year, Government Executive Media Group rebranded to GovExec to “better reflect variety of business services for the public sector.” They announced a new portfolio centered on three pillars: Data that informs; media that connects; and ___________ services that activate. “Data and technology are now at the heart of everything [government leaders] do…,” said CEO Tim Hartman.
a. marketing
b. editorial
c. customer
d. sales

Hartman will also appear on the esteemed panel of CEOs to look at 2023.

Michelle Duke4. In an interview, Michelle Duke, chief diversity officer, National Association of Broadcasters, & president, NAB Leadership Foundation, spoke about how NAB determines success with its Broadcast Leadership Training program. “We measure in terms of promotions in the industry, and level of influence,” she said. “These are senior level executives, and we’ve had over ______% the last that we counted, promoted one or more times.
a. 37%
b. 49%
c. 65%
d. 81%

Duke will speak in a session titled Talent and DEI and Their Essential Role in Your Growth.

5. “I believe ___________ could replicate what we’ve done with FreightWaves, digitizing the community, and there is a massive B2B opportunity as well.” Founder and CEO Craig Fuller said that about what magazine that he purchased which is also a huge hobby of his.
a. scootering
b. flying
c. horoscoping
d. ultimate frisbeeing

Fuller will be the closing keynote, speaking on How FreightWaves Created a One-Two Punch with Marketing Services and Subscription Data

6. Bibiana Campos Seijo, VP of C&EN Media Group and editor-in-chief of C&EN at the American Chemical Society, is very proud of their Trailblazers program, which highlights rising ACS members from under-represented communities. It happened because the magazine staff felt it was important to do—not because she told them it needed to be done. Carolyn R. Bertozzi, who was named a Trailblazer in both 2020 and 2022, recently received what prestigious award?
a. Pulitzer Prize
b. Nobel Prize
c. National Medal of Science
d. Kavil Prize

Campos Seijo will speak on the topic, Content as Product: How Editorial Leaders Are an Often Untapped Source of Great Ideas.

Answers

1 – c. Look at the overall impact your commitment is having—on staff, company growth, retention, recruitment.
2 – d. retention. “It’s harder than ever before to keep successful creators on staff,” Sherman said;
3 – a. marketing
4 – c. 65% – “In terms of people in the highest levels of the industry about at least 12 to 13 of them have been on the NAB Board and over 59 have purchased stations,” Duke said.
5 – b. “I have been flying since the age of 13, and Flying has been my guide,” said Fuller.
6 – b. the Nobel Prize. “We celebrate Dr. Bertozzi’s leadership in advocating for diversity and inclusion in chemistry,” said ACS President Angela K. Wilson.

Scores

1-3 right – Attending BIMS will give you a perfect score, in more ways than one
4-5 right – Attending BIMS will fill you in on that last bit of knowledge
6 right – We need more people like you there!