ProductShots_Excel

How Three EXCEL Award Finalists Use Microsite Hubs to Serve and Bond With Their Audiences

by Media

It has been encouraging to see that news hubs—so popular during the pandemic—have continued to take center stage, with many focusing on DEI. The three finalists in the EXCEL Awards for Best Microsite present inspiring examples of hubs that offer information and resources to their audience and should inspire more loyalty and engagement.

During the pandemic, we saw many organizations act quickly to create coronavirus news hubs with free resources and articles. Almost every publisher I interviewed at that time said their hub has brought excellent engagement—and goodwill because most were paywall-free. I wrote at that time that “the success of these news hubs could provide a blueprint for future hubs around socially important and societal-impact topics.”

“When you have those moments, when people are intensely interested in your content for a very specific reason, everything feels changed,” Jeremy Gilbert said at the time. He is currently the Knight Chair for Digital Media Strategy at Northwestern University’s Medill School, but at that time was director of strategic initiatives at The Washington Post.

“We need to think how we can make our news and information [continue to be] relevant, but especially how we can make people aware about the width and breadth of coverage we can do… and how can we bridge [new subscribers] from caring about the news in the time of the virus to caring about the news when things are going better.

“You need to think, ‘What is it about the relationship that felt important?’” Gilbert asked.

Here are some of the accomplishments of relationship-building microsites from the American Chemical Society (ACS), American Institute of Physics (AIP) and Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB).

Provide helpful guidelines. The ACS Inclusivity Style Guide “aims to help American Chemical Society staff and members communicate in ways that recognize and respect diversity in all its forms.” General guidelines include how to involve diverse people in the creative process, avoid labeling people by a characteristic, and asking people how they want to be described and respect that language. It also tells you when and how to mention age: Use “adults aged 55 to 60 years,” avoid “the middle-aged”; use “octogenarians, centenarians,” avoid “the elderly, aging dependents.” (I just saw a letter to The Washington Post complaining about their use of elderly for 65 and up.)

Be aware of what you ask for. This came up in our webinar on talent recruitment, when it was noted that some organizations were giving far too many requirements for certain positions, especially internships. The ACS Guide includes a section on Forms. “Ask for only what you need, consider your audience, disclose who has access, allow for multiple responses rather than a single choice, where applicable.” AGB’s site on Board Fundamentals: Justice, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion begins with key questions for your Boards to consider: “How diverse is your board? What perspectives are missing from the table and how can the board be more inclusive? How are potential new board members identified?”

Provide resources. AGB provides an Inclusion Toolkit with multiple resources within that. There are FAQs, a podcast on Strategic Board Leadership, and articles galore such as When an Institution Is Named After a Slave-Owning Founding Father. ACS gives numerous tip sheets, practice exercises, a training video, and topics to come. One “additional topic under consideration” I like is “How to respond when you make a mistake.”

Talk about well-being. AIP’s #BlackInPhysics Week 2021 Essay Series focused on burnout, “a critical topic as Black physicists confront systemic racism both within and outside of academia.” “To strengthen community building, we’ve augmented our social programming, which includes a cooking class led by a Black mental health therapist who is also a chef and a virtual painting class led by the members of a Black-owned art studio.” It adds gravitas to an organization that cares about its audience like this. They commissioned a “collection of articles written by Black physicists that covers burnout from different perspectives… co-published by Physics Today and Physics World.” ACS advises “when and how to mention someone’s health” and “avoid using disability-related terms to describe something negative.”

Be careful with your images. ACS includes a section on diversity and inclusion in images—“stereotypes in images, captions, editing photos, how to choose images.” One of my biggest pet peeves with stock images is that whenever just hands are used in a photo or image, they are usually male and white.

Please also check out our own hub/site titled SIIA’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Federal Privacy

SIIA Statement: Federal Privacy Legislation Needs to Happen Now

by PolicyPress Release

This statement can be attributed to Jeff Joseph, President, Software & Information Industry Association: 

We are encouraged by press reports that House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Ranking Member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) along with Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), reportedly have made significant progress on a federal privacy bill that includes federal preemption and a limited private right of action for substantial and individualized harm – two of our top priority concerns.

SIIA has advocated strongly for federal privacy legislation that balances legitimate concerns about individual privacy and the need for laws that support innovation and commerce. A federal privacy law that achieves this balance will ensure that consumers and companies alike do not have to navigate a patchwork of individual state privacy laws with different rights and obligations. A uniform privacy law would level the playing field for companies, no matter their size, and support small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), who are the backbone of the U.S. economy. 

We urge lawmakers to ensure that any federal privacy bill that moves ahead preserve the ability of American companies and consumers to make productive use of publicly-available information (PAI). As several states have already recognized in their privacy laws, preservation of the ability to use PAI is required by the First Amendment and the uniquely American values that underlie it.

Privacy is a serious issue for consumers and businesses of all sizes. The United States should serve as a global role model in supporting a free Internet.  It is critical that we get this right. We look forward to reviewing the proposal and working with Congress to advance a comprehensive federal privacy bill in the near term.

For more insights from SIIA please read this blog: https://www.siia.net/act-now-on-federal-privacy-legislation/

 

Hand Holding Red Horseshoe Magnet Attracting Pawn Figures

‘Habit Is More Important Than Intensity’; New Medill Study Looks at Improving Subscriber Retention

by Media

An article last week on Medill’s site reported that “regularity is more important than intensity” when it comes to subscriber/reader retention. Analysis of millions of page views by digital subscribers of a business weekly for 6 months in 2021 showed that “having readers who read more often is 10 times more important than having them read more articles.”

“This research is significant because it shows the key to success in keeping readers is building habit, whether you’re a general interest metro daily or a weekly business publication with a more upscale audience,” said Tim Franklin, senior associate dean and John M. Mutz chair in local news at Medill. “The formula is the same. Do things that regularly lead readers back to you. Why is that important? The cornerstone of the new business model is reader revenue. That means reader retention is paramount.”

Arvid Tchivzhel, managing director of digital services at Mather Economics, said that the findings make sense for the industry. “Habit is more important than intensity,” he said. “I’d rather have someone read one article a day and come back than someone who reads six articles at a time and doesn’t come back for months.”

This may not be breaking news, but it’s still vital to note. Last year, Tara Lajumoke, managing director of FT Strategies, said that “if 2020 was ‘the year of subscriptions,’ 2021 [was] ‘the year of the light readers.’ It’s therefore worth investing in big drivers of engagement for loyal and casual readers—on the homepage, via newsletters and recommendation engines—and developing non-news propositions, so that those who come for the headlines will stay for the podcasts, or the crosswords.”

In what they called Project Habit, The Wall Street Journal also found habits to be crucial to reader retention, especially during the first 100 days after a reader had signed up. They found that “playing a puzzle had a more dramatic impact on reader retention than other actions the team had been promoting.” You start to understand why Wordle was worth so much to the New York Times.

Here are more findings from the Medill study:

Learn what topics drive your most regular readers. Stories about commercial and residential real estate resonated most for this business weekly. Second place went to a long-time political columnist. They were surprised that healthcare stories came in third, said the publication’s publisher, calling it a “something of a revelation. We know this is a big healthcare market, but we didn’t have a lot of data around how many subscribers are there because of that.”

Build up and market your popular writers/columnists. That columnist is “worth his weight in gold,” said Medill Spiegel Research Center research director Edward Malthouse, and brought in many subscribers that the analysis termed “political junkies.” Not surprisingly, they just hired a second politics writer. The finding “affirmed some of our hunches and gave us more confidence about doubling down in those areas,” the publisher said. “This will help us refine some of our audience strategies around more casual readers. We know they like our content, but we need to figure out how to get them to be more engaged as paying subscribers.”

Shift your strategy to keeping those regular readers engaged. Medill advises downplaying breaking news for “a balance of content that attracts your most loyal readers, the ones who will subscribe… Put the big photo and headline on the content that serves most of your readers.” Add a newsletter to address the specific, high-traffic niches, they urge.

Take advantage of synergy. Use “teaser” links to related content at the bottom of stories. Most links at the end of articles will take you to similar topic articles. Today for instance, I was reading about yesterday’s Nadal-Djokovic match in the NY Times, and links at the end took me to other articles about the rivalry. But Medill recommends that for this business publication’s loyal political junkies, links should also go to “real estate or healthcare news because of the synergies between those readership areas.”

Experiment with additional content areas. The publication also runs occasional reviews of restaurants and cultural events. “The analysis found that articles about restaurants and dining ranked in the top four areas of page views by prospective readers, those who visit the website but aren’t yet subscribing.” (The Washington Post Weekend section has gone all in on restaurant coverage.) Tchivzhel said that makes sense because it’s an affluent audience. Experiment with additional content areas—there’s nothing to lose. “We’re really trying to use the data to see how far we can expand our audience outside of traditional business,” the publisher said. “We see some potential opportunities if we put more resources behind those areas.”

 

SIIA-amp-network-feature-photo

SIIA AM&P Network Domestic (USA) Live Event and COVID-19 Policies as of June 2022

by Media

COVID-19 Policy for In-Person Events

Vaccination policy: To attend an AM&P Network in-person event, you must show proof of full vaccination in order to enter the event space.

Mask policy:

  • AMPLIFY and EXCEL Gala: required

As local mandates may change, SIIA may make changes to our own safety planning. We will keep you informed of any changes. If you test positive for COVID within 10 days prior to the event date, you can transfer your registration to a colleague, receive a credit toward a future AM&P Network event (within the calendar year), or receive a 75% refund. Find the full cancellation policy below.

CANCELLATION POLICY

SIIA Domestic (USA) Live Event and COVID -19 Policies as of June 2022

COVID Policy for In-Person Events: SIIA will follow all COVID -19 regulations and restrictions applicable at the time of the event as set by the U.S. Government (USG) and the state, locality and venue in which the event will be hosted, as well as recommended safety guidelines from the CDC. If SIIA is unable to hold the event due to pandemic-related restrictions or regulations imposed by the USG, the host state or the event venue, SIIA will credit the registration fee towards a virtual or hybrid event, or another SIIA event of the registrant’s choice.

Should the planned in-person meeting shift to a hybrid or fully virtual event due to COVID -19, registration can be transferred to another colleague at no charge. Registration fees are not refundable.

Exhibit and sponsorship fees also are not refundable. Should the planned in-person meeting shift to a hybrid event, exhibit and/or sponsorship fee agreements shall be unaffected. If the event shifts to a fully virtual event, participants will be able to transfer their sponsorship or exhibit payment to a SIIA future live or hybrid event if necessary.

*If registrant provides proof of a COVID -19 diagnosis within 10-days of the event date and can no longer travel, a substitute registrant will be permitted – or the registration can be applied to a future SIIA event within the calendar year. If a refund is requested, a 75% refund will be provided, less the 25% processing fee.

During the event, the host venue, and not SIIA, will enforce the COVID -19 guidelines. These guidelines may or may not include wearing mask indoors and in conference rooms, providing proof of vaccination or recent testing, social distancing and/or administering onsite rapid testing.

SIIA may update or otherwise modify these requirements at any time as we deem prudent to best protect the health and safety of attendees, staff and others. Attendees must comply with these policies as communicated by SIIA and the event venue.

SIIA cannot be held liable for COVID-19 cases resulting from attending SIIA’s in-person events. Attendees of SIIA in-person events must follow the stated policies, regulations and restrictions while participating in the event and related official activities. Failure to comply with all safety protocols and requirements as communicated by SIIA or an official event venue – or related directions from SIIA or the venue on-site – may result in the loss of the right to attend or participate in SIIA events, including forfeiting any registration fees paid.

*In-Person Event General Cancellation-Refund Policy:

  • 75% refund if request is received by 45-days before Event Date
  • 50% refund if request is received after 45 days before Event Date but before 30 days before Event Date.
  • NO REFUNDS less than 30 days before Event Date.
  • While there are NO REFUNDS after 30 days, substitutions are permitted without penalty.

Virtual Event General Cancellation-Refund Policy

  • 75% refund if request is received by 30-days before Event Date
  • NO REFUNDS less than 30 days before Event Date.
  • While there are NO REFUNDS after 30 days, substitutions are permitted without penalty. Refund request must be made in writing to Jgerald@siia.net in a timely manner to be considered.