By Murtala Mohamed Kamara
Imagine a major news story breaking on a Saturday; chances are that most newspapers in Sierra Leone will not be in position to report the news as it happens. The reason is that our traditional newspapers are used to just delivering the news in print and newspapers publish only on weekdays. The truth is that there is a sharp decline in demand for print publications, and this is not just in Sierra Leone. Major print publications like the BBC Focus on Africa Magazine have seized publishing, whilst others have transitioned to digital versions.
The world is now consuming news in different ways, the digital media is now taking over print. The new media has had a significant impact on the print media but whilst some say this technology is a threat, it also provides an opportunity for traditional media.
I will share with you here some tips on how your newspaper can use some of these digital platforms to attract more subscribers, thereby increasing your revenue streams. Let’s start with the website
WEBSITE
Websites are very important, you cannot publish a newspaper in this digital era without having a website. If you want to attract more readers, this is the way to go. Websites allow you to publish texts, images, videos and audio. It also allows you to report the news in real-time and get instant feedback from your readers. Some publishers are of the notion that newspapers are not in the business of publishing videos or audios or creating video contents. Well, this was the case a decade ago, but it has changed.
It is one thing to have a website and another to have great content that will keep readers coming back to your website. Newspapers should consider creating good content because content is the key.
This social media platform has 2.94 billion monthly active users and 1.96 billion users that are visiting the site daily. Who would want to miss out on this number of people? If you want to stay in business in this digital era, you must find a way to take your content to your readers and one platform that you can use to do that is Facebook.
Newspapers should create business pages on Facebook if they don’t have one. They should also look beyond publishing their daily edition front pages. Newspapers can train their reporters on multimedia coverage. If news breaks and they are at the scene, they can go live on Facebook. They can also think of creating content for Facebook around key topics. Newspapers can have a daily, or weekly discussion or bring in independent panellists to review or discuss their stories. When news breaks, you don’t have to wait to print it out. Facebook could be a starting point for developing stories.
YOUTUBE
This is the opportunity the new media has created. Newspapers can now create content and distribute it to multiple channels. Newspapers need to have their own YouTube channels. Nowadays people want to read but also see videos of happenings.
Many people, including reporters, now have smartphones. There are many tools that they can use to edit their videos and publish them on YouTube channels. Reporters can also cover a news report and create different contents.for different platforms. They can also include WhatsApp verified videos in their reports and credit the source.
You can tweet live events whether it’s a press conference, a riot or an award ceremony, it brings more followers to you. You can also live-tweet important quotes during the coverage of an event. Learn to use the #hashtag. This is the power of Twitter. Twitter has also recently launched Twitter space, which now allows for having a live conversation. You can schedule one. You can be having a weekly interview with a big personality, whether a Government official, a sports icon or a humanitarian. You can create a flyer with a picture of the guest for the week and publish it in print. It gives your fans information about the topic and the guest.
News media are hopping on this platform. It is very popular, especially among young people. Almost 60% of all online adults aged 18 to 29 years old use Instagram. It has over 700 million monthly users and three times more engagement than Facebook. I call it the ‘addictive’ site. For most young people, this is where they get information on protests, police actions, etc. For those that love to publish newspaper front pages, well, this is the most appropriate place to do it. You can publish newspaper front pages, news in slideshow format, a nice quote in a flyer format, short video, etc.
About the Author:
Murtala Mohamed Kamara is a multimedia journalist, founder of SaloneJamboree newspaper and Managing Director of Jamboree Consult, an information technology, digital and advertising consultancy. Jamboree Consult provides website design services, Social Media Marketing, online reputation management, Mobile App development, Drone camera rental, video production, advertising etc.
