NAA mediaXchange

NAA mediaXchange is the largest annual gathering of industry executives in North America, offering unprecedented networking opportunities that combine an exchange of information and ideas with programming designed to generate results. The conference is designed to provide valuable ideas and insights to help newspaper professionals grow audience and revenue for their print and digital products. Sessions highlight leading-edge thinking about media strategies, successes in product and revenue development, new ideas and innovation inside and outside the industry, and tactics and techniques to employ in print and digital.

Digital targeting strategies pay off for newspapers - #NAAmXc11

By Lisa Collins

The "Success in Digital Targeting" session revealed that branded media sites have multiple audiences with different goals and that content should be purposed for each user's behavior.

Bill Adee, vice president of digital development and operation for the Chicago Tribune Media Group, defined the difference between a "brand user" and a "search user" and how both should be served digital content. A brand user peruses the outlet on a regular basis, while the search user actively seeks information. Advertisements and contents should be displayed differently in order to reach these two different readers.

Adee said the Chicago Tribune uses metrics to determine the actual value of content, which helps the company allocate resources based on what is known about the worth of a story. Digital customization has led to a 37 percent increase in page views per visit.

Rochelle Sanchirico, director of digital marketing at The Washington Post, has grown the Post's social media marketing department from a one-person show to a fully developed team.

The Washington Post uses various social media platforms to build audience. Sanchirico acknowledged that different platforms require different tones, as each has a different type of user and a different method of interaction.

The Post optimizes every interaction with readers, down to ensuring that comments displayed are by users considered to be reputable on the subjects on which they are commenting.

The Washington Post was the first media company to partner with Twitter on a promotional trend. The newspaper owned the hashtag #election during 2010 midterm election coverage and saw 2.5 times the average referrals to its site.

Dan Shorter, vice president of digital media at The New York Times Regional Newspaper Group, let attendees in on a service called Outbrain that he said will increase audiences and profits for free.

Outbrain is a recommendation tool that suggests relevant links to readers alongside content. It can link to content on the same site as well as to content across the Web. Shorter said the service has increased traffic to the group's own stories by 7 percent.

>> View and download speaker presentations from the Success in Digital Targeting session. (NAA Members Only)

Lisa Collins is a student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Find out more about Lisa and other students reporting live from NAA's mediaXchange here.

About Amanda Knowles

Amanda Knowles is Web & Social Media Manager at the Newspaper Association of America. Before coming to NAA, Amanda spent four years working in print journalism, both at the college and professional level. She has worked as a copy editor and news page designer for two daily newspapers in northwestern Pennsylvania, The Erie Times-News and The Meadville Tribune. Most recently, she collaborated on The American Observer, the online magazine edited and produced by graduate journalism students at American University in Washington, D.C. Amanda believes strongly in the secure future of the newspaper, and is excited to be a participant in the movement to integrate traditional print media into the burgeoning digital world.