It’s no secret that publishers are in a weird place right now with local advertisers closing their doors, and the increased reliance on freelance journalists. Journalists are starting to create their own independent income evidenced by Substack’s rapid growth. Large numbers of the population are willing to pay a single journalist $5 per month to read their content, but publishers can’t (and aren’t) pivoting fast enough to reader revenue. There is a lesson here. There is an underused value that a human can bring to your brand. It’s time for publishers to humanize their editors.
It’s not hard to humanize your editors, but you have to take a step back from thinking of your brand as a brand, but instead as a collection of individuals united by a single mission. Your audience can tell when someone is genuinely interested in the subject they’re covering. Authenticity translates. And can translate to revenue, too.
Let your editors use their own voice to speak to the community, while simultaneously upholding the standards of your brand. Here are a few ways that TFD has been impressed with other brands that are trying:
Email:
When a user signs up for your newsletter list, immediately introduce the editor that will be writing to them on a regular basis. Include a note from that person, why they love the beat that they cover, and sign off with a photo of them. Make sure to link to their social media profile as well as their author page on your website.
For each edition of the newsletter, greet the audience with a personalized note from the editor … in their own voice.
Offer secret newsletters to paying subscribers as premium content. This is one of the more appealing parts of Substack, you can sign up for the free newsletter, but if you pay a little bit of money, you can get access to more content from your favorite journalist.
Take a look at this example from Axios, venturing into the local space:
Social Media
Gary Vaynerchuk, one of the more forward-thinking media executives of our time, has already tried to articulate that “influencers are the new editors.” I’d like to steal that idea and turn it on it’s head and say that “editors are the new influencers.” Allowing and encouraging your staff to create their own following on social media can help distribute your content to a wider audience. I’d take it as far to say that as a publisher, you should allocate time for your editors to connect with their audience on social media. Think of it as editorial PR.
When an editor authors a piece, tag their social media profile so they can get credit for their work. This in turn will prompt them to share that piece to their own profile, which of course will drive traffic directly towards your website.
When editors write threads on Twitter of the pieces they have produced, retweet that content directly to your audience.
Encourage editors to share behind the scenes footage of covering a story. If they had to wait in the rain for 2 hours to catch a bus to see their source, that is content that humanizes the effort they went to to get the story. If they’re on the shoot for the next cover, encourage them to share behind the scenes video of setting up and taking down the shoot or share selfies.
I know I write way too much about the Morning Brew, but one of the quick ways you can identify a person that works there is by the coffee cup in their Twitter username. This easy to implement element helps unite their staff on Twitter in a clever way.
Bon Appetit built up individual editor’s loyalty to the brand so much via their test kitchen that, even after leaving the brand in 2015, Allison Roman was able to take her audience with her wherever she went. As of today, she is the top paid food newsletter on Substack. Humanization works.
Video
What is the ultimate way to humanize your staff? Put them on camera! Show their face! The most recent version of the iPhone is all you need to turn your editor’s living room into a content studio. Video helps familiarize your audience with the human behind the stories they love so much, their nuances, and much more.
A few ways to utilize video as a publisher:
Create private Zoom live streams to talk about behind the scenes topics with your editors. Did you have a viral story on your website this month? A specific story that got more clicks than ever before in your newsletter? Email your audience and tell them that paying subscribers can get access to a private Zoom call to talk about everything that happened to make that piece a reality.
Don’t want to go to the trouble of setting up a private Zoom? Simply have an editor go live on any platform that you’re trying to grow on. Do an interview with a local chef or a politician in your community to talk about food insecurity or access to the vaccine. Save the video from the live and upload it to your IGTV or YouTube channel to increase the reach of the content.
Treat your editors like influencers (minus the promo codes).
Optimize Your Website
On every article, link out to your editor’s social media profiles and to their author page. Make sure their author page has their picture and a bio that makes them sound like a real person. Better yet, put their photo in the byline to draw a connection between a face and a name.
Remember that your audience is filled with human beings that are looking to be told the truth with context, and that they know when the person writing the story actually cares. When they feel connected to the person telling them the story they’re more likely to feel connected to your brand. They’ll also be more likely to want to help you grow.
Want to learn more about how to humanize your editors? Email me at natalie@twentyfirstdigital.com. (Shout out to my friend Carla, who helped remind me that the audience knows when the editor cares.)