Tips for Journalists Who Want to Boost Their Reader Engagement

A journalist’s audience is their lifeline. Freelance journalists are often bouncing from gig to gig, writing for everything from major publications to blogs, and their engagement level can sometimes determine how many of these pieces that journalist gets. Plus, more clicks means more money—something every journalist definitely needs.

But capturing an audience can seem like an elusive task, especially in the information age. With so much journalism from so many sources out there, how can an up-and-coming journalist hope to get their foot in the door and build an audience?

Here are some important tips to remember.

CURATE YOUR CONTENT

Readers are evolving—and journalists have an uphill battle. Trust in media in the United States is at an all-time low, and most people under 30 rely just as much on social media for news as they do the media. The content you are producing cannot be standard, run-of-the-mill emulations of major media pieces—it must evolve with the reader.

 Tim Robinson, the managing editor at NationalWorld (a UK news publisher), has a tip for journalists struggling to wrap their minds around this:

"The key is to understand the utility of our content…to offer the depth and perspective that can’t be found elsewhere. For news publishers, this means not just being first, but explaining and educating the world to our readers - a world that is full of less reliable sources of information. We can build relationships through newsletters and social, but these will only stand the test of time if they are built on the solid foundations of relevant quality content."

OFFER WAYS FOR YOUR READERS TO CONNECT WITH YOU

Community is the backbone of journalism. Therefore, opening yourself up to direct engagement with communities you are supporting with your writing means you are almost certain to build an audience. Communities will also respond to your writing, and help you with content curation: as your audience evolves and has different needs, they will not hesitate to give you that feedback if you feel trustworthy and approachable. 

PLATFORM IS EVERYTHING

There are so many ways to get written work online in the 21st century, but not every method of distribution and platform is created equal. A platform (such as Twitter) has a personality that is in conversation with its community. For Twitter, you need short form writing, easily digestible talking points, and concise, clear points in order to report effectively. On TikTok, it’s about the person delivering the information and the “wrapping” in which the information is delivered (set, look of the person talking, whether the account is already popular or not). And more traditional news platforms require something different entirely. You can’t ignore the personality of the platform you’re writing for if you hope to engage an audience on it.

LEARN WHAT YOUR CONSISTENCIES ARE, AND LEARN WHERE YOU CAN ADAPT

People want to connect to you and to your writing, which means there must be something throughout your work that is consistently you, while other parts of your work change and adapt to meet the platform, audience, or moment that they are written for. This can be something as simple as the quality of your voice when writing; or something as complex as the structure of your work. Whatever you bring to your writing that is uniquely you is important to distill. However, it is equally important to not get trapped in some habit or style that doesn’t make sense for your audience. 

These tips are great for building engagement, but they’re just as great for helping the journalist refine their working style to better serve themselves and a wider audience. If journalists can always remember to prioritize their audience and community in their writing, the rest will come naturally.