Is your newspaper as connected to your community as you would like?

Everything GateHouse Media's Center for News & Design does is centered around the goal of creating more original content for its newspapers.

David Arkin, senior vice president of content and product development for GateHouse Media, shared 10 tips with attendees at the Key Executives Mega-Conference about ways they can successful boost community engagement:

1. Be conversational and hit the right tone on social media.  Don't post content with the traditional headline approach and don't treat them like RSS feeds. You can have numerous people posting on social media, but you've got to find people who "get it" and get the tone that goes along with it.
2. Hold community events and forums every quarter.  Hold a town hall or bring in experts to address important issues in the community.  In some cases, the newspaper is leading this and in other cases, the paper might partner with an association or another group that is involved in the particular topic. Sessions also could focus on the newspaper's coverage of diversity and ways that the community could improve diverse relations.
3. If you have an app or are doing something with mobile, make push notifications wider than the latest news. Breaking news is an important part of this, but content beyond breaking news also does really well – such as: five things to do this weekend, reviews and sports schedules.
4. Invite readers to attend your editorial budget meetings.  It's a great way to explain your process, let readers weigh in and then profile those readers who take part in this process.
5. Have every reporter create 60-second videos. Tie videos to an assignment, utilizing mobile technology (GateHouse Media currently is producing about 5,000 videos a month using technology from Tout). Here's a great example from StarNews Online – click on the 60-second video example.
6. Start a monthly reader advisory board with people who care about the newspaper, who are involved in the community, but don't have an agenda (the mayor, for example, can't be on the advisory board).  Get a cross section of people who read the print paper and those who follow the digital version. Require a six-month term during which you explain your processes, focus on different departments at the paper, and use the ideas that come out of it.  If you run a column in the paper after each meeting, it will help to generate conversation in the community.  This group also could determine the winners of contests your paper might be running.
7. Write headlines like the cool digital companies.  Write conversational headlines for mobile – like you'd see on BuzzFeed.  There are lessons here for print products as well.  Engaging headlines draw readers in. If newspapers don't do this, they'll never engage that younger audience.
8. Ask readers to fill out surveys for big news.  Embed the surveys in stories, promote the surveys and use the results for reporting.
9. Stop telling every story in a narrative format.  Offer snack bites and alternative story formats, which works really well for mobile.
10. Don't be afraid to put an editorial on 1A.  Don't do it often, but when you do, make it dominate 1A.  Run the full editorial there; no jumps.

BONUS: Use blog tools – and not just for breaking news.  Seek ways for readers to follow your reporting: sports, events, meetings and more.

Subscribe to David Arkin's blog (no cost) for more ideas: www.gatehousenewsroom.com/category/arkin/