Ways To Improve News Room Workflows With Editorial Analytics
Written by: Rashmi
Ask anyone to imagine a newsroom and chances are that she will talk about large rooms filled with people working round the clock in a chaotic manner. But that is not the reality of today’s digital newsrooms.
Now, the newsrooms are much more organized and efficient. There are digital tools, content calendars, and much more that have drastically improved operational efficiency. Editorial analytics plays a vital part in this improved workflow. If you also work in a newsroom, you definitely need to know ways to incorporate editorial analytics in the newsroom.
In this article, we will decode the ways editorial analytics help in making workflow easy. But before that, let’s clear the basics.
What is Editorial Analytics?
In the current scenario, news organizations are coping with a highly competitive environment. And that is why they cannot afford to take their audience for granted. Instead, these are the times when every story and every news piece is up for a battle for attention.
News organizations are, therefore, utilizing analytics to be data informed. This ensures that they not only understand how readers are receiving a story but also how a story can be crafted to reach more and more people.
Understand that here, editorial analytics is not restricted to likes or page views. It refers to recognizing the patterns of reader behavior and then coming up with editorial strategies to meet both short-term and long-term goals.
Ways To Improve The Workings of News Rooms With Editorial Analytics
The idea of using analytics to improve the workflow of newsrooms has been a central part of the US-based news agencies. However, now the trend is reaching other markets too.
Below are some ways how editorial analytics proves to be a game changer in improving the workflow of newsrooms:
Understanding the Audience:
The use of editorial analytics gives a clear picture of the audience and their preferences. The analytics also charts the journey of users showing from where did they reach the site, what did they click on, how did they interact with the content, and which pages did they share on social media.
This complete set of data empowers the newsroom in deciding what type of story is trending in the industry. Audience metrics also help in planning the next set of content pieces.
Make Informed Editorial Decisions In Lesser Time:
Flying blind is something newsrooms cannot afford nowadays. It wastes both time and effort. But when editors have access to real-time data, they can make quick and informed decisions. For instance, instead of publishing the stories in the evening, they can decide to publish stories at a time when more and more people are active on digital media. They can also collaborate with analytic experts to further plan, assign, and publish the news stories.
Editors can also instantly see the real-time metrics for multiple platforms such as websites, social media platforms, and apps and decide the next content strategy. Thus, all the decisions are based on facts and not just intuitions.
Enable Experimentation Based On Data:
To grow, editorial requires experimentations. With editorial analytics, editors can evaluate the performance of a story and then conduct experiments to improve workflow and results.
For instance, they can simply change the headline of a content piece and check its real-time results. Based on the metrics, editors and journalists can find out which headline is more impactful. And since this experiment is based on metrics, it allows newsrooms to test hypotheses while avoiding flying blind.
How Should A News Room Develop Editorial Analytics
No doubt that analytics is all about technology and data but adopting editorial analytics is much more than this.
To ensure the best use of editorial analytics, news organizations should invest in the ultimate combination of the right set of tools, an organizational structure that supports the expertise to use these tools, and finally a newsroom culture that is ready to embrace this approach.