Capitalizing on Current Events to Engage Readers

Our colleagues at Boston.com do a great job capitalizing on current events to engage readers. For example, during the presidential election yesterday, the team setup video coverage, photo galleries, a Twitter hashtag and so much more. Here are some more details about their strategy that we believe are great ways to engage readers through current events!

1. Setting up a Twitter hashtag - Boston.com's social media producers encouraged readers, employees, and Twitter users to use and follow #mavote on Twitter. They were excited and happy to see tweets rolling in, and retweeted many different users who were showing pictures of their polls and giving information about lines as well as other information about Election Day in general. 23% of yesterday's traffic to the site came from social media sites! The data shows that they used social media correctly to drive traffic and engage users.

2. Having some fun with an Election Day photo gallery - Boston.com setup a "Quirky photos from Election Day 2012" gallery on Boston.com to engage readers with the "fun side of Election Day." Our colleagues did a great job not only delivering unrivaled coverage of the election throughout the day, but also on delivering to the readers the content they know they respond well to - photo albums and fun content. The data shows that readers consistently enjoy the photo albums that Boston.com sets up and this album was no different. It certainly showed the fun side of Election Day in Boston and it engaged readers.

3. Video collection - The Boston.com team did a great job aggregating videos from many different outlets in its Election 2012 video highlights section. Boston.com delivered to its readers a comprehensive curation of scenes and videos from across the country in this section. Although it wasn't all Boston.com original content, the team made a decision to deliver the best of the available videos to its readers since the team knows that's what the readers are looking for. Additionally, the team wanted to deliver content in the form of video because they know that's one of the best ways to engage with Boston.com readers.*

There's a lot we can learn from the editorial staff here at Boston.com. They know what their readers respond to and engage with, and they were able to capitalize on this particular current event, by creating content and spreading the word about this content in the ways that generate the most engagement from their loyal readers. So what's the take away? Learn what makes your audience tick, deliver to them the content they want and deliver it in a way that they would like to receive it. Make sure when you're attempting to capitalize on current events that you are doing it a way that encourages engagement!


*We know that Boston.com has a ton of resources and it might be a bit more difficult for you to execute a video collection or a photo gallery to they extent that the team here does on your blog, so here are some easy ways to integrate new media into the blogging mix:
1. Add some video to your content - Instead of writing out your content one day, try making a quick video to share information with readers. Video is a great way to engage your audience and keep readers interested.
2. Remember that pictures are worth 1000 words - Did you have a fun employee party recently, or participate in a race together? Add some pictures to a blog post and let your audience in on the fun. This is a great way to humanize your brand and engage your loyal followers.
3. Follow a relevant hashtag on Twitter and post the best tweets to your blog to start a discussion. This a great way to stay relevant and on top of current events as well as add your opinion and encourage readers to do the same.


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*Offer valid through 12/15/12