If you travel in audience development circles, you’ve heard by now that Google is back on top as the main source of third-party referral traffic for publishers. And chances are you’re probably exhausted from explaining to folks that relying on any one particular platform as a primary source of traffic is a really bad idea. In 2018, we’ll see publishers diversify their approach to audience development, both in the tactics used and staffing models required to support them.
Teams will broaden their thinking around what the definition of audience development within a modern newsroom means. Engaging and growing audiences on social platforms will continue to be a priority, but not the only one. The 2018 audience roadmap will involve an increased focus on SEO, analytics, on-platform recirculation, community management, and newsletters. In isolation, none of these tactics are new or revolutionary, but whether your business is ad-based, membership-driven, or a paid model, 2018 will be the year in which audience teams are expected to use them in concert to contribute to the bottom line.
Search engine optimization will once again become increasingly important to newsrooms. SEO editors will join audience teams and lead search strategy, training folks on best practices and building bridges with product and technical teams to ensure that we are working together to achieve the best search results. Analytics editors will be hired to dig into the data daily and work with senior management to evaluate what is resonating with our audiences and compelling them to help fund our work. Newsletter editors will continue to build the type of one-to-one loyalty which helps feed our audience funnels, converting casual readers into the type of loyal ones who will help sustain our work. The community editor’s position will return to prominence, but with measurable recirculation goals attached to their work. Newsroom leadership should encourage and empower these individuals to be the watchful eye on editorial ROI. Multi-disciplined audience teams will balance quantitative data and qualitative audience insight with our years of well-honed news judgement. They will challenge us to stop doing what doesn’t achieve measurable results.
The beauty of diversification is that it means not putting all of your eggs in one basket. It will encourage teams to broaden their skillsets, think creatively about various ways to get to the goal of sustainability and sharpen their discipline of setting goals and measuring them.
Kim Fox is managing editor of audience at The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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Adam Thomas Sharing is caring: The year of the mentor
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Daniel Trielli The rich get richer, the poor scramble
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Mary Walter-Brown Show a little vulnerability
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Susie Banikarim R.I.P. Pivot to Video (2017–2017)
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Alexios Mantzarlis Moving fake news research out of the lab
Ray Soto VR reaches the next level
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Pete Brown Push alerts, personalized
Errin Haines At the ballot, it’s time to count black women
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Pablo Boczkowski The rise of skeptical reading
Nikki Usher The year of The Washington Post
Rubina Madan Fillion Unlocking the potential of AI
Lanre Akinola Making noise is not a strategy
Vivian Schiller Pivot to tomorrow
Julia B. Chan Looking for loyalty in all the right places
Jennifer Coogan The future is female
Andrew Ramsammy The year ownership mattered
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Sydette Harry Listen to your corner and watch for the hook
Jim Brady With the people, not just of the people
Carrie Brown-Smith Transparency finally takes off
Debra Adams Simmons And a woman shall lead them
Jassim Ahmad Thriving on change
Mariana Moura Santos Think local, act global
Zizi Papacharissi Women come back
Michelle Ferrier The year of the great reckoning
Jennifer Choi Standing up for us and for each other
Alastair Coote The year of self-improvement
Marie Gilot No assholes allowed
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Seeking trust in fragmented spaces
Monique Judge Letting black women tell their own stories
Joanne Lipman Journalists inventing revenue streams
Corey Johnson The pro-fact resistance
Luke O'Neil The end is already here
Kyle Ellis Let’s build our way out of this
Raney Aronson-Rath Transparency is the antidote to fake news
Hannah Cassius The year of the echo-chamber escapists
Rachel Schallom Better design helps differentiate opinion and news
Jim Moroney Newspapers have to be good enough for readers to pay for
Mario García Storytelling finally adapts to mobile
Michael Kuntz The only pivot that might work
Eric Ulken The year local publishers get smart(er) about change
C.W. Anderson The social media apocalypse
Amy King Let’s amplify visual voice
Laura E. Davis Writing answers before you know the question
Rachel Davis Mersey AI, with real smarts
José Zamora Revenue-first journalism
Sam Ford The year of investing in processes
Kim Fox Audience teams diversify their approach
Michelle Garcia Navigating journalistic transparency
Hossein Derakhshan Television has won
Andrew Haeg The year journalists become relationship builders
Dannagal G. Young Stop covering politics as a game
Matt Thompson Here come the attention managers
Dheerja Kaur Fun with subscription products
Vanessa K. DeLuca Women’s voices take center stage
Raju Narisetti Mirror, mirror on the wall
Kinsey Wilson Facebook and Google: Help out or pay up
Heather Bryant Building the ecosystems for collaboration
Sally Lehrman Trust comes first
Mandy Velez texting is lit rn, fam
Mike Caulfield Refactoring media literacy for the networked age
Trushar Barot The Jio-fication of India
Niketa Patel Live journalism comes of age
Juliette De Maeyer A responsible press criticism
Emily Goligoski Looking beyond news for inspiration
Matt DeRienzo A recession, then a collapse
Umbreen Bhatti The trust problem isn’t new
Joanne McNeil Gatekeeping the gatekeepers
Mariano Blejman News games rule
Jesse Holcomb Information disorder, coming to a congressional district near you
Felix Salmon Covering bitcoin while owning bitcoin
Jarrod Dicker Honesty in advertising
Ståle Grut Reclaiming audience interaction from social networks
Kristen Muller The year of the voter
Betsy O'Donovan and Melody Kramer Skepticism and narcissism
Charo Henríquez Training is an investment, not an expense
Renée Kaplan The year of quiet adjustments (shhh)
Damon Krukowski Reviving the alt-weekly soul
Doris Truong Computer vision vs. the Internet vigilantes
Monika Bauerlein The firehose of falsehood
Molly de Aguiar Good journalism won’t be enough
Tracie Powell The muting of underserved voices
Kathleen McElroy Building a news video experience native to mobile
Mi-Ai Parrish Blockchain and trust
Caitria O'Neill The new court of public opinion
Joyce Barnathan It will be harder to bury the news
Corey Ford The empire strikes back
Edward Roussel Eyes, ears, and brains
Sam Sanders Shine the light on ourselves
Imaeyen Ibanga Longform video leads the way
Alice Antheaume Are you fluent in AI?
AX Mina Memes and visuals come to the fore
Nicholas Diakopoulos Fortifying social media from automated inauthenticity
Rodney Gibbs Tech workers turn to journalism
Andrew Losowsky The year of resilience
Sara M. Watson Feeds will open up to new user-determined filters
Alan Soon The rise of start of psychographic, micro-targeted media
Jacqui Cheng Retailers move into content
Miguel Castro The arrival of the impact producer
Cindy Royal Your journalism curriculum is obsolete
Mary Meehan Real lives are at stake in rural areas
Steve Grove The midterms are an opportunity
Bill Keller A growing turn to philanthropy
Evie Nagy Pivot to mobile video frustration
Alfred Hermida Going beyond mobile-first
Tanzina Vega It’s time for media companies to #PassTheMic
Claire Wardle Disinformation gets worse
Sarah Marshall Loyalty as the key performance indicator
Marcela Donini and Thiago Herdy Collaboration is the way forward for Brazilian journalism
Ruth Palmer Risks will grow for news subjects — especially minorities
P. Kim Bui The reckoning is only beginning
Federica Cherubini The rise of bridge roles in news organizations
Matt Boggie The intellectual equivalent of the Dead Sea
Lam Thuy Vo Breaking free from the tyranny of the loudest
Eric Nuzum Beyond the narrative arc
Frédéric Filloux External forces
Ernst-Jan Pfauth Publishing less to give readers more
Elizabeth Jensen Show your work
David Skok Finding an information-life balance
Aron Pilhofer We can’t leave the business to the business side any more
Tim Carmody Watch out for Spotify
Jessica Parker Gilbert Design connects storytelling and strategy
Juleyka Lantigua Women of color will reclaim and monetize our time
Cristina Wilson The year of the Instagram Story
Emma Carew Grovum Newsroom culture becomes a priority
Helen Havlak Keywords, not publishers, power the world’s biggest feeds
Rick Berke Value is the watchword
Nicholas Quah Stop talking trash about young people
Julia Beizer A longer view on the pivot
Jennifer Brandel and Mónica Guzmán The editorial meeting of the future
Richard Tofel The platforms’ power demands more reporters’ attention