3 Lessons on Scaling a Media Publication to Millions of Readers
(Photo Credit: Candace Amos)
On this week's podcast, I spoke with Candace Amos. Candace is Director of Audience Development and Social Media for the Daily Beast, an American news publication focused on politics, media, and pop culture.
We discuss audience growth using non-paid acquisition channels, best practices for audience retention, and transitioning from reporter to the business side of media.
Why You Should Listen to this Episode
The Daily Beast is a leading news site—receiving millions of hits a month. Candace’s job is two-fold: audience development and audience engagement. Audience development involves identifying readers who might be interested in the Daily Beast and acquiring those readers. Audience engagement involves retaining those readers and building loyalty with them. If you are looking to grow an online audience, this is a must listen to episode.
Ari's Three Actionable Takeaways for Marketing, Branding and Communication Professionals:
1) The Importance of Diversity in Audience Development
Candace’s first job out of college was a beat reporter for the NY Post. Part of her role was covering recent crimes in the NY area. Early on, she realized that it was important for her sources to feel comfortable talking with her. As a female person of color she was able to have candid conversations with people in the community that might have been difficult as a white-male reporter. Her connection to those communities not only helped her source stories, but also write them. She knew what people like her cared about and the stories they'd want to read. People want stories that "come from a genuine place from someone who is knowledgeable."
At the Daily Beast, their editor is a white male. And while he does a great job, the reality is that he doesn't, necessarily know, "what a 32-year old black woman is interested in". Thus having that diversity in the newsroom is important to help develop stories that reach a diversified audience. Candace stressed that you shouldn't sacrifice content for diversity. Instead, focus on having content that is receptive to a diversified audience without sacrificing "the baseline of content" you've established.
2) Mapping Out the Membership Funnel
When the Daily Beast switched to a paid membership. Candace and her team started to map out what the funnel would look like. For them at the news site, it typically starts with SEO and social. They encourage their reporters to develop their own social media presence. Some of their reporters, like Molly Jong-Fast, have over 750K followers. These followers, sometimes become members of the Daily Beast. The other strategy for audience development is SEO. The Daily Beast is publishing hundreds of stories a month. It's the sheer volume and domain authority that allows them to rank highly on competitive keywords.
Once a user is in the funnel, the goal is to get them to sign up for a newsletter. They have at least one newsletter going out a day. It's important to establish a habit with the reader, something that keeps them coming back. Not all of their content is unlocked either. More than a third of the content is locked for paid members. The motivation being that once a person is reading the Daily Beast every day, they are hooked. Now they want access to all their content. At that point, it's $25 a year and they have converted a user from potential reader to paid reader.
3) Be Open Minded
Michael Heckman, a former NY Post Editor, was a mentor and father-figure to Candace early on in her career. One of the early lessons he taught Candace is nothing should be beneath you. When you start creating content, you'll be looking for stories about anything. But as you grow, especially as a journalist, you might think some stories are beneath you. Don't think that. The most important thing is writing the "right" content for your audience, regardless of the subject. That means you sometimes need to write that "boring" piece because it's the "right" piece for your audience. Keep writing and remember nothing is more important than your audience.