Want to Increase Engagement? Start by Building Relationships with Internal Audiences

Long-distance relationships are hard.

Our reporters and editors are spread far and wide, and we rely heavily on digital workflows and technology to get a story published. Keeping reporters motivated and engaged despite differences in culture, language and time zones remains an ongoing challenge for our organization. Even with all the wonderful advances in technology, we still remain worlds apart.

What’s a poor engagement editor to do?

I talk a lot about relationship management and how connecting with local audiences means building relationships. But I’ve been so focused on external engagement and expanding our readership that it was only a few weeks ago that I began turning my attention toward internal engagement.

In all honesty, I sort of serendipitously stumbled upon a genius plan. I’ve been calling reporters and interviewing them about their stories to create our new podcast, Inside GPI. I always end these calls feeling energized, motivated and proud to work with such brilliant, brave and amazingly talented reporters.

Simultaneously, I’ve been working to develop some internal guidelines for social media use, and I shared those guidelines, as well as some practical tips for using personal social media profiles to help expand the reach of GPJ stories. When three of our country coordinators were in San Francisco for a week of training (and bonding), I had the opportunity to get to know them and engage with them in a personal way.

It was after this training I suddenly realized that I could make better use of our private Reporters and Editors Facebook group. The group has been around for years, but it’s not used to its fullest potential.

So, I started sharing some of the social content I’ve been producing and asking reporters and editors for their feedback.

I’m taking photos of training and behind-the-scenes, day-to-day activities at HQ and sharing them with the group. I even introduced our two summer interns to the group via a photo of them hard at work on their first day in the office.

I post links to our reporter’s blogs, featured photos and stories, encouraging everyone to read, view and share them.

It’s working! And I have the data to prove it. Engagement in the Facebook group is way up. I see reporters sharing one another’s work on their personal profiles, liking and commenting on posts on the GPJ public Facebook page. Even more exciting, engagement numbers are also up on the GPJ page!

I want to give credit where credit is due. Global Press executive director Cristi Hegranes hypothesized this first: Internal engagement leads to external engagement. So far, this is proving true.

This post was originally published at https://globalpressjournal.com/between-the-lines/engagement-means-making-better-use-gpjs-internal-facebook-group/