Running a lively news website

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Running a lively online news website for a local community involves strategic planning, engaging content, active community participation, and leveraging digital tools. Here's ThenMedia's short guide on how to achieve this:

Content Strategy

Local Focus: Concentrate on hyperlocal news that directly impacts the community. Cover events, local government activities, school news, business openings, and community achievements. Highlighting local stories makes the website relevant to residents. There are hundreds of news websites out there for the whole country, your USP is you cater only for the residents of your parish.

Diverse Topics: Include a mix of news articles, opinion pieces, interviews, and feature stories. Cover a variety of topics such as sports, culture, education, and human interest stories to cater to different interests within the community. Having sat through numerous council meetings, your councillors should have a good idea as to what interests there are in the local community.

User-Generated Content: Encourage community members to contribute articles, photos, and videos. This not only provides diverse perspectives but also fosters a sense of ownership and participation among readers.

Engagement and Interaction

Interactive Features: Integrate forums, comment sections, and surveys to facilitate discussion and feedback. This turns passive readers into active participants, creating a dynamic online community. These features are all available through the ThenMedia Parish Council platform. (some features require Tier 2).

Social Media Integration: Utilise social media platforms to share articles, engage with readers, and promote community events. Regular updates and interactions on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can drive traffic to the website and keep the community engaged. Tier 2 customers can benefit from automatic social media integration. Speak to our team to learn more.

Email Newsletters: Send out regular newsletters with highlights and links to full articles on the website. This keeps the community informed and drives consistent traffic to the site. ThenMedia will create a unique mailing template based on the branding from your website and ready to send out in a few clicks.

Community Involvement

Partnerships: Collaborate with local businesses, schools, and organisations for sponsorships and exclusive content. This not only could potentially provide some funding, but also strengthens community ties.

Events and Campaigns: Organise and promote local events, campaigns, and initiatives. Coverage of these events fosters community spirit and encourages local participation.

By focusing on relevant, engaging content and fostering community interaction, a local online news website can become a vibrant hub for information and engagement. Through effective use of ThenMedia's tailored platform, strategic partnerships, and a commitment to inclusivity, such a site can thrive and significantly enhance community cohesion.