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By definition, newsrooms have always been spaces teeming with frenetic activity, but after years of budget-friendly staff trimmings, newsroom personnel are running around busier than ever. So, they might be forgiven if they don’t frequently respond to every viewer message that crosses the transom.
Viewer inquiries also arrive in newsrooms from an increasingly dizzying number of channels — phone calls, emails, as well as multiple social media platforms. This makes them particularly difficult to handle in a streamlined way, when time resources are already at a premium.
To this common problem, Graham-owned NBC affiliate WDIV Detroit has built a virtual community help desk that allows newsroom staff to manage viewer messages with significantly less friction. The enhanced connectivity with its consumers has helped WDIV to not only cultivate greater transparency and trust with viewers, but it’s also informed news production, while rewarding its marketing team with coveted first-party data about viewers.
Ken Haddad
“It’s something we’ve been talking about for a few years,” says Ken Haddad, WDIV digital content and audience manager. “How do we provide better support, better service in order to rebuild trust and credibility, and to show people we care about the community and that the conversations that we’re having are not just one-way.”
This development process started with the launches of a number of newsletters the past few years. Haddad says newsletters are an effective way to connect “more intimately with our most loyal” consumers. WDIV also