July 20, 2010
With Sacramento Connect, The Bee taps the power of partnerships
In a guest post, Sacramento Bee Editor Melanie Sill (an alumni of KDMC’s Leadership program) describes how her news organization created a network of local blogs.
By Melanie Sill
In April, with just a little fanfare, The Sacramento Bee launched a social media and blog network called Sacramento Connect. We signed up 18 blogs and web sites for the “alpha’ launch, with a mission captured in the name: Connecting The Bee with some of the best of a rich regional blog and website landscape.
Unlike other new products, Sacramento Connect launched as a version 1 instead of a polished final product. We knew we would build the network by learning as we went.
The premise: By connecting other content providers with The Bee through Sacramento Connect, we could all benefit. The Bee and partner sites could all reach people who might not otherwise come to our sites. By increasing readership of our content, we could increase our advertising success. The Sacramento Connect landing page and “related content” links on sacbee.com could also give readers a way to spot some of the best of the local web, including sites that might never come up on a Google search.
Three months later, we’ve learned a great deal and are moving toward the beta launch of Sacramento Connect in a few weeks.
The network notion began perking at The Bee in the summer of 2009. Along with almost a dozen other newspapers, we sent a team to the KDMC Leadership seminar in Los Angeles and benefited from the new media expertise and skeptical, yet constructive, grilling offered by several KDMC-provided coaches. They asked the right questions: Why would anyone use this network? Why would bloggers want to take part? How would The Bee make money? What about mobile, and social?
Stealing time amid other projects, The Bee team pursued Sacramento Connect and developed some answers. Key leaders included Blaine Wasylkiw, digital media director, and Sean McMahon, digital product development manager, along with Tom Negrete, managing editor for production/ digital content. By launch in April, we had decided to use a toolbar (located at the bottom of a user’s Web browser) to deliver several key functions: social media connection, linkage between partner content (including Bee stories) and an appealing new advertising position across the network.
Over several months, Negrete and McMahon developed connections with local bloggers and web site operators, The Bee team also compiled a list of well over 400 blogs of interest in the Sacramento region - by dint of geographic focus or content specialty—that will provide a companion directory to the SacBee premium partner network.
We screened the blogs and required a few simple standards: no anonymous blogs, regular posts, generally profanity-free posting and so forth. To be part of the network, all partners had to do was install a bit of javascript in their site code. Our sacbee.com team took on the duties of identifying partner content to “feature,” posting to SacConnect’s Twitter and Facebook feeds and highlighting content in other ways.
A few blogs turned down The Bee’s invitation to join Sacramento Connect—which is free for partners, but offers no payment or revenue share. Some wanted a revenue guarantee; a couple were wary of being swallowed up or exploited. Most, however, were delighted to join, especially with some technical help. We were selective for the first group, looking for geographic and content variety.
Launch was greeted enthusiastically. Readers who commented liked the network concept. Metrics tracking showed immediate use of the “Share” function of the toolbar, and the rich media format of the ad position got attention from some advertising customers. Ad revenue was steady, though modest, from the outset, through the toolbar and ads served on sacbee.com pages. Page views, “shares” from the toolbar, revenue and other metrics were established at the outset, and we’re pleased by progress.
The greatest lesson wasn’t about technology. It was this: Sacramento Connect’s successes and potential spring from the network effect—the activity and involvement of partners and the value of connections among them and The Bee. Partners share insights about their readers, subject matter and the local communities they cover. They ask questions about blogging and technology. They have offered praise and critiques of The Bee and sacbee.com, and have contributed content ideas.
The Bee, in turn, has highlighted partner blogs in print and at sacbee.com, and developed a Sacramento Connect widget on story pages to link topic-related partner content. Many blog partners were delighted to see their sites featured in the print paper. We’ve experimented with cross-publishing on a tiny scale (a happy hour guide); that’s gone well and we see promise to build on that via freelance or cooperative arrangements.
In late June, The Bee hosted a SacConnect launch partner mixer, which drew about 35 people for wine, food and mingling. With the number of blog partners up to 70-plus, The Bee is developing a new Sacramento Connect home page to provide better search, navigation and content highlighting; new categories for local media, home and garden and food and wine, and a faster-loading, more nimble toolbar. The site’s mobile interface will launch as part of the beta phase.
We’re also naming a community manager to work with network partners, Bee news, advertising and marketing colleagues and others to develop Sacramento Connect into a rich content network that helps link The Bee to people’s interests, passions and digital community connections. So far it has been a win-win. Stay tuned.
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Tags: knight foundation, social media, leadership, network, sacramento bee, melanie sill, sacbee.com, sacramento connect
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As one of the partners, I have to congratulate the Bee’s team on a smooth roll out. Our readers appreciate the related stories feature and the integration of social media apps. Looking forward to the beta launch.
By YubaNet, 07/21/10 at 6:40 am
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