Steve Buttry consulting and training on community engagement and social media

A news organization must engage its community using new digital tools as well as traditional techniques to stay relevant to its community and succeed as a business. I can help your organization with training and/or consulting on any of the following topics:

• Community engagement strategy. I can present a 90-minute overview or lead an all-day or two-day workshop to guide your organization in developing and planning execution of a strategy to engage your community using a broad range of tools and techniques. This will use actual examples of successful community engagement from my experience at TBD and the Journal Register Co. as well as my connections with journalists around the world who are working in community engagement. Continuing consulting also available.
• Building a community blog network. Bloggers in your community can be valuable partners. In a 90-minute workshop and/or continuing consulting, we will discuss how to develop and execute a blogging strategy for your community and how to recruit bloggers and manage relationships with your network. We will discuss ways to build content, branding, traffic and revenue using a blog network.
• Social media strategy. In a 90-minute overview, a full-day workshop and/or continuing consulting, we will discuss how to develop and execute a social media strategy for your community. We will cover major social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as well as niche platforms such as Foursquare and SlideShare.
• Writing for social media. I’ve taught this class several times at LSU. For a basic media-writing course, I discuss applying good writing techniques to the platforms and opportunities of social media. I could adapt this easily to more advanced classes or to professional newsrooms.
• Working and Thinking Digital First. My workshops on Digital First Journalism address how to integrate engagement and other skills and priorities of digital journalism into your daily workflow, your values and your thinking, as well as how to lead a Digital First newsroom.
• Mobile-First Strategy. With your community spending increasing time using mobile devices, your organization needs to develop a mobile-first strategy. I can lead a full-day workshop, a 90-minute workshop or anything in between to help your organization understand the opportunities of the mobile marketplace and start plans for projects to connect with your mobile community and develop new mobile revenue streams. I have led discussions on this topic for the American Society of News Editors, Online Media Campus, National Newspaper Association, Reese Felts Digital Newsroom, Ohio Newspaper Association and Pioneer Newspapers. Continuing consulting also available.

Workshops and consulting on community engagement and social media will include some combination of the following topics, each program customized for the needs and budget of your organization. I also can do individual workshops on any of these topics for your organization.

• Twitter. Individual journalists and news organizations need to use Twitter effectively to succeed today. I have presented sessions for more than a dozen organizations, geared to newsroom leaders, frontline journalists, reporters and business people and a session focusing on breaking news.
• Curating the community conversation. Social media and blogs provide valuable content for your site and relevant coverage of stories in your community. You need to learn how to curate the social conversation effectively. I have presented this workshop for the newsrooms of the Middletown (Conn.) Press and the Times Herald in Norristown, Pa.
• Crowdsourcing. Digital tools give journalists powerful ways to connect with sources in the community. I presented this workshop for the newsroom of the Register Citizen in Torrington, Conn.
• Liveblogging. Journalists need to learn how to cover stories live as they unfold. I have led sessions on liveblogging for the New Haven Register, American Society of News Editors, Canadian Newspaper Association and the Ryerson Journalism Alumni Association’s Wordstock conference.
• The Blogger’s Voice, a workshop to guide bloggers in finding their voices, engaging the community of understanding how blogging differs from more traditional forms of writing. I led this workshop for my staff at the Cedar Rapids Gazette and a version focused on blogging basics for community bloggers at the Times Herald in Norristown, Pa.
• Beatblogging. I’ve led workshops on beatblogging for multiple newsrooms.
• Using social media on the beat. As the title indicates, this focuses on beat reporting and how social tools can make you a better reporter. I have led this workshop for several Journal Register newsrooms.
• Using Facebook and Twitter for journalism. I led this as a webinar for the Ohio Newspaper Association and a workshop for the Daily Times of Delaware County, Pa.
• Tout and video engagement. I have done sessions on video engagement on multiple occasions and presented a workshop on using Tout for the Charleston Daily Mail.
• Engaging through the daily news. Each story presents its own engagement possibilities. We will discuss the tools and techniques to engage your community through the routine and big stories your community presents.
• Comments. Everyone wants the engagement (and traffic) of lively conversation on stories and blogs, but no one wants the hostile, abusive comments that degrade too many news sites. We will discuss how to engage and moderate commenters effectively to elevate the level of discussion on your site.
• Engaging in person. Community engagement works best when you combine effective digital engagement with face-to-face engagement through community outreach and events.

Contact me at stephenbuttry (at) gmail.com if you want to discuss fees and services. For information on my training background, consult my career map or the summary of my training career.

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