This may be second most important: Emotionally connect with your journalism audience
By Rob Golub
This may be the second most important thing: Connect emotionally.
Number one is just doing good journalism. If your mother says she loves you, check it out. Be responsible. Don't be an internet troll. Be accurate. Have a nut graph. Have your story connect with your nut graph and support your nut graph. Be fair, for real. But after all of that, finally, this may be what's most important: Connect emotionally with your audience.
When you connect emotionally with your audience, everything else falls into place. Revenue models do better. Readers call in story tips. Subscribers don't cancel. This is the magic path, but to get to there, you must come from the perspective that you are them. Be a community cheerleader. Feel the issues with them, and represent that in your coverage.
I'm not asking you to throw away objectivity. There's nothing wrong with wanting your community to be OK. That's your lane, and it has been the lane for good local and community journalists since forever. Every local newspaper in America was pro-U.S. during World War II. That was their lane, with every local community's sons overseas, fighting fascism.
So how does this work in the modern era? Let's do some show, not tell. Here are some examples of traditional headlines, followed by better headlines that emotionally connect:
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Traditional: Hurricane aftermath is arduous for residents
Emotionally connecting: Exhausted!
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Traditional: Covid-19 lockdown enters second month
Emotionally connecting: We want out
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Traditional: Packers take title
Emotionally connecting: Our title, at last
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Remember this. When people are really feeling something, turn to it. The next time there is a big emotional moment for your community, that's your signal that it's time to connect. Put a Post It note on your computer. Have it read: "Big emo = connect."
There's an old saying, that one should not leave money on the table. This is that. Don't leave unclaimed emotion on the table.
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