Audience Engagement
As Digital Editor-in-Chief, I’ve learned a lot about audience engagement, and the importance of it, throughout my time in the program. In addition to participating in various means of connecting with our audience alongside my staff, I’ve also had to learn what does, and doesn’t work, when it comes to keeping people engaged.
Classic City Dawgs
I volunteered with several other people on the OMG staff to attend a practice with the Classic City Dawgs, an adaptive basketball team in our district. This was not only a great opportunity to help out since the team had only a few members, but also to form connections with a part of our community that we’ve been trying to represent more in our coverage.
Trunk or Treat
Each year, CCHS hosts a Trunk or Treat with any school clubs or organizations that choose to participate and is open to the Athens community. While I wasn’t directly involved in the decorating this year, I helped set up and hand out candy to kids. This is always a good way for the program to establish connections with the community as well as an opportunity for staff bonding.
Rising Freshman Orientation
I volunteered with several other people on the OMG staff to attend a practice with the Classic City Dawgs, an adaptive basketball team in our district. This was not only a great opportunity to help out since the team had only a few members, but also to form connections with a part of our community that we’ve been trying to represent more in our coverage.
Communicating with stakeholders
After the stories I write get published, I send an email to the stakeholders I interviewed a link to the story, in addition to the thank you note I sent after the interview. I also send these after publishing packages in which a large number of stakeholders are involved, such as the New Teacher Package. By doing this, I’m not only making myself reliable as someone who will follow through on the stories I interview for and give them the chance to see the story they’ve been featured in, but it’s also establishing ODYSSEY as a reliable publication.
Instagram Stories
After publishing any story on the ODYSSEY website, my immediate next step is to make a graphic to go on the Instagram story to promote it. Making it is really simple, especially since we have a template for all of them, but they help extend the reach of our stories in a way that our main audience, students, interact with most directly. Without these posts, it’s likely a lot of our stories would go unread.
Press Releases
ODYSSEY Newsmagazine wins Pacemaker
Recognition and roadmap
ODYSSEY website named Pacemaker finalist
Over the past three years, I’ve written quite a few press releases for ODYSSEY. These are often super quick breaking news stories about awards we’ve won or evaluations we’ve received. These not only serve as a record of our accomplishments, but can also help with things like recruitment in showing the amount of work that goes into the publication and some of the benefits we reap from that.