Social Media As The Brand For Journalists (Digital Ninja School Session with Mandy Jenkins)

Like newspapers, radio, TV, and the internet before it - social media has become a major way in how people get news, information and stories on topics that interest them. How can newspapers tap into Facebook and Twitter as a brand to serve their reader and followers? How can newsrooms use social media for more than just broadcasting links to stories? Should you use differently as a brand than you would as an individual? Can the brand's Facebook be a source of news tips, a platform for community conversation, a more comprehensive information resource for our audience?

For the editors and journalists learning to effectively wield social media as a brand, this is a great opportunity to learn more about using social media successfully as a brand to grow audience and engage readers.

Mandy Jenkins of Digital First Media will be leading a workshop in the New Haven Register newsroom for the Journal Register Company's Digital Ninja program in Connecticut on social media as the brand.

Update: This session has concluded. Replay the live chat below. Video replay will be uploaded later this week.

Jenkins will lead reporters, editors and photographers from JRC's CT newsrooms in a discussion on best practices for engaging on social media as the brand. The session is part of our program to equip our journalists and editors with today's digital skills.

Mandy Jenkins of Digital First Media (Photo/Jay Westcott)

Jenkins' blog ZombieJournalism.com is a great (and easy to follow) resource for journalists trying to figure out how best to tap into the latest social media and crowdsourcing tools available on the net.

The video console below will stream Mandy's session from 11 a.m. to noon(ish) so followers can see and hear the session for themselves. It will be replaced by a recorded version afterwards.

I will moderate a live chat during her presentation on so that other journalist and bloggers can chime in with advice, experience, examples or questions of their own. Staff from other Digital First Media newsrooms, start-up bloggers, or anyone with a general interest in the topic is invited to join us.

Another session is scheduled with Mandy in New Haven on Wednesday on crowdsourcing tips and tools.


Please note: Video player will only be live during scheduled time of 11 a.m. - noon, Eastern Time.

Some areas our journos said they hope to get out of the session with Jenkins

• Always interested in strengthening our brand across the state. I'm hoping for insight into branding in general and how it applies to the new media. Especially interested in perspective regarding monthly magazines.
• What are the best things to post besides links to stories, frequency of posting on various sites, what kinds of posts are best on each platform (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, especially).
• I'd like to learn how to grow followers on Facebook and Twitter.

Some of our brand accounts

• Facebook: New Haven Register
• Facebook: Middletown Press
• Facebook: Register Citizen
• Twitter: New Haven Register
• Twitter: Middletown Press
• Twitter: Register Citizen

Extra Credit: More on social media as the brand from Jenkins' Zombie Journalism

• Channeling the news brand: persona and strategy
• Channeling the news brand on Twitter and Facebook
• Interacting with the audience as a news brand
• How HuffPost blew up the State of the Union on Facebook