The winter workshop I participated last year gave me deep insights into the basics of today’s journalists’ needs. In this article, I will share this information with you. Hopefully it will reveal what direction you need to follow to become a true journalist of today.
Leverage Different Platforms for Branding
Even if you are not a marketing person, make sure you advertise your content everywhere you can. Modern people depend on social media for perceptions and opinions more than on anything else, and a single troll post can change our mood for the rest of the day. So, if you want to protect the integrity of your brand, you’ll have to go beyond posting on a single website.
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter will likely be the first options that come to mind, but don’t let them limit your imagination. Consider modern writers and poets: essentially all of them have their websites and social media profiles they love, but that doesn’t prevent them from publishing on Amazon. Life has changed a lot in the last decade, promising more change in the near future, so by opening yourself up to the new opportunities you didn’t consider yesterday you could set yourself for real success in the long run.
Say hello to computers and coding
Yes, I know what you are thinking, but trust me: if you follow this advice, you’ll be glad. Did you ever hear the WordPress saying “Code is poetry“? Well, it’s actually true! If you assume that customers and coding have nothing to do with journalism, you are wrong, because, there are many dark secrets in and around the globe that is traded with the help of technology. If you want to get down into that depth of it, then you should be capable of cracking the code and fetching the details. Not every time a techy can assist you to do these works. Besides, the best way to get anything done is to do it yourself.
Poetry is a start, math is the mantra
The poetic element is undeniably one side of coding, but math comprises the rest! Here, most aspiring journalists run into a problem. While some of them can wrap their heads around poetry, hating math is a common syndrome.
There is a tendency to believe that math is superior to our everyday understanding of the world, but knowing a bit of helpful math is not that big of a deal. It will help you understand the analysis better, and real journalists usually get exposed to many analytical circumstances, trying to make heads or tails from the farrago of situations they need to write about.
Know thy audience
Knowing your audience is one of the very substantial necessities. When you have a clear picture of your end consumer, you can give them a better product or service. It is always graded highest, to understand the target customers who will be using it. They say that following economics is the basis of every person in business, in the same way, understanding your audience is crucially important for journalism. Every day the perception of your audience keeps changing, so you have to stay on top of the new trends and make sure the materials you are offering actually correspond to the public demand.
Market your brand
Marketing is an integral element of every industry these days. If you are planning to build your brand name, then the very fundamental things you need to do is to market yourself. You can do it by writing, criticism and research. The tips, as mentioned above, can help you to nail your marketing strategies. Make your audience get engaged in your delivery. Make them speak, analyze and discuss and even criticize your opinions. This is how you can make the audience bond with you.