Subscribers have an Opinion. You should too.
Civil discourse is hard - even when it’s a one way push of the Editorial opinion on the printed page.
The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times have recently learned the hard way that newspaper subscribers have an opinion and they went Editors to have one too – even when it’s not popular to express that opinion. And perhaps even when they disagree with that opinion.
The Washington Post has reportedly lost 200,000 subscribers since they chose the “non-endorsement” path on the current Presidential election. And the Los Angeles Times? They lost a Pulitzer Prize winning Editorial writer and two Editorial Board Members, in addition to some 7,000 subscribers.
Two-way SMS is readily available, scalable and can be enhanced with AI, automation and conversational analytics.
There is no need for Publishers to wonder whether they are making the right decision on whether to endorse a candidate. Ask your subscribers and get nearly instant, real-time feedback. Over 90% of text messages are seen and read within 90 seconds or less. And platforms like LeadSticker give Editors and others the ability to send personalized messages at scale to thousands of subscribers simultaneously and then have responses come back to the sender (e.g. the Editor, Publisher or Writer) in a private one-to-one conversation. Subscribers can tell their Editor exactly what they think without having it broadcast to the entire world. Combine this with conversational analytics and Publishers and Editors could realistically aggregate responses, choose which readers they want to engage with and obtain deep market feedback in no time.
I was out running this morning and it occurred to me that instead of using traditional RFM analytics (recency / frequency / monetary value) Publishers could create and use a new model: RFU and/or RFUE. Recency, Frequency, Urgency – or Recency, Frequency, Urgency and Energy. Text based, conversational analytics could be applied to build segmentation and response models that would enable Editors to effectively talk to large groups of people, received feedback from large groups of individuals and then to engage in one-to-one conversations based on the recency of the text message received, the frequency in which the subscriber is sending text messages and the urgency and/or energy with which the subscriber is expressing their thoughts and opinions. The Editor could become much more all knowing and deeply engaged with readers without necessarily being overwhelmed by thousands or millions of returning text messages. AI and automation can also be deployed with the right guardrails and human-in-the-middle processes.
Two-way SMS, combined with conversational analytics and segmentation models can quite literally change the scope and scale of conversation between Editors and subscribers.
Features and Capabilities
Two-way SMS. One-to-many sending of text messages. Many-to-one responses. Private channel communication with full conversation history for each and every phone number.
AI Enhanced. With the click of a button, AI crafts a response based on the phone conversation with each Subscriber. Nothing is forgotten or lost. Editors become wicked smart with brilliant recall at the push of a button. The longer the conversation the smarter the AI response.
Text based analytics. Build a segmentation model on recency of text, frequency of text, urgency and energy of response. The written word is powerful and descriptive. Words have meaning. Tone and temperature are expressed and remembered. Use the models and train the AI to prioritize and respond.
Leverage and integrate. Two-way SMS can be a bridge to large scale engage via Zoom, Facebook Live, WhatsApp or other presentation and streaming platforms. Use the technology to connect writers and readers at scale.
Let’s get creative and define what it means for your readers, your writers and Editors, your publication.
Text. Talk. Listen. Listen more then Write…
In Cleveland, Ohio the Editor of the Plain Dealer, took a different path and asked some of his subscribers via text messaging whether they thought the newspaper should endorse one of the candidates. Their response, a resounding yes! Keep in mind, the Plain Dealer has maybe 170,000 subscribers, the Los Angeles Times over 400,000 and the Washington Post north of 2.2 million.
In today’s world of hyper-engaged audiences, the old school print model of writing an Editorial and telling your subscribers what to think is a bit outdated but for those still reading the newspaper, it’s part of the culture and the expectation.
The Plain Dealer took a step in the right direction. Newspapers can and should engage in real-time conversations with their subscribers.
