How to Add 100 Writers

to Your News Staff

How to Add 100 Writers

to Your News Staff

Transforming a Classroom into

a Newsroom

Old Game Plan

2013

Staffing

• 3 full time news staff

members

• 1 temporary staff

member working 20

hours per week

• 1 student employee

Output

• 165 stories for state

release

• 51 stories for local

release

• 50 garden radio

programs

2014

Staffing Changes

• Lost 1 temporary employee

• Lost 1 full-time employee to retirement

News Unit 2014

• 2 full time news staff members

• 1 student employee

New Game Plan for 2014

• Drop 10 year old radio

show airing only on

single public radio

station.

• Focus on crafting stories

of state and national

interest

• Increase story

production

• Develop stand alone

news site for Alabama

Extension

The vision—a new story from Alabama Extension

Monday through Friday

Tailored for state, regional and national release

The vision—a new story from Alabama Extension Monday

through Friday

Tailored for state, regional and national release

How are we going to manage this?

What were we thinking?

Partnership with Auburn

University School of

Communication & Journalism

• All Public Relations majors must

take Style & Design in PR

Messages

• Usually two sections per

semester with 15-18 students

per section

• Style & Design in PR

Messages faculty need outlets

for which students can write

• Style & Design students need

content for final class projects

• Extension Communications and

Marketing became a client for

Style & Design students

How It Works

• Develop story idea list

• Visit each section

• Guide students

• Make final edit

• Schedule stories for publication

Goes Live

Oct. 2014

2015 ExtensionDaily.com

Staffing

• 2 Full-time Staff Members

• 1 Temporary Staff Member

• 4 Student Employee Writers

• 93 Student Writers

2015 ExtensionDaily.com

Staffing

• 2 Full-time Staff Members

• 1 Temporary Staff Member

• 4 Student Employee Writers

• 93 Student Writers

Production

323 Stories Published

2015 ExtensionDaily.com

Staffing

• 2 Full-time Staff Members

• 1 Temporary Staff Member

• 4 Student Employee Writers

• 93 Student Writers

Production

323 Stories Published

So What? Is Anybody Reading the Stories?

Visitors To ExtensionDaily.com

• 92.9K visits

• 133K page views

• Average visit lasted 5m 33s per visit & viewed 1.43

pages

Visitors To ExtensionDaily.com

Visitors To ExtensionDaily.com

Where are Visitors Coming From?

Where are Visitors Coming From?

Other Ways Stories Are Used

• 1 to 2 stories per week sent out to media

• Meltwater

• Auburn University

• Some outlets now regularly scraping site for content

• AgFax.com

• Growing America sites

• Farms.com

• Small dailies and weeklies across Alabama

Other Ways Stories Are Used

• 3 to 5 stories featured on Alabama Extension main

page

• Rotating banner

• Agents are submitting to their local papers

• As is

• Scraping for column material

• Alabama county Extension offices

• Websites

• E-newsletters

• Content for Social Media Accounts

Questions?

Maggie Lawrence, News Unit Manager

Communications and Marketing Department

lawremc@auburn.edu

334.844.5687