Five Key Ingredients to Building an Online Media Brand November 20, 2014

Five Ingredients 1.Content 2.Social/Search 3.Analytics 4.Mobile 5.Community

1. Content is King “Content is king, and it will remain king” - Jane Friedma n – CEO, Open Road Media

2. Social/Search is the new “Must Read” “Most readers now come to it [journalism] not through the print editions of newspapers or their home editions online, but through social media and search engines driven by an algorithm, a mathematical formula that predicts what users might want to read.” New York Times, How Facebook Is Changing the Way Its Users Consume Journalism, 10/26/2014 Readers no longer rely on a single news brand for their media, but consume news based on what their friends/family are sharing and on social algorithms that predict their preferences. 30% of adults in US get their news through Facebook. Entertainment news is the top category on social and search. Mobile is key to the growth of media through social and search. Readers not just looking for reporting, but they are looking for media posts with opinions to help develop their thoughts on the topic. Social and Search readers are not loyal to a single brand.

3. Analytics – how did we ever live without? “Instead, she’ll [Dao] lead publishing for the social web in the most modern sense, where data science, the CMS, technology and a deep understanding of social networks, mobile devices and digital video matter most.” Jonah Peretti, CEO and Founder of Buzzfeed, in a memo announcing his naming of a publisher for Buzzfeed, 10/14/2014 Media companies must understand both website analytics, social data and customer acquisition to maximize traffic and understand audiences Web Analytics – Media companies must understand traffic levels, popular content, bounce rate, time on site, referral traffic, user movement through the website Social Data – Media companies must understand their reach beyond their website, conversion of users, demographics, and user activity and sharing Customer Acquisition – Media companies must understand their core customer, their actions, churn and overall user value over time. Media companies should not be afraid to acquire users through content marketing to build the overall reach and influence of the company.

4. Mobile – the new normal The overall trend is more consumption of media content through mobile devices. All media brands need to have a full digital strategy for attacking this market 56% of online US content is now consumed via smartphones (44%) and tablets (12%) – comScore Over the next 3 years - Tablet market and smartphone shipments in US each to grow 40% - Technavio Time spent on mobile phones passed time spent on TV for the first time ever in 2013 – eMarketer “Mobile is the future, and there’s no such thing as communication overload” – Eric Schmidt

5. Community – not just users, influencers “Citizens are now not just consumers but also sources of news” – Arianna Huffington Know your user – who are they, what do they like. Use your user – use your most avid fans and make it easy for them to shout, share and socialize your content for you. Collect content from you user – they want to contribute and be heard and user material can be a free source of content for you. Create user generated media section for increased participation. Connect your user – connect your user to other like minded members to continue to keep them active and engaged Monetize your user – it costs money to reach and retain your community – make sure you have a good strategy to get that money back.