Long ago, the CHAT Newspaper had a position called "Website Manager." Little did we know, the position would vanish and all website trickery would be handed to the Editor-in-Chief. Here are a few tricks I've learned about how to stay consistent with publishing stories, making them look aesthetically pleasing, and implementing bells & whistles. We publish stories every weekday.
Basic Story Package Features
Learning how to craft story packages has been fundamental to a basic understanding of story publishing. Although we still have a growing team of videographers, we try our best to fit in interviews and in-game video coverage every chance we get.
Another tool that goes into packages is the gallery. We frequently use galleries when we have way too many pictures to choose from and we narrow them down to about 5-15.
Website Additions & Plug-Ins
After countless nights of messing with the website, we made some pretty cool additions to make our website stand out. These additions and plug-ins have led to immense student engagement on our website. For example, our new "CHAT Crossword" emulates the NY Times' mini-games. Our SNO Story Parallax is another addition that was pretty unorthodox, given that we typically don't see that layout on many newspaper websites. However, we loved the design and thought it spotlighted our stories in a more cinematic way.
SNO Story Parallax
SNO Elements & More
When we have budget meetings to produce new ideas for stories, I always have my editors and even staff writers suggest what SNO Story Elements to include in our stories. I believe that writers should have more say in terms of story publishing. Just recently, our Clubs Editor had the idea to include a Menstrual Health Quiz alongside her story of our school's Period Club. We also use elements such as pull-quotes and our SNO ADs.
Crossword Puzzle Plug-In
Instagram/TikTok Feed
Custom Poll/Survey
Trending Stories
Pull-Quote
Quiz/Test
SNO Ads
Social Media
We have exceeded over 1,000 followers on Instagram. This platform has brought us so much traffic and student engagement. Now that students typically get their news from social media, we like to promote our stories through here with engaging flyers and interactive games.
One of the most important features on our instagram are the highlights. Last year, we barely saved any highlights and our layout was boring. Now, we have themed highlights and we promote frequent posting to keep our audience engaged.
TikTok
This year, I implemented a new role at our paper. The "Marketing Manager" has many roles, but the most important job is to create these niche posts to promote our stories with the same template. That way, when we post, people know it's us.
Besides our main posts, we have story flyers that go out every time we finish a "top-of-the-section" story. For events such as Pep Rally or large announcements like commitments, we make interactive flyers so that all of our staff can repost them. The 3rd picture is an example of our live story promotion: our photographers got ready as they covered the socer game.
TikTok was definitely a newer and more controversial platform. At first, we were concerned that our social media would stem away from our stories, but it actually opened a new gateway. I knew that in order to appeal to our audience, we had to get to our audience through every platform.
Our TikTok is known by many. Whether it be silly videos that cover the latest trends, random interviews, or story promotions, Exceeding over 2,000 followers, we established our internet persona.