Distributing News Your Audience Can Use, With The Tools They Choose
From time to time, we like to remind everyone of the various ways to consume the content that we're publishing at Silicon Prairie News (SPN). We list some of our options on our subscriptions page, but we've recently added some additional ways to receive our content.
If you haven't figured it out by now, the distribution channels for information have changed dramatically in recent years. People aren't visiting authoritative websites to consume information direct from the source; instead they're relying on relationships and tertiary networks to feed that information to them. Whether it's Facebook, Twitter, an RSS feed, or a daily email, you need to understand the tools available to today's media-makers.
One group that has it figured out is Silicon Prairie News, based in Omaha, NE. SPN started a few years back as a WordPress blog that highlighted locals and area entrepreneurs on a somewhat regular basis. WordPress was the perfect platform because it made categorization easy, publishing was a snap, and search engines loved the site architecture. As the blog posts started to roll, the folks at Silicon Prairie discovered that a number of their readers were using platforms like Twitter and Facebook to consume their news, so naturally they extended into those areas, following their readers.
Even after the latest redesign, SPN is still delivering content right. Last week they pushed a post that further explained their new subscription options, now offering city-specific RSS feeds, email updates, and Twitter accounts. What will SPN receive in return for making these channels available? More dedicated readers. What did it take for SPN to put these in place? Time, some development, and a big set of ears.
As customers continue to receive more information from the world around them, these organizations and businesses must adapt to the new distribution model. Figure out how your customers want to stay connected and in-the-know, then give them that option. You'll see them flocking back to you (or subscribing to your daily RSS feed) without question.
