Organizational Models

How should media companies be reshaping their organizations to better compete in the digital space? Most publishers would acknowledge that "Web first" is the way to go, but what does that mean exactly for your sales, editorial, IT and other functional teams? There are no easy answers, but plenty of good advice and examples, which we’ve gathered for you here. As always, we’d love to hear your feedback.

Print/online integration: What’s the right mix?
Separate or integrated? That’s a question publishing executives have been grappling with since the late 1990s. A decade later, there still is no silver bullet offering the best approach for integrating print and online operations. We look at the challenges and the various options for publishers searching for the optimal mix.

Matching your Web content and development strategies
If a media site does not engage readers or attract advertisers, who's to blame? Often, editors will point their fingers at developers, and vice versa. The bottom line, often, is that both sides are at fault, because they're not talking. One way to resolve this challenge is by adopting a "success model" approach to marrying content development techniques and site design strategies. We look at four basic success models and the benefits of each.

Tips for building a B2B blogger network
As editorial staff sizes constrict, an external blogger network is a relatively easy – and low cost – way to expand the volume of site content. The trick is identifying the members of your community who have subject matter expertise and some ability to articulate their opinions.

Four steps toward a better ad sales commission plan
Developing an effective commission plan requires media companies to take their eyes off their spreadsheets and think about how the business has changed. Here are four factors to consider when building your next commission plan.

Your online publication should have a social media department
Back in print’s heyday, the circulation department was one of a newspaper’s cornerstones. But as operations move online, there is no equivalent to circ, as content is disseminated automatically or organically. So why don’t publishers create a department that optimizes this process?

HR tips for managing disruptive change
The publishing industry has experienced its share of layoffs, folded magazines and disruptive technology over the past year. What should media companies do to manage upheaval in the workplace? One HR expert chimes in.

CASE STUDIES

Web-first transition drives results for Vance
It’s not easy to change all four tires while the car is moving, but that’s the equivalent of what Vance Publishing faced in transitioning more than two dozen trade publications to a Web-first publishing strategy. The payback quickly justified the investment: Stories per author doubled in the first three months. Page views per author tripled. In four months, the team had increased engagement by more than 58%.

How a social 'sharing model' changed Network Communications' business
When Network Communications Inc. implemented a Web-first publishing strategy, it moved from "assembly-line-driven content" to a new "sharing model" built around blogs, Twitter and Facebook. The move boosted the reach of NCI's sites by 31% in just two months.

How to budget like a startup
Five years ago, Fierce Markets had fewer than 10 employees. Today, Fierce is no longer a startup, but that doesn’t stop the company from using lessons learned from its bootstrapping days to remain agile and keep the company in the black.

Selling hyperlocal vs. selling newspapers
Gannett owns six newspapers in New Jersey and has also launched a network of hyperlocal sites. As a result, the company must manage two ways of doing business: the hyperlocal sites require a bottom-up approach and a startup mentality, while the newspaper operations require balancing longstanding institutions with an established staff.

COMMENTARY

Budgeting for social media is a tricky - but critical - process
The publishing model that has existed for centuries is giving way to a flat, decentralized and peer-to-peer conversation structure. So how do we budget for this new "social" world, particularly at a time when budgets are already under severe pressure?

The future of media is all about conversations
The successful media business of the future will be centered around conversation – ideally sparked and led by journalists who embrace the necessary skills and taking place in and around media properties that can both push for excellence in journalism and embrace the voices of the communities that surround them.

This job would be great if it weren’t for the people
As the publishing industry wrenches itself out of legacy everything and tries to define what its next business model will be, we are treated to a non-stop study in human behavior. And human beings are messy.

An immature industry requires some mature professionals
Don’t underestimate the value of diversity of age, opinions, experience and skills for your online media operations. Even the digital "retreads" can offer a wealth of experience.

If you were starting a news organization, where would you put your initial efforts?
A from-scratch news organization today would, of course, be an online-first enterprise. That doesn’t rule out print as a niche byproduct, but print would not be among the "initial efforts." Here are some digital strategies and tactics, ranging from easy to implement to complex and possibly expensive.

Profiles in courage: Social media editors at big media outlets
Five years ago, there was no such thing as a community manager or social media editor at large media organizations. Today, this role exists at places such as the New York Times and NPR, among others. To get a sense of the role of these new social media editors at big media organizations, the author offers profiles of four people currently filling these positions.

The opportunity of bankruptcy
Newspapers in distress should not squander the opportunity that bankruptcy presents to rebuild from the ground up. Jeff Jarvis offers some provocative thoughts on how they can make a successful transition.