Vice President
If you’re feeling overwhelmed trying to keep up with the news, you’re not alone. There is so much news swirling around us, and innumerable places and ways to consume it, it’s difficult to stay on top of it all.
Though news fatigue became a familiar concept decades ago, today we engage with news content in ways that would be unrecognizable to someone 20 years ago. Imagine telling a daily news reader in 2005 that one of the country’s 20 largest newspapers, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, no longer prints a paper edition and exists only online, which will become reality in 2026. Think of their reaction to hearing that 86% of adults consume their news on some sort of personal device and that social media websites like Facebook and YouTube have become spaces where more than one-third of adults seek out news. Of course, Instagram and TikTok were far from existing at that time, but younger audiences today trend toward both when searching for news.
While the details of how we consume news will continue to evolve, our broad preference to seek it out on digital platforms where there is constant competition for our attention has become firmly established as part of modern life.
What does this mean for organizations that have updates and information to share with key audiences? It’s a crowded and busy online world and that’s not changing, but small shifts to how we think about established communications strategies can make a big difference in helping your organization distinguish itself through digital congestion.
When pitching media is part of your strategic communications plans, carefully consider who you want to reach and what you want them to know or do. Tailor your approaches to reporters and outlets that would tell the stories you have to share in the places your intended audiences get their news. And just as you carefully consider how your organization connects with your key audiences, take care with how you engage with media contacts. Individualize your outreach to maximize opportunities and build stronger relationships.
Invest in building social media communities that make sense for reaching the audiences most important to you. Be thoughtful about your social media strategies. Not every organization needs to be on every social media platform, but your organization should have a strategically informed voice on platforms where you know your audiences are seeking news and spending their time.
Use the channels you own — most notably your website — as a content and storytelling homebase. Find opportunities to tell stories in different formats (e.g., written profiles, case studies and fact sheets, video) and make that content easy to find through strong search engine optimization, email marketing and the social media channels you operate.
Consider how new approaches to paid media may fit into your plan, building on what you may already be doing in more traditional advertising spaces. While it’s not a new model, we continue to see new iterations and experimentation with integrated paid media from media outlets around the country, including the Minnesota Star Tribune’s recent launch of MN Rising.
The path through this wild and ever-changing media landscape can appear unclear at times, but we’re here to help. Reach out to us any time to talk about how your organization can chart a course that best blends earned, social, owned and paid media to get the most of your strategic communications investments.