This role is responsible for creating multiple daily pieces of written content for a local news website, curating high-performing content, crafting homepage layouts driven by data, using SEO best practices to determine relevant content needs, and utilizing social media to distribute posts to their appropriate audiences -- everything from quick-hit local stories to breaking news and enterprise reports. This role will work on building a loyal local audience by being responsive to traffic patterns and audience interest while serving as a steward of our brands with strong journalistic integrity.
Position Responsibilities:
Write, curate, and aggregate a steady stream of interesting content that is packaged and promoted in a way that generates engagement and repeat site visitation while adhering to a strong journalistic ethos.
Monitor all forms of media (print, TV, digital, blogs and social) and be quick to report breaking news stories, being always on the hunt for exclusive and or trending content that will grow engagement and drive loyal, local traffic.
Flexibility to perform duties, change gears quickly, and multi-task.
Excellent at writing headlines that grow audience and engagement.
Prioritize packaging content that grows page views per visitor and time on site, using headline testing, metric tools and observed patterns to guide decision making
Understand different ways to tell a story, particularly choosing great photos and video to enhance written stories.
Evaluate website traffic trends to make decisions on both daily content needs and longer-term content curation that will grow local audience.
Build positive working relationships with newsroom staff and management, work collaboratively on enterprise content, and creating opportunities to market web content on broadcast.
Promote and distribute news content on social media.
Skill/Experience Requirements:
2 years of experience in digital content and journalism
Clever headline writer that gets readers to click
Basic understanding and proficiency with the major social media platforms
Strong multi-tasking abilities
Organized, technical problem solver and quick decision maker
Capable of researching, interviewing and writing original news articles
Knowledge of SEO best practices and Associated Press Style
Enjoys working in teams and has excellent interpersonal skills
Ease with/ability to learn new technology independently and quickly
Strong communicator unafraid to ask questions
Some schedule flexibility (nights, weekends)
Regularly meets measurements of success
Strong understanding of Google Analytics; Chartbeat experience a plus
Proficiency in MS Office; HTML, CSS and Photoshop experience a plus
Proficiency in basic video editing a plus
Typical day
Digital producers will need to maintain awareness of external social media conversations, official government sources, stories filed by competitors and daily search engine trends to quickly create quality, written content. Producers will also work with other departments within the newsroom, such as broadcast reporters and producers, to fact-check, update and craft stories in such a way that they are easily digestible by any audience. Producers will utilize our social media outlets to get content into the hands of the audiences looking for it. Regular metric analysis and reporting will result in constant updates to strategy that need to be communicated, likely focusing on updated messaging to different groups weekly. Flexibility is an absolute necessity.
Physical Demands & Work Environment: Must be able to sit, conduct telephone conversations, use electronic mail, write letters and memos, conduct face-to-face discussions with individuals or groups, make decisions without supervision, make decisions that impact the results of co-workers, work in close proximity to others, work outdoors occasionally in all weather conditions, and work indoors in environmentally controlled conditions. In addition, must be able to lift, set up and operate equipment weighing up to 25 pounds, and be able to handle, control or feel objects, tools or controls. Repetitive movements are required. Work may be conducted in extremely bright or inadequate lighting conditions.