AlertMe: Publishers Newest Opportunity Might Be What Happens Next

From the content creatoramp8217s perspective this creates quite the dilemma amp160As publishers we respond by creating even more content and more choices and push it out harder and harder hoping to rise above the noise that we are helping contribute to amp160It means a lot of great content that publishers knowamp160people care about goes undiscovered not due to lack of interestamp160but rather awareness that it existsamp160 People want to find sources and follow the story as it develops amp160They want to know what happens nextIamp8217m not alone in my thinking amp160Adam Shapiro has spent his career as a journalist and at one time was Executive Editor at WNBCcom amp160Heamp8217s created a lot of content and wasnamp8217t sure if and when it was connecting with peopleamp160 amp8220I felt hopeless that just creating great content as a journalist wasnamp8217t enough to get it readquot he saidamp160 quotWe had to get lucky and hope interested people would find it and read ouramp160story versus someone elseamp8217s versionamp8221Thatamp8217s when he had his aha moment and the idea for AlertMe was born amp160As cofounder Shapiro39s focus is allowing readers to raise their digital hands to optin and get updates on the stories they care most aboutThe idea seems simple enough amp160As a consumer I know what I want to follow so why canamp8217t I tell a website just to let me know what happens next Because keywords on their own fail usamp160 If I told you I was a amp8220shooteramp8221 I can only hope you understand the context of me being the kind of basketball player who will throw up a shot before passing to a teammate and not something else amp160Does my interest in amp8220sealsamp8221 stem from an interest in the new baby seal born at the zoo the singeramp8217s latest concert or pride in our armed forcesIf the publisher canamp8217t distinguish a consumeramp8217s specific interest in one topic versus another itamp8217s frustrating for the consumer amp160As Shapiro says that failure amp8220crushes the editorial experience and trust in the sourceamp8221The solution lies in natural language processing and contextual semantics amp160Itamp8217s a fascinating area that Iamp8217ve followed for many years amp160Artificial intelligence and machine learning haveamp160become better at not just reading the words but understanding what they mean amp160Basketball teams have shooters amp160Seals at the zoo are most likely the animals and not military personnel amp160This capability coupled with publishers39 understanding of context they know their content and they know their audience amp160means they can connect a user to the story they want to followFor a publisher the integration is easy and clearamp160 Aamp160button that says amp8220follow this storyamp8221 on every news page not only offers the utility of the alert but signals that stories evolve and the publisher is that source to keep people connected to itamp160amp160That keeps readers coming backamp160 Most publishers are happy if a reader opens a newsletter 20 of the time but AlertMe emails are opened 5560 of the timeamp160 Better yet research shows only 47 of newsletter links get clicked but with AlertMe half of all of those users who received an alert go directly back to the siteThe benefits to the publisher are also clear amp160People have to register to receive alerts by email or mobile device amp160This creates firstparty data that allows publishers to know their audience even better and create new more targeted advertising opportunities as wellamp160amp160The alerts also mean people come back directly to the source amp160This is an increase in traffic that doesnamp8217t come from an intermediary like Facebook which drives traffic to publishers but also retains the relationship with the consumer and collects lots of data to use for its own purposes amp160AlertMe cuts the intermediaries between the publisher and the consumer out of the equationAlertMe works with 43 different publishers collectively reaching about 60 million unique users a monthamp160 One Fox television station KDVR Denver promotes it heavily onairamp160and has captured an audience that not only opens the link themselves but shares it with others letting a new audience sample the stationBecause of the noise of the internet publishers are going to have to work harder to connect with consumers amp160Providing a utility so that consumers can connect with content is one way to do that amp160Itamp8217s as if the next opportunity for publishers is what happens next in the stories they publishClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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AlertMe: Publishers Newest Opportunity Might Be What Happens Next

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Rob Beeler

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AlertMe: Publishers Newest Opportunity Might Be What Happens Next

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Rob Beeler

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