Social Media
With two other journalism clubs at Newton South, including a print newspaper, Denebola has needed to find ways to differentiate itself. Our lively social media presence is one of our biggest claims to fame. Denebola's main form of social media is our Instagram, which has almost as many followers as students in our school. We aim to provide city, school, and club updates along with engaging entertainment to a broad audience.
Content
(click on photo to see post)
A promotion for our football team's home game
(Graphic by Liam Healy)
A recent post highlighting Newton South's Nordic Ski Team
(Photos by Koji Yoshida)
A video series started by one of last year's editors-in-chief, Tae Hong, and picked up this year by Managing Editor of Sports Ian Brenner, "Fit Check Friday" is a Denebola classic that engages students from all grades
January 4th absent list posted to Denebola's Instagram story
Instagram story promotion of an article about the pros of school uniforms
(Story designed by Liam Healy)
Business & Marketing
One of the hardest parts of maintaining an engaging online presence is staying relevant to your audience. With dozens of other local publications out there, including an additional two from our school, it's critical that our social media offers something unique. We quickly learned that being the first to post impactful news or stories can make a massive difference; even just 10 minutes with a story up before other accounts can mean dozens more likes, shares, and reposts.
With the recent strike, we were the first to post updates on negotiations and cancellations of school multiple times, leading to a jump in followers. Additionally, Denebola posts the teacher absent list (example to the left) on our Instagram every single school day right when it is released – another example of a unique feature that we offer to our followers. (For context, classes are canceled when a teacher is absent, and students may stay home.)
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Right now, our Instagram gets significantly more traction than our website. For that reason, we have recently tried to do more to integrate the two, including promoting website articles on our Instagram story (example to the left). This helps these articles gain readership from followers who are more active on our social media than on our website.
This post announcing the changes to February Vacation due to the missed days during the teacher strike is an example of Denebola being the first to publish news relevant to our audience
Recently, our social media engagement has seen a significant all-time high. Above are some of the statistics from the past 30 days. Specifically, our engagement with non-followers has skyrocketed which is a great sign; this means people are finding and engaging with our account through friends reposting or sharing our posts.
My Contribution
Denebola's strong social media presence wouldn't be where it is today without the help of a team of editors. A lot of what you see can be attributed to our current and former social media managers Liam Healy and Tae Hong. But as editor-in-chief, I do my best to contribute in my own ways to the management of our social media. Ever since the strike a month ago, I have curated the majority of our Instagram posts. Because I attended most days of rallies and was receiving exclusive information, I led our online presence, selecting and editing photos, writing captions and mini stories, and uploading posts in a timely manner. I played a big role in allowing Denebola to be the first to publicize breaking news and information. Since then, I have continued to play a big role in managing our social media and subsequent posts. Additionally, I have created graphics for our Instagram story that are highlighted in the design section of my portfolio. And as a fun cherry on top, a collection of photos from the teacher strike taken by me and sophomore Ella O'Halloran is the most liked, shared, and reached post of the current volume, with almost 600 more views than any other post this year!