From a memo from Executive Editor Paul Volpe:
In our ongoing effort to extend our reach and expand our readership, we’re making a few changes to our workflow and asking you to tweak the way you file your stories in the following ways:
1. Offer additional headlines.
Multiple suggested headlines already speed the publishing process. They also can make a big difference in how many people read your story. We’ve been doing A/B tests on headlines, in some cases doubling or tripling readership based on a headline change. Due to time and resource constraints, we’ve been running these tests on a limited number of stories. And sometimes we miss the pivotal testing window.
With your cooperation, we’ll be able to run significantly more tests and capitalize earlier by switching to a headline that makes a clear difference. Starting today, reporters should provide at least two headlines that are significantly different for each story you file. If you file in the CMS, these should go in the Note field on the Notes tab.
2. Provide at least two suggestions for Tweets or Facebook posts beyond the story’s headline.
Trevor Eischen and our web team publish more than 400 times daily to our social accounts. To craft compelling posts, they now must read every story we publish, search for the key points and determine what is most likely to engage readers. The reporters and editors most familiar with these stories should give them a sense of what we think is the most important information. This will save time, allow us to publish more quickly, free up the team to focus on our social media strategy and help us build our audience. If you file in the CMS, these should go in the Override tab under Twitter Title.
