Audience Development Editor
McClatchy and The Sacramento Bee are seeking a leader with a passion for coaching, collaborating and experimenting to help grow and diversify our audiences through powerful, relevant journalism.
Editor, Audience Development, at The Sacramento Bee will be part of a team of News audience experts based across the country, working with our 30 newsrooms to ensure that our journalism reaches readers and has an impact in our local communities.
You’ll lead a team in Sacramento, California, that coaches Sacramento Bee and Modesto Bee editors and reporters on the tactics for growing and engaging audiences (social, SEO, newsletters, additional distribution platforms) and collaborates with McClatchy’s consumer marketing teams to provide differentiated experiences for our subscribers. You’ll spend time on data-driven content and distribution experiments in partnership with journalists in the newsroom as well as McClatchy’s News Analytics team.
This role requires an editor with strong management skills and a background in audience-focused writing, editing and storytelling. You’ll provide guidance to editors and reporters on everything from story format and distribution, to video and audio presentation, to promotion of high-impact projects, to writing with an audience focus. You’ll help set performance goals that hold the Audience Development Team accountable for growing and retaining audiences.
Sacramento is the fastest-growing big city in California, and its metropolitan area stretches from the farmlands of the Central Valley to the shores of Lake Tahoe. You’ll be joining The Bee’s award-winning journalism team.
The Editor, Audience Development, reports to McClatchy’s Senior Editor for Audience Growth + Retention.
Key responsibilities:
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Collaborate with McClatchy teams to create strategies that produce audience growth and subscriber loyalty.
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Train newsrooms on how to regularly discover and grow new audiences while creating subscriber experiences.
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Coordinate at every stage with editors producing high-impact journalism projects, ensuring that they put their audience at the center, from the idea phase onward. This means helping to ensure the work includes audience-focused assets such as video and interactive graphics, employing innovative distribution tactics to reach the right audience at the right time, and trying novel retention tactics that spur subscriber engagement and loyalty.
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Implement engagement strategies that focus on building community conversations.
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Regularly analyze performance data to improve audience development strategies, and offer feedback to newsrooms.
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Develop strategy to experiment, increase audiences and improve subscriber experiences, including popup newsletters; subscriber experiences and outreach; and content data analysis.
Qualifications:
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5+ years of experience, preferably in a digitally focused local media organization
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Reliable news judgment
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Experience in a leadership role
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A proven track record of growing and engaging audiences and subscribers
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A deep understanding of social media best practices and newsletter strategies
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A way with headlines and an understanding of what works on different platforms
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An ability to work collaboratively on projects ranging from podcasts to video to enterprise stories.
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Must work comfortably in a job that will be fast-paced, data-driven, shaped constantly by feedback and experimentation
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Experience with analytics platforms
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Curious about and aware of audience trends in the digital media space
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Reporting and editing experience a plus
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A demonstrated ability to learn new skills
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Occasional travel may be required