Even as the publishing industry continues to evolve and in
some cases downsize, your Claremont community newspaper and website continues
to be quite popular on a variety of fronts.
The latest example is the COURIER’s unique approach to managing
our Facebook page. The key difference between our account and that from just
about any other business is we have a “personal” account instead of a classic
“business” page.
What’s the difference? In a personal account, your friends
can create posts that include text and photos. A business account is totally
controlled by the business, and although people can add comments (and “like” a
post), all the messages are created by that business. They control all the
content.
Although the COURIER staff is the biggest contributor to our
Facebook page with short news briefs or website links, we support our readers
to add opinions, including information about Claremont events. Together, we
have created a real digital bulletin board of happenings around town.
The Facebook business account came to life so business
owners could eliminate negative posts on their pages. So with our personal
account, that was initially a concern of ours too. But what we have learned is
there are very few reader postings that have been inappropriate. The majority
of these postings are announcements for nonprofit events, an engaging photo,
and in some cases…news. We feel this adds value to our readers and the Claremont
community.
All this being said, there are a few guidelines we ask
readers to follow because our page is a powerful marketing tool that reaches 3,000
people within a 30-mile radius of Claremont.
1)
Create only one post for your event. Please do
not post multiple notifications of the same happening in the hope of reaching
more people.
2)
We encourage your own personal opinions. But
please don’t make it an attack on an individual.
3)
There are some cases where a local business will
post an item about an upcoming promotion or sale. In this case, we encourage
you to give us a call to review the many advertising options we deliver. Your
support is critical in helping the COURIER remain a thriving voice for our community.
4)
We are interested in all sorts of information
and we especially like the feedback generated when posting stories and polls.
Do not hesitate to send me an email at pweinberger@claremont-courier.com with
questions and comments (I’m always looking for good poll questions.)
Our Facebook page is so popular because of our friends’
contributions. With so many people involved, our readership continues to grow.
It’s important to keep in mind the COURIER Facebook page is home for only a
small fraction of the news our staff covers.
As any publisher would mention, if you are not a subscriber,
give us a try. I guarantee you will be pleasantly surprised at all the
Claremont news and information at your fingertips.
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