Nearly 2 billion people across 50 countries are heading to the polls to vote in 2019, which means, now more than ever, voters’ eyes and ears will be focused on your coverage to ensure they are getting accurate and timely information to make an informed voting decision.
Election coverage is a public service but it’s also a way to build reliability with your audience and promote your outlet as a trusted resource for voters. Whether your publication covers national issues, or has a more local slant, here are some key performance indicators that may be important to your brand’s bottom line, as well as strategies and tactics you can leverage, using Rock Content’s Engage platform, to support your team’s goals:
Increased Repeat Visitors
- Consider content that’s always relevant as a way to use fewer resources. You can hone in on specific topics related to voting and paint a picture for your readers on subjects such as voter turnout and history of your region or a profile on an underdog candidate. If your readers can count on you to publish compelling evergreen pieces, they’ll return to your site time and time again.
- By hosting a regularly scheduled live online election chat—every Tuesday and Thursday, for example—you can give your readers set times to check in on your site. Consider different viewpoints at different times—factual information as it happens.
- Create a microsite dedicated to your election coverage. You can leverage a whitelabel template to create stunning content that can stand alone.
- Offer basic, but necessary details such as polling information as well as live updates from polling places in the form of a live blog.
- Leverage content icons to clearly differentiate various types of posts within a stream
Increased Time on Page
- Leverage a video provider placed either on top of or next to your stream to host an ongoing discussion during a live event or replay clips that will encourage readers to stick around.
- Give your top political editor some time to shine by having them host a Q&A. They can field readers’ questions about all things related to the upcoming elections, and it will keep your readers engrossed and included.
- Create sound bites of local voters before, during, and after voting and scatter throughout your stream for a multimedia experience.
Increased Conversions
- While you’ll likely always share the larger debates and polling results with anyone who navigates to your site, consider placing your niche, more curated content behind a gate or paywall. For example, you can cover the larger debate on your election page, and place an expert deep-dive of the candidates within the paid section of your site or have users submit a form with their contact information in order to access the content.
- Leverage in-stream ads to guide readers to a specific Call to Action (CTA) or to monetize the content.
Increased Pages Per Session
- A recap post that’s pinned to the top of your content can help readers catch up. This could contain links, resources, and voting information, and will encourage readers to spend more time browsing different pages of your site.
Increased User Engagement
- Include polls and quizzes in your live stream during breaks in commentary to keep your readers’ interest. Consider topics like “how well do you know your local politician?” or trivia on the candidates or issues.
- Photos inside voting locations are usually prohibited but get creative with other ways to capture User Generated Content (UGC)—try running a contest of your readers most pressing political questions or have them submit “post-voting” selfies. The winner could have their questions answered by a candidate during an interview with your publication, and also win a one month subscription to your premium site.
Upcoming Election Coverage Webinar
Interested in learning more about how you can engage your audience during election season? Register today for our upcoming webinar.
