Editorial analytics over generic analytics

Data has driven a lot of tasks on the web. The quality of data and the amount of data available today has significantly improved. As a publisher, you’d want to have access to data about your users, their demographic, your subscriber’s interest/behavior, pageviews etc. These numbers help you streamline your efforts both on your website and as a brand.

But what do pageviews actually tell you? It tells you how many people visited the page. It’s a number that doesn't have any impact value. There’s no impact value attached to that pageview.

The data you work with needs to align with the goals you have set out for yourself. This is why editors need different data than the rest of the team. They need insights, specificities, something more than the numbers that can help them navigate content.

The role of analytics in journalism right now can be simplified into two things:

1. The Interpretation of data

2. Creating simpler stories and posts.

You don’t just need data, you need to know how to work with them. Alerts on action items and notifications that tell you when and how to get working. This pointed strategy will help the editorial team receive data that is workable rather than a database that only ends up giving numbers.

Numbers aren’t always your friends. Complex information can be jarring for some. Not all of it is chewable. This is why data needs to be presented in a way that provides clarity.

A customisable dashboard that provides an overview of the most important metrics can be a step in the right direction. An everyday quick recap of what you’ve known, the actionable items and the new updates presented in a simpler way can help you better absorb data. This will further help you stay in control of your content strategy.

A well planned editorial plan lets you develop your audience to build that trust and loyalty. Some ways that an editorial strategy contributes to audience development include :

• Supporting consistent publishing

• Ensuring high-quality content

• Keeping content in scope and relevant to the audience

It’s important for the content strategy to be aligned with the editorial priorities and organisational goals. This could be short term and long term.

News organisations need to focus on how they can manage their analytics capability by ensuring that they use the right tools and organisational structure. It’s also important to facilitate a newsroom workflow where everyone on the team is data-informed for better decision making.

Insightful analytics and the interpretation and simplification of data is useful and ensures that you’re not stuck looking at your numbers on your dashboard all day.

You would want a filter that shows you things that need your immediate attention or something new.

A deep drive analytics reports can be looked into monthly but on a daily basis it could be easier to have data presented that is of immediate benefit.

Today, you can get alerts that allow quick actions. You can manage your everyday actions around these alerts that are more targeted than a plain sheet of data. Looking for solutions that help you “act quick and precisely” can change your workflow the right way.

You have solutions that, as soon as you hit 'publish', it notices a new story. According to the selected tags (author, topic, user need) and other factors such as time of day, the system quickly checks the performance of similar articles and advises you on the best course of action based on that data.