Digital content producers on the Rochester team are significant drivers of audience growth and subscriber satisfaction.

Specifically, they are charged each day with creating timely content, anticipating searcher intent and fashioning compelling content on social media channels of high interest to younger and diverse audiences – such as Instagram Reels.

Digital content producers are partners with each relevant team at the local site and also including the New York State Team. They follow the 36-hour rule to ensure subscriber-only content has compelling headlines, well-targeted SEO terms and an easy-to-read-or-scan mix of subheads, photos, video and graphics and links. They ensure subscriber-only content is posted mostly at dawn, as well as non-deadline metered content.

They scour Google Analytics and social media to note what’s trending and have carte blanche to create quick-turn work related to trending news or trending sports (or breaking news and sports) and post it within a matter of minutes. In short, the producers will have byline at least a few times per week.

The producers instant message regularly with the content strategy analyst and have an encyclopedic knowledge of our site’s goals and which content and techniques work to meet or exceed those goals They can and should point out opportunities, either missed or just ahead, in the spirit of aggressively courting new readers into the top of the audience funnel and retaining those subscribers at the bottom of the funnel.

A successful candidate must demonstrate strong news judgment and should have prior digital news experience. He, she or they will be an effective collaborator and supportive teammate who can equally well independently or on a coverage team.

Your application should include examples of your best work, including 3 examples of digital content you created yourself that drew a large audience.

Responsibilities include:

●Partnering with editors, front-line journalists and planners on a 10-days-out subscriber-only content schedule, drawing upon a continual review of what succeeds and why.

●Being on the lookout all the time for opportunities to write or suggest trending stories. As Rochester did with the Damar Hamlin collapse on Jan. 2, getting a story up within seven minutes of a coverage opportunity can attract voluminous audience and prime Google search results position.

●Managing native and off-site platforms: Scheduling and setting up boosts and push alerts; and creating social media posts for news and sports on Instagram.

●Focusing with great rigor on SEO terms, keeping searcher intent front of mind and monitoring what people are searching for on the day of, say, a snowstorm.

●Enhancing content with video, galleries, Storylines, hyperlinks and images. Joining planning discussions to offer suggestions for story enhancements during the newsgathering process.

●Owning creation and publication of 1-2 newsletters weekly, ensuring their headlines and style make for quick, inviting reads for subscribers.

●Creating in-depth layouts and advanced template work
●Writing, suggesting or crowd-sourcing internally effective digital headlines, promo briefs and breaking news alerts that help attract audiences.

●Help create social cards via Canva for high-potential stories and scheduling them on social media platforms.

●Using Parse.ly to make data-driven decisions related to opportunities at each stage of the audience funnel.

●Owning or co-owning upkeep of live blogs on breaking news and big-event days.

●Partnering with other digital content producers in New York state, the Northeast Group and USA TODAY to share content and coordinate on significant stories.

●Pursuing other duties assigned by editors.

Requirements:

●Bachelor's or master’s degree in communications, journalism or related field or equivalent combination of education and experience.

●5+ years experience working in digital news production or related fields

●Proven experience producing quick-turn stories based on trending topics and breaking news. Presents a quick, conversational writing style that resonates with mobile and social audiences.

●Proven experience with advanced storytelling techniques on multiple platforms.

●Proficiency on social media platforms, particularly Instagram Reels.

●Effective communicator; able to collaborate with diverse personalities and make decisions amid divergent viewpoints.

●Able to multi-task and excel under intense deadline pressure.

●Ability to act calmly and decisively in complex breaking news situations.

●Knowledge of AP style.

●Able to work early morning, night or weekend shifts.

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