Masterclass 6: Road-testing Prowly - a new publishing platform for brand (and traditional) journalism

  Prowly is a publishing platform that combines a very simple set-up, design and publishing process with a good deal of guidance and tuition in how to optimise your content's appeal to your target audience.

  Prowly was conceived as a brand journalism platform, but to my mind it works just as well for a traditional publisher.

  As with all these masterclasses, what follows is designed to supplement and update the detailed tuition included in my Multimedia Journalism and Brand Journalism textbooks.

 I'll link from material here to relevant points on the two textbook websites, where you can find context, background and further tuition in what we cover.

  Here's Prowly's MO:



Because it is targeted at brands which are not traditional publishers, and for which content creation of high journalistic standards is a new challenge, it is very informative for beginners in journalism, including students.

Who publishes on Prowly? 

Let's take a quick look at three companies that publish on the platform. Prowly hails from Poland, so the examples here are in Polish.

If you browse them on Google Chrome you can click the translate button to render content into English.

 Among their clients is the journalism brand National Geographic:

 

National Geographic publishes articles about forthcoming programmes on the schedule, and additional content such as an invitation to pitch ideas for TV shows.

 

 Non-journalistic clients include: Spotify 



The music streaming service runs brand journalism about its content, for example on the popularity 
of the Beatles on the service,

 

 using text and info graphics...

 

... and surrounding the Eurovision Song Contest, integrating playlists into the articles it posts on its Prowly site:

 

As far as I can tell, Spotify does not offer such content to its UK or American users, which is a shame, because the one flaw I find with the service is that it does not do anything like enough, through brand journalism, to help us find music that might interest us.

 I believe Spotify would be substantially improved if it included music journalism of Rolling Stone quality alongside its access to millions of songs, because such abundance is hard to navigate without the guide, filter and recommendation engine that informed, authoritative journalism can provide.

As an aside, Spotify allows brands to use its content to create closer relationship with customers. BMW did it in the US to promote a new model, offering purchasers the chance to go to a map to create playlists related to classic road trips:

 

Hill and Knowlton The PR agency includes case studies and news:

 

  Prowly's tuition for brands and brand journalists

  Integrated within the publishing platform are resources to help you understanding your audience and learn to pitch to them more effectively, and to make "Brand journalism a centrepiece for your communication".

That's a topic we cover in great depth in the Brand Journalism textbook pages 21-34 and on the companion website here.

 For brands that want to get into journalism, Prowly provides a magazine with guides to content creation for particular groups.

 For example young mums:

 

There is an academy with tuition on brand journalism and content creation:



  Why Prowly is worth a closer look

 Prowly combines the ease and elegance of publishing I like about Scoop.it, with the ability to target a campaign to a given audience provided by Mailchimp.

We cover these platforms in the Multimedia Journalism textbook: Spotify on page 211 in the book/ebook and on the companion website here, Mailchimp on page 278-282 and on the companion website here.


  NEXT: How to publish on Prowly

If you REALLY want to be a journalist - you need the answers to these 10 questions

Usually on the Multimedia Journalism site we concentrate on how to do journalism

How to be a better reporter, video editor, podcaster or whatever

This time I want to look at something different.

Something that comes before all of the 'how to do it'.

It's the 'do you really want to do it?'

It's about the state of journalism today.

So I'm posing and answering 10 key questions.

The answers are designed to fully inform you about the state of the journalism trade today in the US and the UK.

I'll lay my cards on the table right now - I think we are at the start of a golden age of journalism.

I say that because it's never been easier to do journalism: to create and publish high-quality multimedia content.

Getting good at it is the hard part, and is what the MMJ course of learning is all about.

But there are also some stark facts that anyone considering spending a lot of time and money studying journalism ought to know about before they commit themselves.

For example: there are between 40,000 and 60,000 journalists working in the UK, depending on whose figures you believe (more on that here)

Yet, each year, around 15,000 students begin journalism degrees.

In the USA, the ratio of fresh graduates to working journalists is similarly scary.

So, no pressure there then.

This doesn't mean you'll never get a job in journalism, although in the UK, applications for journalism degrees plunged by 20 per cent in 2012, and only recovered by 1.4 per cent in 2013. 

What the tough employment market does mean is that you need to be really well trained, qualified and prepared if you are to stand a chance.

You need to be well-informed about where the jobs are, and how to equip yourself for a career in journalism.

So in this masterclass we look at these things:

• How many jobs there are and what percentage of journalism students get one
• Where those jobs are in the various branches of the media - newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, online and in brand journalism
• The qualifications and experience you need to be a serious candidate

and other key questions.

Along the way we'll link to further information and resources - so, for example, in the module on what experience you need we link to a rich resource of advice on getting work experience and internships and on building up an impressive portfolio of published and/or broadcast work.

Next: How many jobs are there? How hard is it to get one?

Brand journalism - what it is and how to do it

This is a preview of the 50th masterclass at Multimedia Journalism: A Practical Guide and it’s a little different to the preceding 49.

It’s about something that some people deny is journalism at all. They say it’s just PR or marketing under another name.

But what exactly is brand journalism? You can read a definition of brand journalism in this module.

In other modules we'll look at how to do it, something of its history - how brand journalism has developed as a discipline - and the cases for and against it as a valid branch of journalism. 

Here I want to say why I’m doing this.

Why cover brand journalism?

My reason for covering brand journalism is rooted in two realities.

One is the dire state of employment for journalists with traditional publishers and broadcasters.

The other is the way brands are using social media to communicate. And how they are using journalists, or non-journalists using journalistic techniques, to do so.

And as everything I’ve done under the Multimedia Journalism banner over the past two years has been about trying to equip journalism students for the world of work, and helping working journalists to gain the new skills they need to stay employed, I think we really must cover this new source of work.

It seems to me pretty obvious that in the future many – perhaps most – journalists will be employed by brands. They'll be doing the stuff journalists have always done, and which we are best at, but instead of being employed by a media brand, they'll work for some other sort of organisation.

I use 'brand' as an umbrella term to encompass any organisation, any charity, any pressure group or cause; any manufacturer, retailer, wholesaler; any branch of public service from the police to army to education to social services; any politician or political organisation, group or campaign at every geographic level; any profession, any trade.

All of them will be using what I’m calling brand journalism, but which can also be called content marketing, to communicate, as appropriate, with their existing and potential customers and clients; with those who support a cause or who they’d like to persuade to do so; with whatever communities they represent or serve.

That’s a big shift. 

It's here: get used to it

I don’t think most journalists are ready for it. We are still too hung up on the idea of PR and marketing as the dark side – as the place old journalist go to die when their careers are over.

We need to rethink. This masterclass is my attempt at beginning to do that.

It's also written from a desire to see a debate about brand journalism. In the UK, the Leveson Inquiry into press standards is causing a fundamental rethink of  how journalists operate, and how media companies, governments and other institutions intereract.

It's likely to lead to stricter regulation of the press; to the establishment of standards of behaviour that have been sorely lacking within some sections of the media.

I'd like to see a parallel debate on the emerging world of brand journalism. Maybe we need a powerful new code of ethics and conduct, perhaps enshrined in law, to regulate all journalism, including brand journalism.

I'd like the debate around brand journalism to be rooted in the reailty that, like it or loath it, jornalism performed on behalf of brands, corporations, charities, causes, governments and many others is expanding exponentially. We need to understand what is happening.

Brand journalism, its practice, and its impact is a very big - and very important - subject. For that reason I’m writing a book about it. I'd like that book to be as fully informed as possible, and I invite you to tell me what you think about the subject. You’ll find a note about the project, and how to get in touch, at the end of this masterclass.

Next: What Brand Journalism Is

The Brand Journalism project

I've been commissioned by Routledge to write a book on Brand Journalism, with a companion website. 

The book will be a companion volume to Multimedia Journalism, which deals with essential journalism skills. It won't duplicate the learning programme of MMJ; rather it will move up to the next level and demonstrate how to apply those skills to brand journalism.

It will also demonstrate to journalists, marketers, PR professionals, brand managers and others how to develop and implement a brand journalism strategy. 

It will be highly practical, packed with examples of how brands, organisations, charities, public bodies, campaigns, causes and many more entities are doing brand journalism in ways that are appropriate to them.

If you have any thoughts or comments, or would like to contribute to the project in some way, please contact me, Andy Bull, via the buttons on this site, or DM me @andybull on Titter.

I'm looking for case studies of brand journalists, and examples of brand journalism in action.

Up-coming tuition at MMJ (update)

Masterclass 41: Top 3 essential web-clipping apps for journalists

We take a look at three incredibly useful clipping apps - each of which is the best in its field for one key function. There's Evernote, a great research-gathering tool for news reporters; Zotero, perfect for more academic research and article composition; and Cuttings Me, an elegant way to put your best material together in a showcase of your talents.

Find out more...

Masterclass  42: How to use Google Creative Kit for photo-editing, plus some alternative apps to check out

When Google announced it would close Picnik, the popular photo-edtiting software company it bought a while back, there was outrage. Infact, what Google has done is bring Picnik into the Google+ fold, giving the good old Picnik functionality a re-skin.

We'll look at how to use it - hence updating the coverage of Picnik in the print veriosn of MMJ, and in the equivalent part of the ebook and online versions of the project.

We'll also take a look at three or four alternatives to Creative Kit/Picnik

Going live: February 4

Masterclass 43: Focus on print - plus: win your own print run

Print may be under pressure, but it's still core to what many journalists do. We'll take a look at the future of print, and at an interesting new venture called Make My Newspaper.

Make My Newspaper lets you create your own tabloid online, design it, add content and buy a short print run. It could be the answer for  journalism courses where creating a print product is an important learning tool and demonstration of competence. And it might work for hyperlocals that want a print presence.

We will offer two free print runs of 100, 20-page papers to lucky UK-based journalism courses, hyperlocals or start-ups.

Going live: February 11

Masterclass 44: Flash website building for non-coders

Flash websites are great for situations in which you want to make a visual impact, and where photography is important.

We'll look at a way to create a really professional one without knowing the first thing about coding.

Going live: February 18

Masterclass 45: Wordpress

Two levels of tuition in Wordpress. 

We’ll kick off by getting a basic site up and running. 

Then we'll look at using customised themes to create a really impressive Wordpress publishing platform.

March 10

Masterclass 46 - 49: How to choose a specialism, Series 2

We looked here at eight popular journalistic specialisms. Now we feature a second series, including:

• Technology
• Music
• Education

March 24 - May 5

Masterclass 50: Brand Journalism

What it is, and why it could be the future for many journalists

May 19