Step 1
Build a journey for loyal audiences.
The first step to navigating the reader journey is understanding how your audiences discover content, and how the discovery method will affect reader behaviors. While organizations dedicate resources to promotion across channels such as search and social media, many neglect to create a tailored content approach for each channel. Small, yet critical windows of opportunity after a visitor lands on a site will mean the difference between engagement and exit. That is why teams need to start with by asking themselves:
How do I create my own opportunities along the reader journey for success, and thus, a better chance of seeing that reader return?
The first step is determining how readers find you most. Use your referral and device data to explain:
- The sources of your audiences
- What type of experiences those audiences expect
For instance, our data has found that mobile audiences are now more loyal than their desktop counterparts, which suggests that there are multiple paths to reaching the goal of bringing loyal, high-value readers to your site. Those loyal readers are a significant piece of your larger content strategy — not only do they read three times more than new visitors, but their behavior also offers unique insights into the strategies you’ve implemented that resonate most.
In terms of referrers, our research shows that readers behave differently based on the platform they use to access content. For example, we’ve found that search referrals tend to be audiences who are seeking factual information and deeper reads into a specific topic, or “news you can use,” which gives you an instant Recirculation opportunity once they land on your site.
In contrast, readers coming from social media tend to come for the emotional side of the story, such as first-person accounts.
