Digital Communications

A three-pronged approach—news, digital and social—leads the way for News@Northeastern, whose mission is to spotlight the university, its students and its research by utilizing professional journalists and editors in an actual newsroom.

The news team evaluates its success through analytics and data, looking at social engagement, conversations created, external links into their site as well as time on page, unique vs. returning visitors and email open and click rates.

News@Northeastern has also registered with Google as a news organization so it is included in the search giant’s news aggregation. The team’s research and coverage of events regularly appears on Page 1 on the section, stimulating a steady flow of organic traffic from folks inside and outside the university.

The team also includes two headlines for every piece of content. These include a display headline to lead the page and an SEO headline that embeds in the header and gets picked up by search engines and social media platforms.

In just the last year, Northeastern’s communications department has over 2 million page views from 1.2 million unique users who spend an average of nearly 3 minutes on a page.

The team has also seen its daily newsletter subscriptions grow to 50,000. Social engagement has also seen a constant increase with about 110,000 followers on Facebook, 37,000 followers on Twitter and 33,000 followers on Instagram.

Honorable Mentions:

· Balloon Time - Content that LIFTS Conversion

· DC Health Benefit Exchange Authority - POWERUP DC - Moving Your Business Forward: Start, Grow and Prosper

· DeVries Global for P&G/Aussie’s Purple Lining Street Art Activation

· Electric Power Research Institute - How EPRI Electrified 2018

· Ferrovial - El Salado, peace through water

· National Geographic - Free Solo Community Engagement

· National Geographic - Free Solo Media Relations

· Pac/West Communications - NECA-IBEW Local 48 – Labor/Management

· Penguin Random House - Grand Central Reads

· PepsiCo - Closing the Crop Gap

· Unique Vacations, Inc. - Beaches Resorts’ Social Media on the Sand Conference

· USC Marshall School of Business - Digital Awareness and Reputation

External Publication

With the transformation of the communications department at Northeastern into a full-blown newsroom, News@Northeastern has shined a spotlight on the Boston-based university, its students and research, and has led to an increase in content engagement.

By providing expertise on currents events as well as breaking news with fresh and groundbreaking research, the university keeps itself relevant in the digital landscape.

For example, the team keeps an eye on current events to determine how it can apply Northeastern's expertise and research, as those in the newsroom keep up to date with all faculty and experts' research. The news team also keeps track of social media feeds and monitors its own data from previous stories.

News@Northeastern is a team effort that features a three-pronged approach of news, digital and social. With content editorial meetings everyday at 9:05 a.m., constant collaboration through every step of the project—interviews, writings, photography, multimedia, etc.—is crucial.

When working on content, the team identifies stakeholders, experts and potential sources, as well as ways to illustrate or make that idea pop. Once the basics have been determined, team members are tasked with the project.

And, to encourage conversation among members of the newsroom, the communications department offices were redesigned into a open-air concept newsroom, where reporters sit next to coders who sit next to photographers who sit next to graphic artists.

In the past year, the communications department has amassed over 2 million pageviews from 1.2 million unique users who spend an average of nearly 3 minutes on a page when they land inside the news environment.

Social engagement has seen a continual increase with about 110,000 followers on Facebook, 37,000 followers on Twitter and 33,000 followers on Instagram.

Honorable Mentions:

-Aerospace Futures Alliance - LIFT Magazine

-Air Movement and Control Association International Inc. - 2018 Edition of AMCA inmotion Magazine

-BBB Central Texas - 2018 BBB Trust Talk Magazine

-Cherokee Nation Businesses - Anadisgoi magazine

-Consumer Technology Association - It is Innovation (i3)

-Joint Advertising, Market Research & Studies - FUTURES Magazine 2018