Digital Newsroom Media Center Transformation

About the Program

Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

For a decade, Orange County Government’s Newsroom consisted of rote news releases and alerts. The model was static and outdated. To better showcase Orange County’s programs and services and deliver news and information in one clear voice, a redesigned Newsroom Media Center and a companion OCFL News app, with push notification capabilities, were launched in April 2014. Prior to the launch, monthly traffic to the Newsroom averaged only 200 page views and 100 visits. By Jan. 2015, the new Newsroom Media Center was averaging 20,000 page views and 16,000 visits monthly. Still, Orange County Government wanted to continue growth, expand audiences and establish the Newsroom Media Center as the authoritative hub for regional news. Through a strategic Newsroom Media Center outreach plan, consisting of OCFL News app notifications, targeted social media posts, email newsletters and community newspaper placements, Orange County Government improved news distribution to its 1.25 million segmented publics. The strategies outlined in the Newsroom Media Center outreach plan catapulted traffic to more than 710,000 page views in 2015, an increase of 575 percent over the previous year.