Our special guest, Jem Collins, Director of Journo Resources, reveals how their unique approach to audience engagement fosters deep connection and sustainable growth. The JournoResource audience divulges that they believe in the brand, who they are and what they stand for.
Discover how they co-create, prioritise user experience, and close the feedback loop to build a loyal community.
If you are too busy or not a big fan of watching recordings, here is a slightly edited transcript that you can browse through at your convenience:
Francesca Dumas: Hi and welcome! I’m Francesca, and this is Redefining Engagement. Today, we’re speaking with Jem Collins. Jem, welcome! Could you introduce yourself and tell us about your background?
Jem Collins: It’s great to be here! I’m Jem Collins, director and editor at Journo Resources, a social enterprise supporting UK journalists with free tools, resources, and community. Our audience is journalists—making this conversation quite meta! We’re a publisher in the traditional sense, producing articles, videos, a newsletter, and various supplementary resources. I’ve been doing this for eight years, bringing my experience as a reporter for national and regional newsrooms to this role.
Francesca: That’s an impressive and varied background—going from the newsroom to running your own! What prompted that change?
Jem: It was a significant change, but not as drastic as it might seem. I was made redundant from a journalism job—a common experience in the UK. That pushed me to start Journo Resources. I built it gradually, alongside other work. This gave me a deep understanding of my audience; I had to truly understand their needs rather than guessing. It’s not entirely different from freelancing, where you handle business development alongside reporting—a skillset also valuable at more senior newsroom roles.
Francesca: Your audience is unique because they’re also journalists. In your context, what does audience engagement mean?
Jem: It’s fascinating that our audience is essentially ourselves. We have a diverse team—I handle business, our deputy editor manages content, and we have others focused on design and technology. Everyone has journalism experience. This lived experience is crucial. Even our part-time staff often freelance, giving them a user’s perspective. Our editorial resources coordinator, for example, manages admin and uploads resources while also being a key user. This lived experience, I believe, is both unique and essential to our work.
Regarding your question: for us, audience engagement means depth and connection. We track standard metrics like views and time on page, but we’re more interested in how deeply people engage. Do they contribute to our collective resources? Do they financially support us? It’s about the depth of their connection and their willingness to contribute to our mission.
Francesca: This “depth” you describe involves audience contributions. Can you give examples?
Jem: Our freelance pitch library is a great example. Freelance journalists submit pitches and published links, creating a resource for others. We do the same for salary information. These are supplementary resources, but essential to our audience’s daily work. It’s co-creation; we can’t dictate best practices, but by collaborating with our audience, we build something far more comprehensive.
Francesca: How do you measure this depth?
Jem: It’s a sliding scale. We’re a small team (five people), but measurement is vital. We use a mix of hard and soft metrics in our monthly director meetings. We track submissions, views, and click-through rates. But we also value softer metrics, like replies to emails, comments, and general feedback. We even have a Slack channel for positive and negative comments, ensuring that all feedback is considered. We analyze the numbers, but also the context—both are critical.
Francesca: How has your definition of engagement evolved from your previous experiences?
Jem: It’s shifted along a similar line. We’ve always prioritized owning our space (our newsletter, website, resources). Now, we’re focusing more on active engagement—beyond comments, towards contributions that directly support our mission. The “stack it high, sell it low” approach doesn’t foster loyalty. While views are important, we’re increasingly focused on building trust and deeper connections to encourage subscriptions—vital for our sustainability. Our aim is to make our audience feel truly invested and involved in co-creation.
Francesca: What are the goals of your engagement strategy?
Jem: Subscriptions and memberships are key for sustainability. However, financial sustainability goes hand-in-hand with our ethos. People support us because they trust and believe in our brand and mission. Our audience survey showed that more people donate or subscribe due to belief in our brand than because of immediate utility. This is something we’re incredibly proud of.
Francesca: What are the biggest challenges in engaging audiences like yours, especially as a small team?
Jem: Everyone faces challenges in audience engagement, regardless of size. One key hurdle is closing the loop. If you solicit feedback, you must respond and show how it’s been used (or why not). Ignoring feedback is detrimental. It’s crucial to show your audience that their input is valued and acted upon.
Francesca: Can you give an example of how you learned about the importance of closing the loop?
Jem: Our annual audience survey revealed this. Initially, we focused on gathering data without much explanation of how it would be used. This was perceived as inauthentic. Now, we emphasize our values and proactively communicate the changes implemented from previous surveys, creating a much more genuine value exchange.
Francesca: What strategies have proven most effective?
Jem: We focus on removing barriers. For instance, our video content is hosted on YouTube for ease of access and distribution, understanding that convenience is vital. Sometimes, leveraging existing platforms is more effective than creating bespoke solutions. We recently switched membership providers, simplifying the sign-up process and seeing a significant increase in membership sign-ups.
Francesca: How do you consider audience needs during the content creation process?
Jem: Audience engagement should be integrated from the start, not retroactively applied. For larger projects, we conduct extensive research before proceeding. Our strategy days involve analyzing various data points—both qualitative and quantitative—to guide decision-making. While we sometimes experiment, it’s crucial to back up new initiatives with data and audience insights.
Francesca: Can you share a successful and an unsuccessful initiative?
Jem: A successful initiative was our online event series, launched during the pandemic. While not unexpected, its continued popularity surprised us. It revealed distinct audience needs for community interaction versus access to valuable, on-demand content.
An unsuccessful initiative was a second newsletter. Despite audience requests for a space to share successes, it failed because people were more interested in sharing their own work than others’. This highlighted the gap between what people say they want and what they actually use. We now facilitate this type of sharing organically through our Discord forum.
Francesca: What role does technology (AI, data analytics) play?
Jem: AI and data analytics help us crunch numbers and understand trends. However, we see them as tools to support our understanding, not as a replacement for human interaction. We prioritize human curation in our content and communication.
Francesca: Tell us more about your annual audience survey. What questions do you ask, and how do you use the feedback?
Jem: Our survey has three parts: demographics (with a focus on representation), usage patterns, and membership interest. We carefully structure and word the questions to ensure accurate and reliable results. We emphasize the importance of the data for our values-driven mission.
We feed back results in several ways. We highlight changes made in subsequent surveys. Throughout the year, we communicate when implementing changes based on survey feedback, ensuring transparency and demonstrating the impact of audience input.
Francesca: What impact has improved audience engagement had on your bottom line?
Jem: This year, we’ve focused on growing membership revenue. We tested some strategies and saw a significant increase in trial sign-ups (doubling them). While still a small percentage, it demonstrates the potential impact of targeted engagement efforts.
Francesca: Any engagement hacks for those just starting?
Jem: Talk to your audience! While data is important, directly speaking with readers provides invaluable qualitative insights. Even informal chats can spark unexpected ideas and reveal deeper understanding that numbers alone cannot provide.
Francesca: Thank you so much, Jem! This was a fantastic conversation.
Jem: Thank you for having me! It’s been great.