PUSH ALERTS

Push alerts allow us to reach our brand lovers and loyalists with breaking and important information as soon as we can confirm and report stories. Our approach is aggressive and strategic: We want to send at least 10 on weekdays and at least five on weekend days, ensuring the stories are need to know and truly significant breaking news items.

You should send a Push Alert when:

● We cut into programming for breaking news or severe weather

● There is major breaking news people needs to know immediately: A violent crime, school closures, evacuations, major weather situations, public safety hazards.

● Major traffic crashes that impact interstate, highway and arterial road travel.

● Significant developments in big stories we’ve been following: Arrests/charges in high-profile crimes, verdicts, sentencings, or major developments

● Celebrity or locally newsworthy deaths

● Special livestreaming content, whether it’s breaking coverage, non-traditional newscast streaming or special projects

● Major breaking national news

● We have an exclusive story

Checklist and questions to ask yourself before sending the alert

Best practices mandate the producer proofreads and gets a second set of eyes before sending. There’s no easier way to erode credibility with something we deem significant than having a typo, inaccuracy, or confusing language.

· Does this story warrant sending a push notification?

· Is this push notification relevant to the majority of people who use the app?

· Does this push notification at this time add value to this user’s day?

· What would I think if this one update was the only source of information I had on the topic?

· Is the language in my push alert accurate and responsible?

· Is there a lack of context? (Read the push alert as if this was the first time you were reading anything about the topic at hand)

Other general tips for Push Alerts

● This should be master class in tease writing: Provide enough information to let the viewer know why they should care without giving away the entire story.

● The language should act like a call to action, rarely should we give people instructions on what to do: “Tap Here” “Click here for more”… these kind of phrases should be inherent in how you’ve crafted the alert without explicitly saying it.

● Alerts are not for general promotion

● Beware of the time of day: Unless it’s a catastrophe, limit alerts between 6 a.m. – 11 p.m. If you do send an alert overnight, turn off the sound.

● Think big, don’t alert fender benders, boil advisories, stories that generally don’t appeal to a wide group of viewers.