OPINION — Lac La Biche POST — It’s been a month since the Lac La Biche POST’s digital home has become more of a digital four-plex. It’s a new phase in how our office staff write stories, sell advertisements and promote our great community. It’s also been a bit confusing for some of our readers ... from what we have heard on our social media sites and from the always-welcome conversations wherever our paths cross. Honestly, it was a big change for us too. We’ve gone from that little paper that residents pick up every week, to a daily news and promotion vehicle seen by tens of thousands of people every month. It’s a change that opens up our community and our local business to a much wider area. Yes, our readers will also be seeing regional news and promotion — but that’s what we’re all about. Information. We have spent the last 53 years informing our readership. We enjoy doing it — and we know how to do it correctly. The online world has created lives where information is accessible at the touch of a button. But we know that much of that information is chatter ... static, that doesn’t inform or educate, but simply sucks time. Our new format has expanded our readership — while still keeping the news and promotion close to home. Regional information that we are now pleased to provide is about places our readers often travel to, or places where family or friends live or where there are business interests. Is it working? Well, see for yourself. Our readers and our customers have to be able to trust that we are delivering. So we’ve printed the analytic information below that will be sent to the POST’s boss each month. In the first month (December 1-31, 2019) of the new LakelandToday.ca regional website, we have seen a jump in page visits from 10,000 recorded in all of October last year to 92,299 in December. Is it working? Yes. Will it work to get more eyeballs on local and regional information and local businesses? That’s another question we can answer. Yes. If you’ve got questions about how this new and improved vehicle can help you, give us a shout. Hopefully we’ll get the whole region talking.
About the Author: Rob McKinley
Rob has been in the media, marketing and promotion business for 30 years, working in the public sector, as well as media outlets in major metropolitan markets, smaller rural communities and Indigenous-focused settings.
