Long-established media WSJ opens TikTok channel. “If you don’t distribute your content on TikTok, you’re missing an opportunity.”

The WSJ’s TikTok channel is managed by the Visual Storytelling Team under the Social Team. The team regularly collaborates with various departments within the newsroom, including the video and live journalism teams. The New Ventures team, created to expand audio and video efforts across Dow Jones in the spring of 2021, is also working with the WSJ’s TikTok team.

Anne McGowan, senior vice president of New Ventures, said: “We need to introduce the WSJ brand to an audience that otherwise wouldn’t engage. Text coverage alone misses that opportunity.”

Adam Puchalski, global head of content at GroupM agency Wavemaker, agreed. “If you don’t put your show on TikTok, you’re going to miss an opportunity because TikTok is also where people go for news and consume entertainment,” he said.

The relationship between publishers and advertisers within TikTok is unknown

The WSJ does not have a revenue-sharing deal with TikTok and has yet to work with advertisers on the platform. “Right now we’re just trying to create content, put out the right content, engage with our audience and see what happens from there,” McGowan said.

Puchalski said there are plenty of opportunities for advertiser wavemaker clients to work with the WSJ. “If it’s authentic on the platform… it’s not just plug and play with different formats.”

Clients of GroupM agency MMI, which has worked with WSJ in the past in areas such as financial services, recruitment and employer branding, are looking for suitable partners to work with on TikTok. MMI group director Dana Basic wrote in an email.

“For them, the opportunity to work[with publishers]on TikTok is very attractive, and players like the WSJ and other big publishers can see many other brands consider working in this space. I think it opens the door for people to do that,” he adds.

Ways to increase followers and engagement

TikTok also offers WSJ journalists another platform for reporting. For example, “personal finance reporter Julia Carpenter once discussed salary negotiations on TikTok,” said WSJ senior platform editor Julia Manslow. And graphics reporter Emma Brown appears in a video discussing the map she created for the WSJ article on the World Cup.

“During the October 2022 midterm elections, the WSJ’s TikTok team worked with several reporters from the Washington, D.C. bureau to produce videos for the app,” said Patrick, WSJ’s off-platform editor. Mr. Headland speaks. Reporters who don’t want to be on camera but are avid TikTok users are also flagging trends they see on TikTok, and editors are flagging stories they think will resonate with TikTok’s audience.

“[The WSJ]is posting more about current events. I think this is a smart way to stay on top of current cultural moments and trends and increase followers and engagement,” Basik said.

Manslow said the WSJ’s timeline for publishing TikTok videos can range from less than an hour to a week, depending on the complexity of the topic or concept. Videos are posted twice a day on weekdays and once a day on weekends. The videos will be shot in his New York office (“When you’re carrying a ring light around, you know what we’re doing,” Manslow joked), at home, and outdoors.

“So that content strategies and plans can change quickly and regularly.”

Many of the TikTok videos are tied to a specific WSJ story and feature screenshots of that story. The WSJ’s TikTok team also hopes to produce more videos from its live events, where team members interview speakers and guests. Content from the WSJ’s “Tech Live” conference and the “WSJ Magazine Innovators” event generated more than 1.2 million video views, Manslow said.

“The WSJ’s TikTok team wants to see more involvement and engagement in the video comments section, such as answering questions on TikTok videos,” continued Manslow. In the future, the company plans to conduct experiments in more news areas. “While we want to provide what people expect from us, our journalism, business and finance, our core coverage, we want to do something that people don’t immediately associate with the WSJ,” Headlund said. I think it’s a great opportunity to be touched.” Such areas include sports and lifestyle.

Mr Basik also said: “Trends and topics shift faster on apps than on other social media platforms. Publishers need to be prepared to change their content strategies and plans fairly quickly and regularly.”