How do you advertise a serious journalism newsletter on Meta?

Several newsrooms I work with have pushed back on my playbook, because it's event-focused. "We're going to break the story about the city councilman who's stealing money" is a different proposition on Meta.

"You guys are kind of providing the equivalent of broccoli. Broccoli's great for you, but people aren't excited to go to the restaurant to order broccoli. How do we add cheese to the broccoli, and maybe some sprinkles?"

Why doesn't the direct pitch work?

Because the scroller isn't looking for you, and what you're proud of isn't what they want. Great reporters, awards, investigations: people technically should want that, but they aren't excited to sign up for it. The true, direct strategy is the least compelling one.

What is the junk food approach?

"Have that top of funnel be as big as possible. Get them in the door and then win them over with your great content."

Fun things happening nearby are what the broadest audience wants. That's the biggest thing you can get a lot of people in for, cheap. Some of the people who come for junk food will also eat their vegetables. They'd never have found you without the easy funnel.

If you want the dog to eat the pill, you wrap it in cheese.

How do I sort the readers once they're in?

Create the largest umbrella possible, then see who's inside the tent. A signup survey can ask how much they care about local news and hard-hitting journalism. The people who say yes get targeted harder and segmented toward your paid plan, say $10 a month. The people who don't get segmented separately. A tool like greetform handles that survey.

Isn't that misleading?

It can be, so be careful. My view comes from years in insurance. Every insurance commercial says we'll save you $400. They've saved some people $400, but that's not what usually happens. It gets you in the door.

One publisher pushed back on accuracy, and that's fair. I left the wording to them. My suggestion was to at least feature some events in the newsletter so the promise isn't false. A news-heavy daily could add one events-heavy edition a week, like a Thursday issue, that the ad can honestly promise. The New York Times and other big brands do everything, not only hard news.

What if events really don't fit?

Then don't promise them. For a civic or political outlet, the event pitch can promise something readers won't actually receive. The alternatives are hooks about understanding your city, local pride, or a reporter talking to camera. See hooks for news newsletters without events.

What about government-focused ads?

A news org's video producer told me government and legislation videos were their best performers on Facebook. For newsletter signups, I'd treat a government hook as a niche test. My guess is it appeals to maybe 10% of people. Good for the test campaign, not the main hook.

What if the goal is readers who will pay?

Then the event audience isn't enough. A lot of legacy local media brands have a paid tier around $10 a month, and the audience my usual ads attract isn't a very good audience to pay for that.

For that goal, I run ads for people who really want to know what's going on from a journalism perspective. It's still a free newsletter in the ad. We're not asking them to pay. But the targeting changes:

• The top 10% by income: college educated, upper middle class to rich.
• A news and journalism message: this is the local media brand that will truly keep you up to date.
• Separate budget, separate everything from the event campaigns.
• Once they subscribe, that segment gets pushed hard with newsletters and ads to pay the $10.

That's an exception to my usual location-only targeting, and it's for a specific goal.