Marketing and Audience Engagement
Engagement with Archer
For audience engagement, we also participate in JEA’s National Scholastic Journalism Week, which is designed to honor student journalists and educate the community about the role of student media. This year, as EiC, the theme was “Press Under Pressure,” which felt especially fitting given the moments of pressure throughout the year and how they ultimately pushed me to grow into a stronger leader. At Archer, we use this week as an opportunity to bring the community directly into The Oracle through daily courtyard booths aligned with the theme of each day. For example, on “Don’t Fold Under Fake,” students participated in an activity where they had to distinguish between AI-generated and real images. We also publish daily Instagram posts and release one themed story or multimedia piece each day to keep engagement consistent across platforms. I contributed by producing a podcast with Features Editor Lola Thomas, our adviser Ms. Taylor and Archer alum and journalist Chace Beech, where we discussed “Pressure Makes Professionals” and the broader state of journalism today.
Scholastic Journalism Week, to me, is an example of audience engagement because it makes our work more interactive and accessible to the broader community. It helps translate what student journalism actually looks like behind-the-scenes and invites people to engage with it in real time rather than passively consuming it. We’re able to draw more attention to our site while also reinforcing the importance of student journalism.
Emily, my Co-EiC, Olivia Hallinan-Gan (the yearbook EiC), Ms. Taylor, and I also presented to the Archer Parents Association (APA) on free press and the “her success is my success” mindset. This was another form of marketing in the sense that it extended our reach beyond students to parents, helping them better understand the role and value of student journalism at Archer. By directly engaging with families, we were able to build trust, transparency and support for our publication while also reinforcing the importance of a collaborative system across The Oracle and the yearbook. This presentation helped position student media as an essential part of the school community, more than an extracurricular activity.
Site Analytics
In working toward the Audience Engagement SNO Badge, I’ve learned how valuable site and Instagram analytics are for understanding how to reach and grow our audience. Looking at patterns in our data helped me connect specific actions to increases in readership. For example, after sending out the newsletter on the night of April 27, we saw a clear spike in site views on April 28. This showed me how effective consistent outreach drives traffic to our site and engages readers. Overall, this process helped me see audience engagement as something intentional and measurable.
The Newsletter, ICYMI and Social Media
As EiC, another responsibility Emily and I inherited was completing the weekly blurb for the “In Case You Missed It” email from Archer’s communications department. Since adults in the community usually receive this email with weekly updates and calendar reminders, it became another important way to drive visibility and ensure our stories reached a broader audience. This helped us intentionally link journalism work to institutional communication channels and strengthen readership beyond students alone. Like the newsletter, this process was about consistency and clarity, and streamlining the process by using what was already written in the newsletter. It reinforced how marketing and journalism work together to sustain audience engagement over time.
In tenth grade, I wrote the newsletter during second semester, and it showed me how powerful it is to highlight each story in just a few compelling sentences paired with a strong image. That format made our reporting more accessible and significantly increased engagement from parents, alumni and the student body by giving them a clear entry point into the site. The few times I stepped in to edit the newsletter this year reinforced lessons in patience, especially when working under time constraints. The importance of a weekly, consistent newsletter for marketing and audience engagement helps our readers get their updates on what we’ve published in one place.
