Ringier outlines best practises with its Digital Media Playbook

By Paula Felps

INMA

Nashville, Tennessee, United States

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Getting everyone in a single department on the same page is a challenge; getting everyone in the company on the same page may, at times, seem impossible. But with the creation of its Digital Media Playbook, Ringier Media International is working to do just that.

During this week’s Webinar, INMA members heard from Dmitry Shishkin, CEO at Ringier Media International, who, along with colleagues across the media division led an initiative to standardise best practises across the company’s diverse newsrooms in different countries.

The idea behind the playbook was to ensure consistency and excellence in digital publishing. Despite the company’s constant drive for innovation, Shishkin realised it wasn’t always “getting the basics right across the board.” The playbook was conceived to provide clear, actionable guidelines for newsrooms with varying business models and capabilities.

During this week’s Webinar, Dmitry Shishkin shared the process of creating the Ringier Media Digital Publishing Playbook.
During this week’s Webinar, Dmitry Shishkin shared the process of creating the Ringier Media Digital Publishing Playbook.

Drawing upon his extensive experience, which includes being a public service journalist, a consultant, working in a startup, and now CEO, Shishkin set out to create a way for all departments to share the same vision and practises when it comes to digital publishing.

“I was just thinking, what if I were to be a young person starting [in journalism],” he explained. “I would receive HR guidelines, I would receive editorial guidelines, I would receive some kind of other guidelines, but I wouldn’t receive how we do digital guidelines.”

Thats how the idea to create a set of concise, actionable guides outlining best practices in digital publishing came about.  

Bringing the idea to life

The creation of the playbook began in April, when the idea was presented to the board of directors. By May, the team conducted 25 interviews with knowledge owners throughout the company, and leveraged AI to expedite the information-gathering process. Then, Shishkin brought in an external consultant to align internal knowledge with global best practises.

“So for every chapter, for every sub-chapter, we actually have a collection of global best practise links on the same subject,” he said. “We also created 12 videos to highlight the most important thing [in each chapter]. So if you were to not only read it but maybe actually watch a video, that would be a concise [explanation] of what Ringier considers to be the best practise in [that category].”

To make it visually appealing, the team used AI-generated images.  

Each of the five chapters connect back to the core publishing process.
Each of the five chapters connect back to the core publishing process.

The end product is a 118-page compilation of best practices divided into five chapters with several sub-chapters:

  1. Editorial and Content emphasises user needs and quality journalism.
  1. Audience and Data provides insights into audience development and data utilisation.
  2. Product and Innovation discusses balancing current products with new launches and fostering cross-departmental collaboration.
  3. Effective Teams and Workflows offers strategies for building efficient teams and managing workflows.
  4. Monetisation explores various monetisation strategies and best practices.

Each chapter connects back to the core publishing process and is designed to prevent users from feeling overwhelmed, Shishkin said. The playbook is a comprehensive tool with written guidance, resources, links, and videos.

“It is actually quite interactive,” he said. “When you read it, there are certain things that appear on your screen, disappear from your screen, and are expandable or collapsible.”

A digital checklist walks users through the process. Employees can click on dots along the way to mark off efforts the team has already completed and see what they need to work on next.

A digital checklist lets users mark off what they've done and see what they still need to work on.
A digital checklist lets users mark off what they've done and see what they still need to work on.

  

“So if I were starting as, say, assistant editor or even editor-in-chief of a small newsroom or something like that, or a head of a product manager for a particular organisation, this would be super, super useful for me because then I could relate how my activity can be connected to that activity, and so on.”

For the video content, Ringier called in experts from the audience, data, product, and editorial departments to share their experiences and address specific topics related to each chapter category.

Video content features in-house experts in each of the five areas the playbook covers.
Video content features in-house experts in each of the five areas the playbook covers.

Ensuring consistency across countries

The Digital Media Playbook serves an important role in Ringier’s mission to further innovation while maintaining consistency and quality in its digital operations.

Because the publisher has so many newsrooms in different countries, creating such a document is essential to ensure everyone follows the same guidelines. Created as a living document, it will be updated regularly to reflect the latest best practices and industry trends.

The playbook has been presented to Ringier’s executive board and is now being rolled out or “socialised” across all the newsrooms in every country Ringier operates in. This is being done through presentations, workshops, Webinars, and question-and-answer sessions, Shishkin said.

The playbook is being rolled out across all Ringier Media units in Switzerland, Central and Eastern Europe, and Africa. During the final months of the year, the company will “talk about giving people the opportunity to use this and kind of creating this situation or opportunity for them to want to use it,” he said.   

While the Digital Media Playbook was created with innovation in mind and received assistance from AI, its concept is simple — and one that is all too often overlooked in a fast-paced digital environment.

“It seems to me like [the playbook] can be a basic thing because who doesn’t have guidelines? But it just feels to me that with all of that chat about how you always need to be innovating, actually sometimes you need to get back to the basics.”

About Paula Felps

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