WDIV's Ken Haddad

Graham Media's WDIV-TV (Detroit) has introduced a virtual community help desk that allows newsroom staff to manage viewer messages with significantly less friction. The enhanced connectivity with its consumers has helped WDIV to not only cultivate greater transparency and trust with viewers, but it’s also informed news production, while rewarding its marketing team with coveted first-party data about viewers.

Typically viewer inquiries coming from a wide number of channels including phone calls, emails and social media platforms have made them particularly difficult to handle in a streamlined way, when time resources are already at a premium.

“It’s something we’ve been talking about for a few years,” said Ken Haddad, WDIV digital content and audience manager to TVNewsCheck. “How do we provide better support, better service in order to rebuild trust and credibility, and to show people we care about the community and that the conversations that we’re having are not just one-way.”

This development process started with the launches of a number of newsletters the past few years. Haddad says newsletters are an effective way to connect “more intimately with our most loyal” consumers. WDIV also established a “membership program,” which Haddad calls “the next level of that newsletter funnel.” Through it, WDIV further engages with its viewers, giving enrollees greater access to the station and its digital offerings.