Next up in our series of interviews with online publications emerging on the Silicon Prairie is The Post South Dakota out of Sioux Falls.
Although The Post isn’t producing content with the same frequency as yesterday’s spotlight, the Kansas City Free Press, it’s covering a wide variety, as well. From music to local eats to fashion, you’re sure to find an article from one of The Post’s co-op team members.
Self-described as “South Dakota’s home for journalism,” The Post hopes to be an outlet for aspiring and accomplished writers to cover the people, places and activities in their Midwest state. With no full-time or paid staff and an ambition to succeed without standard advertising, the organization’s editor-in-chief Heather Mangan is considering applying for non-profit status.
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Heather and the publishers of The Post, brothers John T. (who’s also a Silicon Prairie News contributor) and Scott Meyer of 9 Clouds, are evaluating the decision by looking at existing publications using this model. One of those being the very successful MinnPost out of Minnesota.
Check out my interview with Heather to learn more about The Post and the story behind it. And if you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, I encourage you to check out their free app, one of the ways they’re delivering their content.
Silicon Prairie News (SPN): When and why did you create your online publication?
The Post South Dakota: ThePostSD.com launched September 1, 2009 but the general concept and planning began in May of that year.
The original idea of The Post has morphed with capabilities and financial resources, but our objective has honestly remained the same: to tell stories that aren’t being told elsewhere. Sure, you see our story topics other places, but we usually try to tell it from a different angle or put a different spin on an issue. We also wanted to create a state-wide publication that highlights the awesome things South Dakotans are doing across the state, not just in Sioux Falls.
Another main purpose of The Post is to give writers, photographers and videographers a place to put their work. The interest in journalism as a profession seems to be dying; many students or recent graduates would rather work in PR or marketing than at a newspaper or magazine. In addition to college newspapers and internships, we hope that The Post can be another outlet for students to understand the profession and the good you can do with it. Obviously, we are different than a daily newspaper, but our Web site can fuel the passion and help build a portfolio.
Our site is also a great place for former journalists to feed the reporting itch every now and then. Although they might not work in a newsroom anymore, they still have story ideas and we can be a home for those stories.
SPN: What is its focus, and in addition to its content, what information does it feature?
The Post: The focus of The Post is primarily people. Our stories usually have a human-interest angle because people-centered stories are always fun and fascinating to read. Many of our readers are younger and we want to constantly remind them that South Dakota is a cool place with a lot of awesome people.
Most of the content on our site is about interesting things people are doing, local business and area events. We also cover quite a bit of local music.
SPN: What can visitors of your website regularly expect to see on your homepage and what makes it, as marketers say, sticky?
The Post: When people visit The Post, they’ll read stories about people just like them who are doing cool and interesting things. Hopefully, they’ll read about an event or restaurant they didn’t know about. Or, they’ll read a story about an issue they’ve seen in the news, but learn something new about it or see it from a different perspective.
Our stickiness is that we can often spend more time on a story than a usual reporter, so we can explore it more and reveal new and different information. Also, our stories are very personable, and we want our readers to relate to the people in our stories. Stories like that bring us closer together as a society and renew our hope.
SPN: What pulled you in to creating online content and what affect, if any, did the worsening state of the print industry have on your decision?
The Post: Initially, The Post was going to be a weekly publication printed as a tab, like an alternative newspaper. After a lot of discussion, we decided to try online first before we invested the money to print. However, the online form really works well and it’s unique in this area so we’ve decided to continue with it.
The print industry is changing and no one really knows what shape it will take. I honestly don’t think it will die and The Post may eventually do a print edition, but we are going to stick to the online edition for now. I think we reach a unique audience by being online only and it’s very much apart of our identity.
SPN: What is your background and how does is relate to your current endeavor?
The Post: Well, I’m a South Dakota native and graduated from South Dakota State University with a journalism degree in 2007. I left the state to work at a daily newspaper in Idaho covering sports and then city and state government. I eventually came back to South Dakota to work in marketing for a non-profit.
I went to that newspaper job as bright-eyed cub reporter with no sense of how difficult journalism is and became very discouraged about the profession. I worked on a relatively small staff and was so caught up in daily work that I never felt like I was able to thoroughly cover my bear or ever offered the opportunities to write the stories I wanted to write. When I left that job, I never thought I would go back to journalism and thought I would be better without it.
After about six months at the marketing job, I really began to miss writing and reporting so I picked up a freelance job with the local newspaper covering sports. I soon began to realize that journalism is in my blood (literally, my father and brother are both journalists) and I couldn’t deny that. I wanted to find a way to get back into the profession, but wasn’t sure if I could dive back into newspapers, especially since there aren’t many of those jobs out there. When someone mentioned this idea to me, I knew I needed to give the reporter in me another shot. To be perfectly honest, I am at my happiest when I’m reporting, especially for my own publication.
SPN: Do you feel your publication is truly innovative and adding to the new models of content creation, distribution, and business?
The Post: I am not sure if we are truly innovative or not, but I think we are offering our readers something they can’t get anywhere else. Great stories about South Dakotans in an online format is unique, but this format is done in other communities and states. A lot of readers have mentioned that going solely online is a smart business decision, but it just made sense to us. We rely mostly on social media to promote who we are and out stories, which helps us but also limits who we reach. It’s definitely a different approach than other media outlets in the area, but I think other publications across the country are trying these new methods.
We are really trying to promote interaction between our readers and contributors through social media and comment section. We want our readers to know that their opinions and ideas matter in our story decisions. That might be innovative, or just good business sense.
I am not sure how innovative this is, but The Post is looking at using a non-profit model. We use sponsorships over advertisers and accept donations. We are looking at steps to become a full non-profit and if that is right path for The Post.
SPN: Is there a similar publication that inspired your team to create yours? If so, which one(s)?
The Post: I am not sure if there is a similar publication, but we took different components from several publications to help define The Post. The Huffington Post was an initial inspiration because it was ground breaking in its combination of online news and blogs. We also studied Patch.com* for its approach to super-local news. MinnPost.com is another one.
We also looked at several alternatives newspapers, including Sioux Falls former alternative newspaper The Tempest. It was very popular and people still talk about it 10 years after its demise. This American Life on Public Radio International was also an inspiration in how we cover stories.
*Update at 2:25 p.m. – Orginally, it stated Path.com. It should’ve been, and has been changed to, Patch.com.
SPN: Do you or any of your team members work full-time for your publication?
The Post: Nope. We all do it for the love of the game. We hope that changes, but for now it’s a labor of love.
SPN: Could you introduce us to two of your contributors, telling us a bit about each?
My right-hand woman and rock through this whole process is Lucinda Albers, the entertainment editor for The Post. Lucy and I’ve worked together in a variety of professional environments and I knew immediately that I wanted her on The Post team. Her love is music and she really has an amazing grasp on the local music scene. In addition to The Post, she writes for Alternative Press. She is incredibly talented and can do so much from video to writing to design.
Another one of our regular contributors is Ty Omoth. Ty recently moved to Sioux Falls and writes a column for The Post, Pitchers and Pints. Ty is a baseball fan and beer lover, so he combines the two by using baseball lingo to review and describe beer. His bi-weekly column reviews beers and describes the local beer culture. Ty is an aspiring writer and is working on becoming a full-time freelancer.
SPN: How would one go about either applying to write for your publication or pitching you a story?
The Post: They can contact me at hmangan@thepostsd.com and I’ll give them more information on contributing and I would LOVE to hear story suggestions.
Heather also provided us with a walkthrough video of The Post SD.
