The Difference Between Push Notifications Strategies for News and Entertainment Sites

Website owners and similar publishers have one goal, which is to generate a consistent number of visitors that want to engage with their content. Push notifications are a great way to generate more traffic, re-engaged interested users, and build a more popular website. 

However, digital consumers react differently to distinct types of content. 

If you run an entertainment or news site you’re probably aware of this, so understanding the different strategies available is the best way to choose an efficient approach. That said, there are some similarities between the best push notification strategies for news and entertainment sites, so you need to see beyond these to craft an approach that’s perfectly tailored to your platform. 

How Are News and Entertainment Push Strategies Similar?

After all, the basic mechanics of each type of site is very similar. Simply put, publishers need to send multiple notifications per day without annoying the recipients and create engaging messages that generate a large number of interactions. Let’s take a closer look at their similarities.

The above is true in both entertainment and news sites. However, if you want to achieve success consistently and work on growing your site, you need to take a deeper dive into the push notification strategies you have available. 

The Difference Between Push Notification Strategies for News and Entertainment Sites

News and entertainment website owners know the importance of driving a large number of engaged users to their sites. Push notifications have earned a reputation for driving engaged traffic, so they have become an essential part of every publisher’s toolkit. News and entertainment site owners are no exception. 

With this said, it’s important to note that there are inherent differences to push notification strategies for news and entertainment sites. For example, news content needs to be delivered fresh in order to have the best impact. 

Entertainment content should be delivered soon after a big event, but it doesn’t have to be the first to be effective. Take entertainment content that talks about musician tours, classic albums, or artist biographies.

Even if you manage your website and curate your content library by yourself, you still need to analyze your website and learn as much as you can about your industry before you create a push strategy. 

News Sites

News websites usually focus on geopolitical, natural disasters, medicine, technology, and similar topics. Some platforms also cover sports, although users who are interested in this type of activity usually require their own strategy. 

Websites that publish news updates usually have profitable audiences in the form of men and women between the ages of 35 and 65. At the same time, publishers can target users from all over the world with this type of content, they just need to localize the language, events covered, and other elements. 

News Site Strategies

News sites need to have a consistently high number of interested visitors. This means that these publishers need to post regularly, publish news as soon as they occur, and hope there’s a large number of big events. 

For example, these publishers may send something like:

Title: Boris Johnson Announces Resignation

Body: UK Prime Minister set to leave office

Here are a few push strategies that new website owners can opt for:

• Segment their audience and hand-pick the content for each group
• Use RSS feeds to send users to specific pieces of content
• Send out as many notifications as possible, based on the relevant news
• Limit your notifications to three per day, plus extra pushes for extraordinary events
• Run tests to find the best times
• Create an additional hook by including a statistic or local reference

Entertainment Websites

Entertainment websites often feature celebrity news, visual media updates, and art-related content. 

Simply put, these websites publish news, but the materials don’t have the same urgency and overall impact as conventional news platforms. This means that users will most likely consume this type of content in their leisure time, rather than stopping whatever they are doing to reach the update. 

Websites in the entertainment industry attract a slightly younger audience, often between the ages of 18 and 30. That said, many entertainment sites also attract users of an older generation, so you can choose what audience you want to work with based on the content you share.

Entertainment Site Strategies

Entertainment sites also need to post regularly, albeit not as often as news platforms. Push content for entertainment sites also needs to be more poetical and whimsical, at least to some extent. 

One of these push notifications can read something like:

Title: Britney is Free! Pop Star Gets Full Fortune Back

Body: After a long wait, Britney Spears’ conservatorship case reaches a verdict. And, the Pop Icon couldn’t be happier about it. 

Let’s take a look at some of the most effective push notification strategies for entertainment sites.

• Ask users about their favorite type of content during opt-in and create custom posts
• Send “pick up where you left off” alerts (similar to abandoned cart notifications)
• Hand-pick your notifications and only send emergency pushes for huge events
• Use push notifications to ask for feedback
• Create urgency with time-sensitive exclusives
•  Target your content based on the user’s location and language

Ready to Take Your News or Entertainment Site to the Next Level?

News and entertainment sites are similar in the sense that their content is time-sensitive. Publishers who own these types of websites need to focus heavily on creating new materials. Moreover, these need to be updated with the latest information.

With the above in mind, push notifications are a superb way to bolster your content distribution system and overall conversion rate. 
By partnering with a reliable push notification service provider like Notix, you’ll be able to follow the tips listed above and help bring back users who have already liked your content before.

This article has been written by the Notix team. Notix is a push notification solution that allows publishers to build subscriber lists effectively and deliver engaging messages to these users.