The Innisfail Province has advanced its digital product with an upgraded website, Facebook page and regular Twitter postings.
Effective Nov.18, Dan Sombach, digital marketing specialist for Great West Publishing – the parent company of Mountain View Publishing -- has redesigned www.innisfailprovince.ca. It is more responsive and friendly for mobile devices and tablet users.
“There are new features on the website that include scrolling headlines, letters to the editor, the ability to write a letter to the editor, a full staff listing with contact information, cleaner section breaks for weekly web polls, community events, hot ads, jobs and eEdition access,” said Sombach of the rollout. “With the changes to date, we can even add other features such as sports score reporting. With digital, you can do almost anything.”
With the new web page, readers will be able to leave comments directly on the digital portal, and have the capability to tweet the story to their list of contacts.
“With worldwide media fully embracing the digital realm, the Province is jumping in with both feet, and expanding way beyond what we formerly offered,” said Johnnie Bachusky, editor of the Innisfail Province. “All around us, people get their information from the Internet and are constantly gathering news from online sources. We are playing a bigger part of that world and will continue to work to reach readers in whatever manner we have to.”
Sombach added the focus of the Province and Great West Publishing newspapers will continue to be local but the possibility exists for national and international feeds if a demand is felt.
“Not everyone receives the paper, and having a fully accessible website and Facebook presence is important to reach people where they are,” added the digital guru. “As the web page is updated, the Facebook and Twitter accounts will also be.”
Bachusky noted the future of newsgathering and reporting continues to move more quickly and the status of a weekly newspaper and a responsive, changing Twitter and Facebook presence is vital to being a community paper.
“There is a lot of news and stories that can not wait for a week to see print,” said Bachusky of fast breaking news stories. “When something important happens, we will respond and report quickly to make sure our readers are aware of events in our community.”
The Province website can be found at www.innisfailprovince.ca. Look for the Province Facebook page under the search engine and our Twitter address is @innisfailprovin.
