Read if you’re taking care of publishing…
If you’re reading this article, it means you’re taking care of publishing at MyFrenchLife™. And, that means you’re responsible for something very important.
What we publish is our offering to readers; it’s the part of our internal process that we end up showing the outside world. It’s our product, so it has to be of a very high standard.
Each day you’re responsible for this role, you’ll need to publish the articles listed in the Publication Schedule on Trello. Click here to read our ultimate guide to using the Publication Schedule. We’ll also outline the process in detail below. So, allons-y !
1. Publication checklist
Check the Publication Schedule board in Trello to confirm what is to be published and the order in which to do it. (Hint: this is easiest to do in Calendar mode!)
1. LOCATE DASHBOARD: Open the dashboard of MyFrenchLife.org, then click ‘Posts’ on the left menu. Then, select ‘Pending’ from across the top of the posts page.
- ARTICLE IN ENG & FR: If you are publishing a French article and its translation, always ensure that the French article is published first.
Check for the message in red either at the base of the introduction, or another appropriate location: Cliquez ici pour lire cet article en français./Click here to read this article in English.
Ensure that HIDDEN is ticked as a category only in the French version.
Add the links to each version only after you set the date and time to publish! Select the permalink (not the shortlink) to link articles between one another.
- TITLE: The first thing to do is delete the process label from the end of the title (EDITED – XX – DD/MM/YY). Always also ensure the title is in sentence case, and there is no full stop at the end.
- CHECK general formatting (in ‘Preview’).
Things to watch out for:
- CATEGORIES: Check that only ONE SINGLE category & sub-category are marked and that they are appropriate (if multi-episode interview/article, ensure same category). If the article is a Column, this should also be ticked, along with the relevant column name.
- TAGS: Are there enough, have the correct tags been inserted?
- FEATURED IMAGE: Is there a featured image? Is it the most visually appealing image in the article?
- “TRANSLATED BY”: If the article is a translation, it should say ‘Translated by NAME’ at the base of the article above the references & image credits. The name should be linked to the translator’s profile on My French Life™. It is formatted in ‘Address’ font and Gray colour.
- IMAGE CREDITS & CAPTIONS: Check images are properly credited, and that any captions are included, in ‘Gray’. The image credits and captions should be formatted using the ‘Address’ font. Links should stay blue, not ‘gray’.
- REFERENCES: Links in references are to be inserted into the ‘title’ part of the reference. (Refer to previously published articles as case studies). This part is also formatted using the “Address” font.
- LINKS: Check that all links are operational, and open in a new window.
- PUBLISH DATE: Check the publish date is ‘Publish immediately’, or, schedule it publish approximately twenty-forty minutes in the future. Always check that the date is the date of today.
- SAVE ARTICLE AGAIN: Save article again as ‘PENDING REVIEW’.
- PUBLISH: Now press the PUBLISH button. NB: This may read ‘Schedule’ if you scheduled the publish date in Step 4.
- TIME TO CHECK: Open a new tab or window and go to https://www.myfrenchlife.org to check that article is correctly published. Then check on mobile.
2. Congratulations email to writer
Send a ‘thank you’ email to the Writer. The standard emails in English and French are in ‘Drafts’ in the Inbox.
Simply copy/paste the text in a new email for the writer, and made the necessary amendments (Names, title, link to article, personal comment, etc.).
Also advise interviewees, authors, and/ or partners that we have published.
Send a message in the #inbox channel in Slack to let us know that the drafts are ready to be sent.
3. Social media
Once an article is published, we draft interesting, inviting and cheeky messages on our social media networks.
To do so, we use Buffer. We highly recommend that you download the app/extension on your web browser – it’s easier to then schedule posts. If not, log in on the website. You’ll find the log in details in Dropbox > Administration > Team Master Internet access [most recent date] > Buffer > All team members.
Four accounts are linked to Buffer: Facebook, Google +, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Always select the correct account when writing a post, tweet, etc.
Always save an image to illustrate the article on your computer before using Buffer. Write at least one message per social network, and try to write a few more for Twitter.
Also don’t forget to post a few extras for a few months in advance if the content is not timely.
1. Facebook and Google +
Draft a post for Facebook and Google+, with an image and the link to the article.Don’t forget to ask a question at the end of your Facebook post, and use a very visually appealing image.
2. Twitter
Write at least one tweet (140 characters) with an image and the link. Include keywords and hashtags (#) and mention (@) anyone of relevance. Please do some quick research to see if anyone mentioned within the article has a Twitter account, and if the author has one too.
3. LinkedIn
Write a post for LinkedIn with a link preview (no image).
4. Pinterest
Finally open the article on MyFrenchLife.org, and click on the Pinterest button on the share bar. Pin the photos to the relevant boards of the My French Life Pinterest account.
Last but not least, please be sure to include a link to the published article, draft congratulations email and confirmation that social media has been scheduled in your daily report.
