Hyperlocal in Poland

Now here is a heartening news story about regional titles going hyperlocal.

It comes from Poland courtesy of Editors weblog and the village of Jano,an 850-person village in north eastern Poland.

a dozen people - mostly teenagers or over 40s - were gathering in a multi-activity meeting hall. They were listening to Igor Hrywna, a journalist at Gazeta Olsztynska, the dominant newspaper in this "Warmia-Mazury voivodship" (Varmia-Masuria). That day he left his base in the regional capital of Olsztyn to meet this group for the third time in one month. With his assistance, they are learning how to contribute to the recently launched hyperlocal website janowo.wm.pl, covering the 3,000 people "gmina" (commune) centered on Janowo, one of the smallest of the region.

Could this model work in the UK? well

Edytor is already managing 35 such hyperlocal websites, as a way to get closer also to small advertisers. In the villages, the biggest companies are often the bakery which employs only eight persons, or the hairdresser with a staff of four. "We want to reach the places where print is not profitable, asking our advertising salespersons to monetize potential markets which have been ignored until now

Addiply to the fore

I’d encourage other geographical hyperlocal start-ups to sign-up to addiply as we have done. You might just find it makes sense.

The words of Bournville blog's founder and now Guardian Cardiff local blogger Hannah Waldram who celebrates the blog getting its first advert through the Addiply business model.

For those who don't know the Addiply story,it essentially offers publishers a chance to allow businesses to target a focused readership generated by hyperlocal sites so that the two can meet and hopefully generate a long running relationship between the two parties.

And whilst as many recognise at the moment it's not going to turn those being hyperlocal sites in publishing millionaires,as more and more sites get signed up synergies will begin to take place.

I am currently in the process of setting up a couple of hyperlocal sites and am planning to take on board the Addiply model.

Keep watching this blog for more developments.

"The challenge for web editors is to determine exactly which ‘local’ community they will target and what motivates the community."

Is hyperlocalism the way forward for the business model?

There is a very good piece in How Do News in which Andy Poole, digital strategist at Weber Shandwick North, writes

The challenge for web editors is to determine exactly which ‘local’ community they will target and what motivates the community. By understanding exactly what matters to their audience, websites can provide users with relevant and interesting content that will create appeal. If this appeal is strong enough, users will pay to access it – just as FT and WSJ subscribers do - irrelevant of the existence of non-pay wall sites.

That really is for me the point.It is all about targeting and giving the audience what they want,As Andy says quality can prove much more valuable than quantity.

As I wrote on this blog yesterday,the Caledonian Mercury launch is centred on targeted,local,quality news,driven by a low cost business model.

Hyperlocal sites can do that