Onboarding to Metrics for News

Follow these onboarding steps to integrate your systems with Metrics for News

Welcome! We are so glad you are joining us and Metrics for News (MFN). 

Below are brief steps on integrating your data, familiarizing yourself with the settings at the admin level, and adding your team as users. We will also look at the advanced settings to optimize your organization’s use of MFN. This document is designed for admin-level users.

Download a checklist to stay organized with this process

Key Steps

  1. Admins: Provide names and email addresses to the MFN team to create user accounts for you and your team’s MFN admins
    1. The admins will receive access to complete the initial app setup. Admins can add and manage users at any time. 
  2. Review the Initial App Setup page for an overview of a typical setup. You can use the setup page or this onboarding document as a guide for the onboarding process. This document includes more details, but both will work. 
  3. Publication: Add your primary publication as a new Publication
    1. Go to Settings > under Content, select Publications > click Add a new publication. 
    2. Fill out the Basic Info section. 
    3. Fill out the Page Scraping section. 
    4. If you have more than one publication, add them following the same steps and be sure to mark your main publication as primary. 
  4. Analytics Source: Decide how you’d like to integrate your analytics source(s)
    1. Google Analytics: Connect via the Publications page. 
    2. Adobe Analytics: Connect via the Publications page. 
    3. Chartbeat: Connect via the Chartbeat page.
    4. Custom Import: Set up a manual or automated import via CSV, Google Cloud, AWS S3, or S/FTP. 
    5. Other? Let us know and we can discuss! 
  5. Content Source: Decide how you’d like to import your content
    1. RSS feed(s): Add each RSS feed you would like to use for MFN to import content. 
    2. Custom Import: Set up a manual or automated import via CSV, Google Cloud, AWS S3, or S/FTP. 
    3. Other? Let us know and we can discuss! 
    4. Historical content: Would you like to import previously published content? Follow the same methods as a regular content import, but rather than an ongoing import, you’ll run a one-time import with the historical content details only. 
  6. Expected Data Delay: Set a time period for any expected data import delays. For example, if you plan to set up custom imports on a monthly basis, change this setting to 30 days or 45 days. This will tell the Gates Dashboard if your imports are delayed or not. If you are setting up auto-imports that run daily, leave it at the default of 1 day. 
    1. Go to Settings > under Admin settings, select General app settings > go to the Data import settings > set a number for Expected data lag > click Save settings. 
  7. Baseline: The Baseline anchors your data to help you understand if you are performing above or below what’s considered “normal engagement” for your content. This can be set after we have imported some content and analytics. 
    1. Go to the Baseline setting page: Settings > under Analysis, select Engagement Scores > click Create a Baseline Period
    2. Set a 3 - 6 month period from the past calendar year that you think represents normal engagement levels for your publication. 
  8. Users & Authors: When you are ready to do so, add and manage users at any time. 
    1. Follow this Help Center article for importing Authors. Authors are users who have bylines. This bulk import allows you to add multiple authors at one time for onboarding. 
    2. Connect users who are journalists to their author profiles, which gives them access to their own dashboards with their own content. MFN will automatically detect new authors moving forward, and as new journalists join your organization and become a user, be sure to connect their author profile. 
  9. Remaining Setup: Review the other steps on the Initial App Setup page once again to see if there is anything else that needs attention. 

Learning Mode

Once the key steps are set up, MFN enters learning mode to study the content your newsroom produces. While it learns, you are free to use and explore MFN, as well continue onboarding with  the advanced steps.

At this time, we can also book sessions with you and your team for training and any questions you may have. 

Advanced Steps

Now that we have content and data flowing in automatically to Metrics for News, you are ready for customizing the advanced settings that make it a powerful analytics tool for daily use by your newsroom. Everyone from leaders to journalists and editors to business teams can find useful and impactful insights in Metrics for News. 

When determining the advanced settings below, think about your newsroom’s goals, strategies, and KPIs. How should you set these to help answer your business questions? How can these settings be positioned to help you find insights towards achieving your goals? 

The settings below can be changed whenever you like. Prior to making changes, let your newsroom know in advance to anticipate them as their dashboard views may change as well. 

This list is not comprehensive of everything MFN has to offer, but highlights areas as you embark on this phase. 

General app settings

  • Go to Settings > Admin settings > General app settings 
  • On this page are further customizations you can make to your dashboards, including the featured metrics (aka blue boxes), and 
  • the range of your Engagement Score (either 0 - 100 or 0 - 300). I notice most partners choose to use 0 - 300 for a more nuanced range. 

Analysis

Go to Settings > Analysis > and you’ll find each of these: 

  • Newsroom Priorities
  • Engagement Scores
  • Audiences
  • Loyalty Stages
  • Custom metrics

Content Categories

Teams

Maintenance & Usage

Add Users and Connect to Authors

Syndicated Views

Custom Reports

Missing Content?

Custom Imports

Custom Metrics

Annual Checklist

Support

The MFN team is here to assist with this setup process and beyond! Please message your MFN contact directly, submit a support ticket using our form, or send an email to us at support@metricsfornews.com. We are looking forward to our partnership!