How the WSJ plans to attract young readers using TikTok

Sara Guaglione of Digiday writes about The Wall Street Journal’s strategy to attract young readers using TikTok.

Guaglione writes, “The Wall Street Journal launched its TikTok channel on Oct. 3, and since then the channel has grown to over 37,000 followers and 600,000 likes. It’s focused on three core content pillars: careers, personal finance and tech. Some videos also cover trending news stories, like the recent changes at Twitter and Taylor Swift’s concert ticket sales.

“In a survey published last week, the Reuters Institute and University of Oxford revealed that 25% of people between the ages of 18 and 34 are using TikTok for news. About half of the world’s top newsrooms are now regularly posting on TikTok, according to the report. The Washington Post’s popular TikTok channel has 1.5 million followers. Vox, Vice, BuzzFeed, The Los Angeles Times and Condé Nast have all recently expanded their efforts on the platform, as well.

“At The Wall Street Journal, the TikTok channel is managed by the publisher’s visual storytelling team, which falls under its broader social team. The team collaborates regularly with different departments across the newsroom, such as the video and live journalism teams. The New Ventures team, which was created in the spring of 2021 to expand audio and video initiatives across Dow Jones, is also working with the Journal’s TikTok team.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.