Being the Nightside Digital Producer at ABC7News...
For eight years, I wrote and published news stories online in many different forms such as: website, mobile apps, push alerts, social media, email campaigns, promotional station contests/giveaways.
I managed all forms of ABC7’s social media communications: content creation, investigate story leads, find on-scene witnesses, moderate Facebook discussions and clear rights to use viewer content on air.
Acting on real-time analytic feedback, I found ways to boost content success and visibility.
One of my favorite things to do was create public resource and feature pages, using HTML within a CMS, and building them from idea to finished product.
Top Accomplishments
Sole creator and producer of one of ABC7’s top-10 most viewed live streams of 2015
Produced some of ABC7’s all-time highest viewed stories (~500,000 to 1 million page views/story)
Wrote compelling social media posts that routinely reached 800,000+ views resulting in tens of thousands of dollars raised for victims, local causes, children’s charities and global humanitarian organizations
Routinely #1 on Twitter, Facebook and other platforms to publish final score in professional sports coverage, thus surpassing all other competition by at least 30-50% more social engagement (likes, shares, retweets, follows, reach)
Social Media Success
ABC7News' social media accounts were ranked #1 in the market in followers and engagement from viewers. We were routinely far ahead of the competition.
Friday Night Lights Needed
Story link: Middletown High School football team eager to return to field
(image only, posted on Sept. 19, 2015)
Within the first 48 hours, this Facebook post I wrote reached 250,000+ people, had 89,300 video views, 5,400 likes, 350+ comments and over 920 shares. Due to the timing of this post and the writing, I was able to tap into viewers interested in high school football and those following the Valley Fire in Lake County, CA. This is just one average example of the kind of high engagement my social media writing would routinely result in on a single story.
Raising money for a cyclist hit in Oakland
Story Link: Cyclist hit in West Oakland, robbed while unconscious
Many times in news, there are sad stories that move people into action. One area where I felt I could have a positive impact is by closely listening to audience feedback and highlighting ways to help victims.
I wrote a compelling Facebook post that quickly went viral receiving 2,000+ shares, 1,400+ likes and 1,500+ comments. Due to the strong public interest in this story, I encouraged the newsroom to do a follow up story. Many viewers wanted to help the cyclist who was hit. Someone set up a GoFundMe page and it surpassed its initial goal of $11,000 and raised over $16,000 for the victim.
Follow Up Story: Oakland community rallies around cyclist hit, robbed
First Look: the Championship Ring
I created this image for our social media followers to show the intricate details of the Warriors’ 2015 NBA Championship ring and how it was patterned after the design of Oakland’s Oracle Arena.
Top Projects & Skills
Afghanistan Special Report
Page Link: ABC7 News Special Report: Cheryl Jennings in Afghanistan
What I did: Built from concept to completion, a special landing page for ABC7 Anchor Cheryl Jennings' special reports on Afghanistan. I wanted viewers to easily find all of the story chapters and related content in one place.
Skills used: Concept creation, headline writing, copyediting, typography, designed content page layout with hyperlinks & embedded video, wrote story captions, and photo gallery creation.
Backstory: Cheryl returned from post-war Afghanistan with fascinating stories of the nonprofit Roots of Peace and the Afghan people working to rebuild their communities and start new businesses so the country can become self-reliant. She was the first western journalist to have an exclusive interview with President Ashraf Ghani.
Cheryl produced a six-part series of her trip that aired on the 6PM news in the Bay Area. Knowing the individual story chapters would get buried on our site over time, I took the initiative to put all of these stories on one page so viewers could seamlessly follow each segment. I asked Cheryl to write a web-only summary of her trip for this page and she was so pleased to see I was willing to put in the extra effort to produce this page.
After seeing friends and our military go off to war, I felt it was really important not to lose these good stories of hope and progress in Afghanistan. This became my top solo project at ABC7.
BART Transbay Tube Closure
Page Link: BART: Directions for getting around Transbay Tube closure
What I did: From ideation to completion, I created this mobile-friendly resource page so commuters could prepare ahead of time or use it in the moment if they became lost. It was prominently posted on ABC7News.com to educate commuters how to navigate around a planned BART Transbay Tube closure.
Skills used: Took initiative to create this page from start to finish within a couple of hours, headline writing, copyediting, image selection, typography, designed content page layout with transit agency hyperlinks and embedded video.
Results: The day after posting this page, BART’s public information officer called the newsroom to thank ABC7 for creating this helpful page to educate the public on how to navigate the planned transit disruption. It felt great to have my work recognized by the transportation agency and for that compliment to be shouted at me across the newsroom when I came into work. For commuters things went smoothly that weekend and there were no major complaints or problems.
Wragg Fire Story Coverage
Story Link: Neighbor opens doors for evacuated horses during Wragg Fire
What I did: This is an example of the day-to-day content producing I would do, mixing in lots of visual elements and resource links on individual stories. Some of my compelling photos (such as this one with the horses) were shared with other news agencies.
Skills used: Standard story tasks included writing factual updates, headline writing, copyediting, story and visual layout, photo selection/editing and gallery creation.
Quick view of page layout and top gallery images
Backstory: In July 2015 as ABC7’s SKY7HD chopper was over the Wragg Fire in Lake County, Calif., I snapped lots of good photos during key moments of action to put in a slideshow. I also selected top stringer and viewer photos to help tell the story as it evolved over a number of days.
Reviews from coworkers
Brooke always goes above and beyond.
“An ambitious and effervescent talent, her work is thorough and concise... Brooke is not one to take shortcuts and is always reaching for new heights in terms of the quality and depth of her work, all the while maintaining grace-under-fire."
— A.H.
Building up the character of her teammates!
“Brooke is always looking to have a positive impact on her teammates. When I told her I was getting into coaching, she suggested some books to help build the girls' self-esteem and character. I swear by the books -- they are a reminder that wins and losses are not as important as building the character of the girls.”
— G.K.
Patient Teacher.
“If you're ever stumped on a technical issue, or even just a basic grammar question, ask Brooke. Why? You'll get a pleasant and eager response. She never makes you feel silly for asking questions... Her positive and pleasant demeanor makes her a joy to work with."
— J.O.
Gallery
ABC7 News/KGO-TV has won numerous Emmy Awards over the years including the top award, Station Excellence, multiple times. It was a lot of fun to cover Bay Area sports championships and inspiring stories like "Batkid" and the Make-A-Wish event to turn San Francisco into Gotham City.
