Harnessing Visuals for Engagement
News organizations can further return on their investments in visuals by developing projects that directly increase engagement and revenue.
Senior Health Equity Reporter/Editor Jasmine Aguilera interviews La Pulga patron Jose Rodriguez at the El Tímpano storytelling booth at the flea market La Pulga in Oakland, Calif. Katherine Nagasawa/El Tímpano
Case Study: Visuals for an Award-Winning Engagement Project
Need: El Tímpano sought creative ways to engage with its audience: Latino and Mayan immigrant communities.
Solution: Create a month-long storytelling booth at the weekly flea market “La Pulga” – a cultural and social hub for Latino and Mayan communities at the Oakland Coliseum – resulting in the bilingual project Portraits from La Pulga produced in collaboration with the CatchLight Local Visual Desk.
How:
Promotion/Outreach:
Pre-launch
Sent several messages to their SMS subscribers inviting them to visit their booth over three weekends, take instant photos and share their experiences of the market with El Tímpano
Distributed flyers during in-person events and on social media
During launch
Published a teaser Instagram reel
El Tímpano Special Projects Manager Mayra Sierra and photojournalist Hiram Alejandro Durán designed a pop-up storytelling booth to capture over 75 stories from patrons of La Pulga in Oakland, Calif. The booth allowed El Tímpano to engage face-to-face with community members and highlight an institution that reflects the diversity of the Bay Area. Katherine Nagasawa/El Tímpano
Process:
El Tímpano’s Special Project Manager Mayra Sierra collaborated with photojournalist Hiram Alejandro Durán to develop an idea for a participatory storytelling booth that would capture portraits and audio recordings of patrons and vendors. More than 70 people participated.
Staff spent 4.5 hours each weekend over three consecutive weekends. They would invite people into the booth, Hiram would take two photos of them (one for the newsroom and one for the participant), and another staff member would process their photograph and release forms while a third staff member interviewed them with a field recorder and microphone. At the end, participants were given their photographs, told more about El Tímpano and invited to join the outlet’s SMS platform. El Tímpano’s SMS platform is the main delivery method for actionable news and information for Spanish-speaking immigrants in the Bay Area and for sourcing story ideas for their in-depth journalism.
Senior Health Equity Reporter/Editor Jasmine Aguilera interviews La Pulga patron Jose Rodriguez at the El Tímpano storytelling booth at the flea market La Pulga in Oakland, Calif. Katherine Nagasawa/El Tímpano
Senior Health Equity Reporter/Editor Jasmine Aguilera interviews La Pulga patron Jose Rodriguez at the El Tímpano storytelling booth at the flea market La Pulga in Oakland, Calif. Katherine Nagasawa/El Tímpano
Supplies/Cost:
$160 - Instax Square SQ6
$250 - Instax film
$255 - La Pulga booth reservation/rental for three weekends
$130 - Grid wall for displaying instant photos
$250 - Booth decor including blue fabric photo backdrop and decorative elements to make the booth fit into the overall aesthetic of La Pulga
$300 - Travel and food stipends
Impact:
New SMS subscribers:
30. This helped further their goal of growing their SMS audience to better serve Bay Area immigrants with the information they need and amplifying their stories to policymakers and other stakeholders.
Reach:
Pageviews:
Portraits from La Pulga had about 700 pageviews between the English and Spanish versions, and the corresponding Instagram posts reached 441 and 269 people, respectively.
Photographer Hiram Alejandro Durán also pitched the idea of documenting the flea market in general using instant film photography. That story, “Memories of the Market,” is the 7th top story of the year in terms of page views on El Tímpano’s website.
Co-publishing partners:
KQED (online)
El Tecolote (print and online)
High engagement on socials and from SMS subscribers:
El Tímpano’s main Instagram post promoting the project got some of the most likes and engagement of any post in 2024
SMS subscribers provided anecdotal responses to the story: “As a kid, I grew up going to the Pulga (both Oakland and San Jose) almost every weekend. These images and soundbites brought nostalgia.”
Awards:
